Other Tool Cart Castors/Wheels

[Elektrishun]

Back when I was working where I needed a tool cart the first thing we did after purchasing a new tool cart was swap out the CHEAP castors/wheels with a better quality set. Even high quality tool carts always had low quality castors/wheels.

Today, I am upgrading an inexpensive standard 3 shelf service cart and decided it needed a decent set of castors - two fixed and two swivel with locking. Went to PA to see what they had on the shevles. Decided on this model:



Really like the heavy duty locking mechanism of these castors. Not only stops the wheel from rolling but stops it from swivelling. Not a high-end castor but really good for the $$$ and a big step-up from the cheap-o castors/wheels that the cart came with.

 

[Elektrishun]

Well, here's the cart with new castors:



Not sure if will be a good set-up or not. I had the grinder mounted to this cart for years and it has worked great. On the other end I had another motor driven grinding stone for tool sharpening. Decided the sharpener could go on a shelf and be pulled out when needed. This freed up space for the chain vise which was mounted to a homemade tripod before. That kinda worked but moved way too much when under heavy use. So I decided to kill two problems with one cart - a more stable mount and smaller footprint. Mounting the small swivel vise solved another problem. That vise was temporarily clamped to my table saw out feed table. I use it a lot but moved it frequently because of where it was situated. So clamp down, un-clamp, clamp it down again... Now it has a permanent home and neither vise should get in the way of the other.

Time will tell if this was a good idea or not. So far, so good. Locking wheels at one end and fixed wheels at the other plus some additional weight on the bottom shelf makes it a pretty solid base. Now, I gotta figure out where I am going to permanently mount that old large cast vise I bought a year ago.🙄