Track for a P/T

[Artiglio]

Good day gents

I have the opportunity to aquire a 16” Robinson Cadet P/T, pretty good condition but will need a good clean and going over.
However its a big lump and whilst i can find room to store it , to actually have a decent feed in / out it needs to be moveable.
Only option I can think of is to have it able to slide sideways away from a wall on a couple of rails then be fixed down whilst in use. Workshop has a solid concrete floor so insetting rails is feasible. The costs of doing the work would be offset by eventual sale of my old felder pt. So should be able to afford a bit of decent fabricating to do a decent job.

Would only need to move sideways about 3’ so a total track of 6’. I’m thinking of hydraulic machine jacks (elephants feet) to secure it in place for use.

Has anyone seen any similar arrangement or have some insight as to practicality / viability?

Many thanks phil

 

[Paisawood]

Hi,
How heavy is it? You could maybe use an Axminster Heavy Duty mobile base which is specified to take loads of up to 540kg. I have a Felder AD731 sitting on one of these bases and I can move it out from the wall for planing without any problem. HTH
David

 

[9fingers]

My 15" thicknesser is over 250kg and lives under the bench. I made a mobile base for it and opted to use 4 pairs of hard wheel castors just to be sure. No need for locking, it does not move anywhere in use.
Not sure why you are thinking of tracks unless your concrete floor is very uneven?

Bob

 

[Artiglio]

It’s just over a tonne in weight , perhaps i could look at having a base made for it and source some suitable wheel and fit the jacks to the base to lift it off the wheels when in use.
The concrete floor is what i’d call “farmer flat” a days work with a floor grinder would probably make wheels a possibility if not i could inset some steel.

 

[9fingers]

Eek! At over a tonne I feel rails might be the way to go arranged so that debris will fall away from the bearing surface and not get jammed when rolling in and out

Inverted T section with grooved runners with ball bearings comes into my mind.
Bob

 

[Artiglio]

Cheers Bob

I was thinking of the T being web up and using 4 of these (inverted) or similar as the running gear

https://www.safetyliftingear.com/produc ... ble/bt0-5t

Then having covers for the open track where needed,it would also make cleaning the trackway out easier. Still early days and machine is 300 miles away so transport is a bit of an issue as well.

 

[NickM]

Another option might be angle section rails with the "v' pointing up. I think you can get v-shaped wheels to run on that. Debris wouldn't collect at all.

Might you end up tripping over the rails? Bedding them into the floor would solve that, but then you have even bigger debris problem.

Subject to that, I think rails would be a good idea as it would be very easy to move the machine into position.

 

[9fingers]

Another option might be angle section rails with the "v' pointing up. I think you can get v-shaped wheels to run on that. Debris wouldn't collect at all.

Might you end up tripping over the rails? Bedding them into the floor would solve that, but then you have even bigger debris problem.

Subject to that, I think rails would be a good idea as it would be very easy to move the machine into position.

I started off thinking about inverted Vee rails and than moved to inverted tee as having less need for strict alignment. Any location error in the Vees or the mating pulleys would have the trolley trying to climb up the vees and with a 1 tonne load would quickly become hard work to roll in and out.

Bob

 

[Mike Jordan]

Tracks/ Rails . Not if you have a concrete floor. Nylon wheels have supported mine for more than thirty years, but it only weighs in at .4 of a ton.
Mike.

 

[9fingers]

Just looked at some stock sizes of Tee if you decide on the rail route.

Unequal Tee is twice as wide as high so good for stability 100w x 50 h is 8.5mm thick.
Some 12mm wide ball races with say 6mm steel plate side cheeks either side protruding by 30 mm or so would make wheels to run on the tee with no chance of it climbing off.
If you are going down this route I can sketch something up if you like? up to you.
Bob

 

[Mike G]

I have a hatch in the end of my workshop which lines up with the PT. Opening this means I can feed long pieces of timber through without moving the machine. It also serves my bandsaw. If there is a wall of the workshop where a hatch might work, have a think about whether this might serve your needs better than trying to shift a big lump around every time you want to use it.

 

[Mike Jordan]

I have used the system suggested by MikeG in a commercial workshop, it worked well but was a pain in wet weather!

 

[Artiglio]

Hi Mike

My proposed position is in front of the barn door outside of which is a covered area ( added many moons ago) overall it gives me about 5m either side of the machine.



For some reason i can’t get second pic to orientate properly. But basically the pt will sit 2m inside the white door when in use. It’s an old picture and things are much improved though still very much a work in progress.

 

[Doug]

I used to have an old Wadkin planer on a mobile base welded up from angle iron, you just need to get casters capable of taking the weight but there’s plenty out there.

 

[wallace]

How about raising the pt slightly and just use a pallet truck, alot less work

 

[Mike G]

That's not a slight rise, Wallace. That would be at least 6 inches, and that makes planing awkward.

A hatch in that pair of double doors would be the solution I'd pursue, I reckon.

 

[Artiglio]

Morning gents.

The concrete innthe area it’ll be is pretty good and uneveness is more due to tamping marks a bit of grinding should make it pretty smooth where required. As such a mobile base could well work and mean any extra height is minimal.

I did move my current PT with a pallet truck , but means it raises it about 4” which as Mike points out made it a bit awkward when surfacing, thought i’d get used to it , but didn’t.

No need for a hatch the doors are in full working order and any noise will escape through the hatch as readily as through the doors. Plus probably 75% of what i’m likely to do would be possible with doors closed. Noise is an issue as i’m in a residential area and so weekend /evening use has to be minimised especially if doors are open.

Doug, was your wadkin used just using braked castors or did you have some sort of other stabilising in place (bolts wound down or similar) ?

 

[Doug]

I used braked 75mm fully swivelling polyurethane tyred casters Phil

 

[Mike Jordan]

If you look again at my photo the casters are not swivelling types and are bolted to the base using steel angle. The height only increases by about 10mm and no brake is needed. The disadvantage of building a frame to fit the base of the machine is the need to lift the whole machine up to slip the frame under it.

 

[Artiglio]

Reviving the thread at a bit of a tangent. I’m pretty much decided the robinson will going to my place, a couple of online quotes from pallet companies have come in at ( to my mind ) reasonable figures. I’ll need a double pallet , i can find guides on pallet construction for various grades as standard sizes, but nothing as a double. Can anyone point me in the right direction, also given the tales of woe where machines have been dropped / brocken , i’m thinking of basically crating it up having removed wheels handles, fences, rollers etc. Any particular tips or warnings ?

Many thanks