I spent some time this weekend cleaning up my basement when I came across a set of casters lying around. I forget why I bought them, but they were just sitting in a box for some unknown reason. When I saw them, I thought to myself that I could use them to make a mobile base for my jointer.

I’ve owned a 6″ Delta Jointer since I was a kid. I use it from time to time but eveytime I do, I have to drag it out from behind my band saw so I can plug it in. The jointer isn’t huge but it does weigh over 100lbs so it’s kind of a pain in the ass to move. I thought about buying a mobile base for it but they run between $80-100. I’m too cheap to spend money on something I wouldn’t use that often so the jointer has never been upgraded with mobility.

When I found the casters I looked around for some scrap wood to make the base. The base of the jointer stand is 19″ wide by 35″ long so the inside of the frame it needed to sit in had to be 20″ x 36″.  I grabbed some scrap 2 x 10’s and ripped them 2″ wide to make the frame. I wanted to make the long rails of the frame 40″ with 20″ stiles but as luck would have it, the longest piece of 2 x 10 I had was 36″ long so I had to make the rail of the frame 36″ and the stiles 24″ long. After the frame was screwed together, I took 1/2″ plywood, cut two squares, then cut them diagonal to make four triangles. Then I screwed, glued, and barbecued everything together.

Now is the part where I messed up. Since I was building this thing on the fly without plans, I didn’t think too much about the space the casters needed. I originally took a 2 x 8 and trimmed it to 6″ wide by 24″ long and attached it to the frame. The casters fit on the wood but they didn’t have enough room to spin around.

So, I had to add 1 1/2″ wide piece of wood to the 6″ to make the overall width 7 1/2″ wide or basically the width of a 2 x 8. Doh! Overall, I’m happy with the way it came out (especially since it was free). It actually took me longer to write this post than it did to make the mobile base. Now I won’t have to struggle dragging my jointer from behind my band saw everytime I need to use it.