# Best casters for large router table for Incra LS



## tomcoleman (Nov 15, 2008)

I will build my last router table shortly to accommodate Incra LS. Lots of storage, lots of weight. Looking at the choices available I got to wondering what others chose and how well they worked out. I like the Incra 3 wheel approach......is this the way to go.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

My only thought, Tom, if you need to manipulate the table in confined areas, is to use swiveling wheels on _all_ locations, rather than two fixed and two swiveling.
Oh, and brakes on the front two.
The advantage of the three over four is that it'll always sit with all wheels touching the floor, rather than possibly having a slight wobble.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I like 4 inch wheels on something like that. If there's room to maneuver, I prefer four wheels with two fixed on the rear, two swivels on the front. The swivels should have locsk on both the wheel turning AND to stop the swivel. Assuming the table is pretty wide (long), they can be affixed to the bottom corners. But on a narrow or small table, I always add some sort of wider base or outriggers to give a longer, wider base for stability when moving. 3 wheels will want to tip if you hit something on the floor, such as a cord or small bits of wood.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

DaninVan said:


> My only thought, Tom, if you need to manipulate the table in confined areas, is to use swiveling wheels on _all_ locations, rather than two fixed and two swiveling.
> Oh, and brakes on the front two.
> The advantage of the three over four is that it'll always sit with all wheels touching the floor, rather than possibly having a slight wobble.


I've tried 4 swiveling wheels and found it impossible to steer. I have a very heavy router table and went with two fixed and 2 swiveling and 2 had brakes but I can't remember which 2 without going out and looking. Casters are sold with a weight rating so as long as you are under that you should be fine (total weight/4). To keep from raising the table too high or losing on cabinet space I attached mine outside the cabinet on brackets.


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

None of you checked out the incra 3 wheel set.

Its pretty good. The third wheel is foot pedal lift. push the pedal once and the wheel engages the ground to move the table about. Push the pedal again and the wheel lowers so that end of the table is on solid legs, with two solid nylon wheels at the far end.

i like it, and as long as the operator doesnt get lazy and keep the third wheel on the ground, its a rock solid system
https://www.incra.com/router_system_accessories-wheelkits.html


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

sunnybob said:


> None of you checked out the incra 3 wheel set.
> 
> Its pretty good. The third wheel is foot pedal lift. push the pedal once and the wheel engages the ground to move the table about. Push the pedal again and the wheel lowers so that end of the table is on solid legs, with two solid nylon wheels at the far end.
> 
> ...


I have that setup on my Laguna band saw and have to be extremely careful when moving it. It wants to tip over if the turn is too fast or too sharp. A 3 wheel setup of a four legged stand is inherently unstable. The router table is not as top heavy as a band saw, of course. However, if you REALLY want the 3 wheel setup, get it.


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

No, I would not use 3 wheels on a bandsaw. Hell, I dont even use 4 wheels on a top heavy bandsaw. i leave mine alone. If I had to move it, i still wouldnt put wheels on it.


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

You hadn't asked me this one Tom.

I use pinball game feet on many of my tools and tables. "The Pinball Resource" The Pinball Resource has them at a very reasonable price, Steve Young is the owner, and you can tell him that I sent you, but I doubt that it will get you a better price, They sell for less than $1 per foot the last time that I needed some. Steve and I were once partners, but my full time job moved me South and out of active participation in the amusement vending business.

These feet have a swivel metal base with a 3" threaded metal post and I believe that he offers two sizes of thread 3/8 or 5/16" in 2" or 3" length. You can use nuts or a T-nut in the bottom of your legs to attach them. To level the machine, just turn the foot and thread it up into or down out of the leg until your machine is level, then tighten a lock nut to lock that setting. The foot itself will swivel to sit on uneven surfaces or to allow the bolt part to thread into a leg that is not quite vertical.. I have some on a 400 lb machine and they support the machine with no trouble at all. I also have them on my scroll saw stands and my table saw out feed table. They resist sliding and moving, but they will allow the machine to slide around without digging into the floor, if you push hard enough. Look for "Leg2" and "Leg3" in his online parts catalog at the above linked website. This is what they look like. http://pbresource.com/hhouse/leg3.jpg Not casters, but in my opinion, better and cheaper than casters for a router table, scroll saw, shop table, etc, that doesn't need to move around much.


Charley


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## bfblack (May 2, 2012)

I am a strong proponent of the four steerable wheel system. I have had both three wheel as well as two fixed/two steerable wheels and did not like them because of their lack of maneuverability. I am presently building the Incra router table system as presented by











but am using casters instead of the Incra three wheel system. There is a threaded insert in the bottom of the extruded aluminum channel used for the legs and the thread size limits your selection of casters but I was able to find some at my local industrial caster supply company. This will raise the height of the router table unless you shorten the legs. The increased height works ok for me so far.


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

If you are convinced that only casters will do, I just received a set of 4 swivel casters from Amazon that seem to be way better than what I was expecting for the price. All 4 swivel and all 4 lock both the wheel and the swivel. 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HN0IA42/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But I haven't actually put them to use yet. Just inspected them and said to myself WOW, these are great for that price.

Charley


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## ChatoyanceWood (Jun 3, 2018)

*What's best depends on your shop's floor.*

My wood shop is in my two car garage, so my experience and suggestions are based on that. That's important because garage floors have two characteristics that I've found impact your choice in casters. First they're usually made of concrete and sloped towards the street to keep rain out, and second, they're usually not flat. 

Everything in my shop is mobile in some way and I've tried a lot of different configurations trying to find the 'best' way to do it. What I've found is that there's no one answer for everything. If the equipment is large and heavy, having four swivel/locking casters isn't going to work because you won't be able to control it on a sloping floor. Also, on an uneven floor, most of the time it will wobble. Even if you lock all the casters, the fact that one or two of them won't be in good constant contact with the floor will cause your equipment to rock. I too just finished designing my router station based on the Incra LS system. I chose to make my own base. It's large and medium heavy. Here's what I ended up doing.

I chose to use two fixed 2.5" casters (woodcraft #152837) in the rear of the cabinet and two leveling feet (woodcraft #145840) in the front. Also in the front, I have a swivel, lift caster (woodcraft #158547) that you step down on to raise the front of the cabinet off it's feet for mobility around the garage. True, there is some mobility loss with the 3-wheel configuration, but I've found it easier to steer on a sloped floor. This configuration has other benefits: 

- I don't have to walk around to all four wheels, unlocking them, to get mobility. I frequently have to park my equipment against a wall and reaching all four wheels is a hassle.

- the single centered lift caster allows me to raise the complete end of the cabinet at once. Some people suggest having a lift caster on each leg. As you go around raising/or lowering each leg one at a time, this tweaks and skews your cabinet out of shape as each leg is lifted until all four are up. After spending all that $$ on a precision Incra LS system, the last thing I want to do is bend my cabinet/top out of shape each time I move it.

- along this same thought, you want your cabinet sitting flat on the floor when you're not moving it. This is why I chose to put two leveling feet on the front. As mentioned before, on an uneven floor you'll typically have only three points touching (or two, if the floor is really bad) causing the cabinet/stand to rock. I can easily eliminate this rocking by adjusting one of the leveling feet. If the cabinet/stand is very heavy or very large, it might just conform to the uneven floor when lowered. It won't rock, but it also will be bent out of shape. Not the end of the world for an 7ft long workbench, but you wouldn't want your assembly table, jointer, CNC machine, router station etc possibly twisted out of alignment every time you move it.

- buy GOOD casters. I've done the budget caster from big box stores or online. They're ok when it doesn't matter and I've used them with on-and-off success. Then I purchased good expensive casters form Woodcraft and suddenly everything became easier. True, I paid for one of these what I could have purchased three of at Home Depot, but these caster have no side-to-side play! The cheap casters, even after locking them, your stand/cabinet will shift from side-to-side due to the 'play' in the casters themselves. Whether fixed or swivel, good casters should have NO play in them.

- Lastly, I did come up with a way to save some money. Woodcraft sells a workbench lift caster set (woodcraft #158547) with four casters for about $90. I bought these on sale some years ago (I think $70) for use on my shorter workbench. Since I only needed one lift caster for the router station, I didn't want the expense of buying a whole set. Then I saw they sell a 4-piece set, quick release plate (woodcraft #163735) or these lift casters for $30. The quick release allows you to easily remove the lift caster when not in use (stand/cabinet is in the lowered position). So my solution was to buy the quick release set, mount one on the router station and mount another on my short workbench in place of one of the lift casters. Now I can remove a lift caster and use it on multiple cabinets/stands. Eventually I may remove more lift casters from that workbench and replace them with quick release plates, freeing up more casters to use on other future projects requiring mobility. A $30 pack of quick release plates will handle four future projects, so that's not a bad price, and I should never again have to buy an expensive set of lift casters.

Hope this helps.


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