The cabinet of my table in progress is on caster wheels that lock the wheels, but the bracket of the wheels will still rotate (as designed) if you give it a good push. Thus, it wobbles a little bit, maybe an inch.
How much is that wobble going to impact the performance of my 5 Pro 2x2 with Spindle?
There was a recent thread on this. I use wheels and levelers
Zero. As long as your tabletop is reasonably flat, the structure of the Shapeoko does not care about what the table is doing. You could put the machine on a giant air hockey table and let it hover and shimmy completely unconstrained and it wouldn’t matter.
Good one Winston 
My 4SL is on. rolling workbench, I just lock the casters and cut away with no issues at all. It rocks around a bit mostly when the machine is making short sharp cuts but it’s never impacted the quality of the work.
This reply wins.
Also, you seem to know the system well. Any chance you could tell me if the 38" required width is sufficient on the base table to add enclosure walls on both sides? Does anything need to go outside the rail? I have a small space and the difference between 38" and 40" makes a difference for walking space around it.
@wmoy is an expert on C3D machines so I will defer to his judgement. However for future viewers of this thread try to buy wheels that lock in both directions. Some people like to get those bench wheels that completely retract up. The older wheels that just lock will move if you push them hard enough because the lever is just a friction fit and not much friction. So if you have not already bought wheels buy the type that lock in both directions, that is around the wheel itself and the position the wheel is locked in. The bench type ones work but they stick out and can be trip hazard.
Dont get these type:
Get these type that lock in two directions.
If you look at the upper left picture you will see little teeth that lock the wheel and keep it from rotating. The black (wheel) part is also locked in position. So you get two way locking.
Here are the bench type of wheels. They lift completely off the ground and let your bench/stand sit flat on the floor.
These wheels are better if you are dealing with smaller spaces and need the wheels to be out of the way. If you are also wanting your machine table not to move, then they lift up off the floor and act as regular leg pins.
I’m using the same style with the ratchet height adjustment. Rock solid when wheels retracted.
Amazing explanations Guy! The Bench type would have to stick out, so although I love that functionality, I hesitate to get those.
Where do you buy the smaller ones that lock both directions - horizontal (direction) and lock the wheel (from rotating)?
Hey Tim, Do you have a link to yours?
Eli, can you shoot me a link to where you bought those wheels in the image?
Sent you a message with the link.
Here is pic of them in white. There are a few different types in Amazon. You could find ones with reduced weight availability, and at a little cheaper rate possibly, but don’t skimp and sacrifice quality over pricing. I like these because they give me the option to be able to move my table if I want to, but make the table solid while I am not using them. I don’t plan on having to move my machine much, if at all, but these style of casters give me that option if I desire.
The nice thing about the ratcheting style like you see here, you can use a rod to adjust these pretty quickly, instead of having to put wrenches on them and tightening or loosening nuts, to make adjustments, and they are a bit beefer then many simple swivel casters.
The wheels in my post are available on Amazon and other online retailers. The lever types with the brackets are also available all over the place but Rockler sells them.
I have the wheels that @Bigsmooth911 linked and they work great. Is your table “wobbly” because of the wheels, or is the structure itself moving? Or maybe a bit of both? I ask because I had the same issue when I built my table and got started with my 5PRO. Table design was super simple. I used four 4x4s for the vertical legs and a “ladder” type structure for the table top and for a shelf about 1’ off the ground (table top is 36"ish off the ground). This was pretty sturdy at first, but I noticed about 4 months in the the table was “wobbling” quite a bit more then it used to.
@wmoy mentioned that the machine doesn’t care if the surface its on is moving, which makes total sense. However, there is a fair amount of weight in the X gantry and Z gantry. If you are doing a detailed cut that involves a lot of quick short movements on the X or Y axis then some laws of physics come into play. Mainly something about an object in motion will stay in motion, or something like that. I think, and I might be over thinking it, that as the spindle moves on the X or Y then suddenly switches direction the table itself will absorb some of that force. Over time, a small wobble could manifest into a large wobble as the table stretches and flexes, and the screw joints get stressed. Think about it this way: if the table is 3’ of the ground then the force is multiplied more than if you built your table 6" off the ground. Imagine a table 6’ across and 4’ deep, then make that table 100’ tall. The force of a mouse fart could knock it over.
To counter this I added some diagonal 2x4 supports on the left side, right side and back (had to keep the front open for drawers and the lower shelf.) Triangles are stronger than squares, I think, didn’t go to college so I can’t confirm that.
Just my 2.0e-7 BTC.
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
