OK to put smaller lathe and/or milling machine on wheels?

[Aaron_W]

Wheels seem to be more of an issue for a lathe, as moving it around can impart twist to the bed. Many small lathes 7x16" > are just mounted to a board, workbench or cabinet and this doesn't seem to create a noticeable issue. This more due to the small size just making any deviation less apparent. Simply the error over the 10" or so working area compounds far less than a lathe with 30-40" between centers.


This seems to be much less of an issue on a milling machine, although you need to be very careful with a mobile base under a milling machine as they are top heavy, so a tipping hazard.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

I have a Shenwai SW900B (1236) import lathe and a 3/4 size import mill, both on casters
It’s been done!

 

[whitmore]

There are caster solutions that let the wheels flip up when you want the machine stationary; I'd go with one of
those, because the springy compliance that makes a wheel easy to use under heavy load, is gonna be
a problem when the lathe is spinning an out-of-balance workpiece.
The wheel bearings don't need to see the dynamic load of a working lathe; you'll pay extra if you want that.

 

[matthewsx]

Here's my mill, note the Carrymaster casters that have the adjuster coming out the top.

Samson Vertical Knee Mill

Picked up this mill yesterday and got it moved into my shop. Yes, I already had a Hardinge BB5 and an RF30 clone but when this thing came up on Craigslist I really wanted it bad. Not only is it the biggest mill I could possibly fit in my space, but it's badged Samson like my 12x36 lathe. Now...

www.hobby-machinist.com

And here's how I did a 13x40 lathe I used to own. The casters were just a cheap as the lathe itself, not real Carrymasters but knockoffs from Toolots. Definitely not recommended....

Bolton HA330 Project

Made a little more progress on the Bolton today, I removed the feed gear box for a little clean-up. I moved the start switch to the top of the machine, it will buy me time to fix or replace the piece that the control rod runs through for starting/stopping the machine. I guess it's attached to...

www.hobby-machinist.com

John