# Modification to Rockler, Delta mobile base pedal



## bix (Oct 10, 2014)

This is one of those ideas that is really simple to implement and provides an instant and nice benefit.

I recently purchased a Rocker universal mobile base, which is very similar if not identical to the popular Delta mobile base. My brother suggested that I modify the lifting pedal along the lines suggested by a Shop Notes article from a while back (Shop Notes Vol 19, Issue 113). In that article, the author suggested adding nylon wheels to the pedal so that these would roll against the caster bracket, to eliminate the sliding interface which galls fairly quickly and becomes difficult to operate. My brother had a further suggestion, and that was to move the E-clips on the wheel axle inside the wheels instead of outside the pedal. It turned out that on the Rockler and Delta designs, moving the E-clips is basically essential, as there is little room between the pedal and the caster bracket for anything protruding to the side beyond the pedal.

I happened to have some 10 mm bearings on hand, so I used these instead of nylon wheels. The result is stronger, and the bearings won’t accumulate swarf the way nylon will.

This mod makes pedal operation silk smooth, and it should stay that way for a long time to come. Here is a photo showing the modification:














































The shaft is 10mm steel, cut to the outside width of the pedal – in this case, 2.94”. The bearings are 6900ZZ double shielded bearings, 10 x 22 x 6mm (about $1.50 ea on ebay if you buy 4 of them). New holes were drilled in the pedal for the shaft to slide into – an ‘X’ drill was the perfect size for the 10mm shaft. The holes are positioned so that the bearings protrude 1/16[SUP]th[/SUP] inch beyond the original pedal contact edge – I think anything between 1/16[SUP]th[/SUP] inch and 1/8[SUP]th[/SUP] inch or maybe even a little more would be fine. The grooves are 0.040” wide, to position the E-clips just inside of the bearings, so the bearings are kept between the E-clips and the pedal outside flanges.

This is very quick to make, particularly if you have a lathe available to cut the grooves. Here are the pieces:












And here are a few more photos:

Pedal down. Note the raised ribs on the caster bracket. The bearings are sufficiently narrow to clear these raised areas.




Pedal Up. The shaft length needs to be very close to the pedal width to avoid interference with the caster bracket.



Of course, any number of shaft diameter and bearing combinations will work. The bearing OD should be somewhere around 1 inch, and this same idea of putting the E-clips inside also works well with the original idea of using nylon wheels, shown below on my brother’s mobile base (along with the swarf that accumulates on the nylon):


(He is going to convert to this ball bearing version.)

bix


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