Machinery skates Tom Lipton style

[quitereal]

I made one pair of machinery skates, just in case theres a lathe move in my future. Modelled after Tom Liptons as seen here

I had some 5 inch wheels from a carriage jack, some 4x4x1/2 angle iron, and a little bit of 1x1/2 DOM (drilled out to 5/8 because i have some 5/8 allthread)

The axle stub for the wheels are 3/4 bolts, generously weld prepped then welded to the angle. If theyre good enough for Toms 10ee, theyre good enough for me
Not sure if Ill make a similar second set or some sort of bearing swivel deal for the other end...
Now I just need a lathe to move!

 

[TorontoBuilder]

Nice, where did you get the wheels?

I recently saw the rollers below in a lathe for sale. They were used to roll the lathe on and off a car hauler, and slide it into a shipping container

 

[quitereal]

They were on a carriage jack i had laying around. Ive been eyeing up these at PA https://www.princessauto.com/en/4-in-steel-rigid-caster/product/PA0008815425
Just pull the wheel and use it.
Ironically if I had a lathe I could just make some out of steel. I cant quite tell how those ones in your picture work but some simple DOM and rod setups would work well i bet too... The picture kinda looks like collared captured aluminum wheels? The possibilities are endless if you already have a lathe, for the most part i dont think integrated bearings are necessary, but thats also an option.

 

[quitereal]

DOM comes in ALOT of sizes, you want 1.5 outside, .75 inside? Thats common. They offer the ID in .0625 oversized commonly as well - 1"OD with .5"ID is as common as 1"OD with .5625"ID - depends whether you want the clearance. It allows companies to not have to employ a machinist I guess. Over the years and jobs Ive amassed lots of cutoffs of various sizes - never throw out dom. And its used alot in industry for bushings and the like.
If I had to source it I'd probably show up to a local metal supplier (Allwyn in my case) looking for a specific ID and see what they had in stock in terms of ODs. And if I had something so specific or weird I'd just get rod and get a friend to machine it.

 

[quitereal]

Actually that picture at first i thought was two layers of 2x wood but that bottom one looks like 1.5 steel bar, wow!

 

[quitereal]

I imagine youd want 4140 or 4340 shaft for that too

 

[1018Machine]

Quite slick Quitereal!

 

[Stuart Samuel]

I made one pair of machinery skates, just in case theres a lathe move in my future. Modelled after Tom Liptons as seen here

I had some 5 inch wheels from a carriage jack, some 4x4x1/2 angle iron, and a little bit of 1x1/2 DOM (drilled out to 5/8 because i have some 5/8 allthread)
View attachment 53300
The axle stub for the wheels are 3/4 bolts, generously weld prepped then welded to the angle. If theyre good enough for Toms 10ee, theyre good enough for me
Not sure if Ill make a similar second set or some sort of bearing swivel deal for the other end...
Now I just need a lathe to move!

I made the same set!


Cable tied back to back for storage, but the same idea. Pump truck wheels (scavenged), stub arbor welded to the angle. 1/2” threaded rod front and back to tie them to each other. I did find a scrap of Masonite between the machine and the angle helped address the inside corner radius on the angle, and would help if there was an inclination for the machine to slip on the angle.

Made the little dolly he showed for the tail stock end as well:



1/2” plate, round bar front and back. Four bearings for wheels, a thrust bearing against the plate, and a female thread swivel foot as a contact surface, with a 1/2” bolt through from the bottom. The little stub of round bar lets you slip a tube over it, to steer.

Made getting my lathe through my front door and settled manageable, would have been miserable otherwise, I suspect.


I’m in unit A. Neighbour adjacent was nice enough to let me take his door off, which meant I could swing the tailstock end through his doorframe and start turning early.

 

[quitereal]

I made the same set!

View attachment 53324
Cable tied back to back for storage, but the same idea. Pump truck wheels (scavenged), stub arbor welded to the angle. 1/2” threaded rod front and back to tie them to each other. I did find a scrap of Masonite between the machine and the angle helped address the inside corner radius on the angle, and would help if there was an inclination for the machine to slip on the angle.

Made the little dolly he showed for the tail stock end as well:

View attachment 53325

1/2” plate, round bar front and back. Four bearings for wheels, a thrust bearing against the plate, and a female thread swivel foot as a contact surface, with a 1/2” bolt through from the bottom. The little stub of round bar lets you slip a tube over it, to steer.

Made getting my lathe through my front door and settled manageable, would have been miserable otherwise, I suspect.

View attachment 53326
I’m in unit A. Neighbour adjacent was nice enough to let me take his door off, which meant I could swing the tailstock end through his doorframe and start turning early.

How did it go going over that threshold?

 

[Stuart Samuel]

How did it go going over that threshold?

I mounted the pump truck wheels as far back on the headstock end as I could, got the wheels to the threshold, lifted that end with a toe jack, blocked it up, and moved the wheels to the other end, inside the room. Roughly the same thing at the other end, though I think I used 1 1/4” gas pipe rollers instead. Moved it in on my own, slow and steady. I did put down sections of 22 gauge steel sheet under the tailstock end dolly. I had to run over some interlocking brick outside, and I was sure it’d get stuck in the joints, and the floor inside is old-style linoleum, which I suspected would crush under the weight. (Lathe is ~3600lbs)