Great vid thanks. In case it helps others, this vid is 3years old as I view, and I’ve already done the same. Came across the same issue with drilling through the plate steel. What worked for me was to use 6mm hex bolts instead of your 8mm, use a random smaller drill (say 3 then 5mm) to get me to 6mm. This size bolt also means not having to drill out the other holes. For the connecting piece, between wheels, I just bought a piece of all dressed 18mm x 38mm x 2400mm piece of hardwood, ($13) and drilled out, washer both sides and 6mm nut and bolt to connect. Also looks good on the bench.
Ahh the lovely sound of Irish Spring rain on a tin roof ... Great bit of engineering there John with the cross bar. All my stuff is on castors and they've all decided to fail at the same time. I'll head on over to Axminster and tell them you sent me ...
In the future if you don't have a carbide bit and you need to drill a hole in hardened steel, sharpen a masonry bit (just a touch on a grinding wheel) and drill the hole with that. It works.
About a year ago I had a battle trying to drill a hole in those levers just as you and gave up. Glad it isn't just me. I like your solution. Thanks for the video.
Wish I would've have seen this a couple months ago! I didn't know about unistruts. I looked in my local big box store. The configuration over here is a metal channel with pre-drilled holes. I used, instead, a hardwood 1x3, which works, but not as well as a piece of steel.
I had a suggestion from a viewer when I featured these castors to drill and install a connection bar. I had the same issue with drilling out the hole and ended-up using a blow torch to first soften the steel, drill the hole and then aneal it again. Ruined the finish but some stove spray paint and all was right. Since you have Axminster's ear and they might read this comment can I offer two suggestions on these castors. 1. Let's have the hole drilled in the factory. Even if you don't need a connecting bar, the hole would be useful for say mounting a rubber bumper or tread. 2. Let's have some instructions in the box. I found 138-140mm was about the right height through trial and error, instructions would take way the guess work. Anyway great video. Ps. I've moved away from these to another solution using repurposed toggle clamps as I kept kicking the castors in my small shop.
Get yourself one or both of these two bits to deal with making holes in hard materials: a straight flute carbide drill bit and a small carbide end mill. I am an industrial maintenance technician in the states and carry both types in my tool bag - an 1/8" carbide drill bit, one 1/8" carbide end mill, and 1/4" carbide end mill. I use them to start holes in materials that my drill bits won't cooperate with or use them to drill out broken drill bits when that occasion arises. They are somewhat of a "last ditch effort", but they are absolutely clutch when nothing else will work. Put them in a drill press if you can, but both types will work in a hand held power drill as well, just be careful about keeping the tool aligned with the hole during the entire process (trying to get a broken end mill out of something is not fun at all).
Hey John, always enjoy your stuff, and have coincidentally come across the same problem drilling through the castors, and ended up using my sds drill, and that did the trick. I joined my castors with a piece of conduit left over from a previous project. Hope this helps someone. I would include pictures, but I don’t think you can do that in the comment section.oh! And these Rutland castors come with a paper template to show exactly where to mark out your holes, quite handy.
This is the best video on making the casters work in unison. I had concerns regarding the casters creating to much stress working independently. I’m going with your idea. I’m going to check out your other videos & subscribing!😊👍👍👍
Way to be flexible and creative in modifying your original plan. I have locking casters on almost everything in my shop and seriously considering adding bars on mine now. Thanks!
Nice video John, I’ve used these on a cabinet I made for my drill press to move it around, going to make a large mft table later on in the year and will fit them on that as well, my workshop is fairly coming on too, keep them coming, my go to watch in the evenings!
Very, very solid material that cannot be drilled with standard drills. Proof of quality, at least at first glance. The only thing you didn't say, it seems to me, is the price. Excellent video John, greetings from Bosnia and Herzegovina
Super idea John, I have a large wood bench on casters also, makes life easier to move it around when your a lone worker/diyer 😜love the unistrut idea.... just started measuring out your plywood and scrap wood unit you made last year... ready to start cutting tomorrow evening. Will defo be making your new work bench at some stage later in the year. Congrats on hitting 43k 👌
John another great demo sorry I’ve only just watched it or should I say listen to it. Quite good idea have to remember that when I build a bench. Hope your knee is on the mend and you’re still taking it a bit easy.
Very good video and great job. A few black end caps and maybe even a length of black lid on each side would finish it nicely. Would suggest a blob of loctite on the four clamping bolts too. Looking forward to the next video
I have the same castors, was able to drill through it with my drill press (low speed) using a 3mm masonry bit, then enlarging it with a 6mm masonry bit. Took some effort but eventually I got there! Anyway, have fun with the bench! Cheers
Fantastic modification on the castors but there is one problem, not with your modification but the castors themselves. When your MFT table is in the static position the castors stick out further than the edge of your MFT table making them a trip hazard. My advice for anyone building a workbench is to have the legs placed deeper under the table and have the furthest point of the castor inline with the edge of the workbench. Your hip is inline with your foot so the edge of the bench should be inline with the castor, I hope that makes sense.
Finally a good use for strut. Aren’t 6mil bolts rated for 4kn in shear?- how heavy IS the bench? How do the casters work (swivel) for you with the caster mounting plate not being horizontal?
Hahaha mate I just went like 13 seconds into the video before I was laughing mi arse off and had to hit like :D Just love your reaction :D Nice :) Great video, love your content mate! One thing that struck my mind was that since you are using that uni-strut, whick I love btw, great way of incorporating your professional skills into your hobby. But I reckon it would be quite easy to add a little flap or something similar somewhere along the strut so that you could easily flip it back up with your feet instead of having to bend over, don´t you think? I mean sure you probably won´t be wheeling it around all the time, but you look like a tall guy just as myself, and I always try to spare my back as much as possible. Work smarter, not harder as they say :) Once again, great video!
Hi John! do you know if we could change the wheels on these castors? my floor is cement, so meaning to be very uneven.. i dont know is this tiny casters would work for my heavy bench. thanks :)
Good idea. Over time, how does the bottom of the legs hold up with setting the bench down on concrete? My concrete floor is not the smoothest brushed finish.
Only just discovered this channel and am thoroughly enjoying every video. Been intending to add castors for some time but love the unistrut idea. Does anyone know what size john used?
I wish to buy those kind of casters sir but they are quite expensive here in our country. I badly needed such casters because my wooden scaffold is so heavy I got exhausted moving it around all the time.
@@JohnMcGrathManInShed My primary bench has the legs recessed at both ends. Retractable casters that aren't linked are ungainly and tend to scatter the bench's contents. Clearly, linked casters on the end are the way to go though I'll have to examine whatever I consider (here in Wyoming) to approximate the amount of leverage available. Certainly no need for you to research my question. Thanks, though.
Great video John. I put castors on my bench - they were not the same as yours. I mounted them on the base of the legs. They work fine, but now my bench it too high. I was thinking of cutting the legs down by 4 inches, but it will be easier to fit the castors you received from Axminster. Like your bench, mine is big and heavy, are you convinced these castors will be able to handle the weight? Do think they are robust enough to last? Peter
Very bad advice and 100% dumb method. My table is fitted with 12 x 4 inch castors screwed to the underside of the table legs. Took about 10 minutes to screw all 12 with 4 hexheads per castor, 4 of them with brakes, the rest without. Worst part was it took 3 of us to flip the table back over. Now I'm drilling in the PARF MFT holes onto the top. The floor is flat so don't need the brakes yet.
