Where to Find/Make Adjustable Table Legs?

[Jay Chan]

I am making an outfeed table (converting from an old desk). Because of the fact that the floor is very uneven and the outfeed table must be moved around and cannot stay in one place, I would like to find a way to easily adjust the height of the table. I think wheels with adjustable height should be perfect for this application. But I cannot find such a thing. There are many wheels available in Home Depot; but their heights are not adjustable. Some wheels that have screw thread are meant for attaching the wheels to an object and are not meant for adjusting height – even if I try using it, I will find that the adjustable range is very limit and is not convenient.

Can someone suggest a source of this type of adjustable wheels?

If this thing doesn’t exist, I would like to know a way to make the length of a table leg adjustable and can be adjusted conveniently.

I am hoping that people who have constructed their outfeed tables may have already solved this problem, and may want to share the solution with me.

I know I could solve the problem by leveling the floor. But I had a very hard time leveling my basement floor last year, and I don’t look forward to do this again. I could have hired a pro to level the floor; but I don’t want to spend good money on my old garage. I would much rather spend on something that I can take with me when I move to a new house.

Thanks.

Jay Chan

[Bill Stock]

These guys have threaded casters.

?ProductCode=3ARF3X-TS22

[U-CDK_CHARLES\Charles]

Mount casters on a block, mounted on some threaded rod. How much adjustment do you need?

[Jay Chan]

I think I might not have explained this clearly. Let me try again.

The outfeed table will not be stationary in one place. The woodshop is my single-car garage. I intend to move the car out in day time in weekend to work on my projects, and then move the car back at night. I cannot leave the outfeed table in the middle of the garage. I intend to move it to the center of the garage and unfold its legs when I work on my project; and then fold its legs and stand it up on its end when I am done for the day. This means I need to move the outfeed table around. Today, it stands on one spot. Tomorrow, it may move to a slightly different spot.

The fact that it will not always at the same spot, and the fact that the garage floor is "very" uneven. If I move the outfeed table two inches to the left, I will have to re-adjust the height of the outfeed table; otherwise, the top of the outfeed table will not align with the top of the table saw. I can adjust the height of the outfeed table every morning; but I want to do this easily instead of using a wrench that can get old very quickly.

I find something like what I want in a woodworking catalog last evening (from WoodTack or something like that). Is is designed for constructing a mobile router table. It has wheel, and its height adjustment mechanism is like the screw-mechanism in a bar-clamp -- convenient enough. But that costs something like $60 for a set of 4 stands. I have a feeling that anything similar will not be cheap -- oh well...

I guess I may have to settle for other cheaper alternatives, like:

1. Put an inter-locking mechanism in the rear of the table saw to lock it with the outfeed table. At least I can get one side of the outfeed table to be perfectly even with the top of the table saw, and I just have to live with the fact that the other side of the outfeed table may not be perfectly level.
2. Level the four small spots where the legs of the outfeed table are most likely to stand on. Make sure those four spots are perfectly level with one another, and leave the rest of the garage floor alone. Highlight those 4 spots with spray paint. Then, I can use the wheels-with-thread that the other newsgroup member has suggested, and I only need to adjust them once, and don't need to adjust them for the rest of the life of the outfeed table.

Seem like alternative-#-2 is what I will most likely do.

This sounds like a plan to me.

Jay Chan

[Jay Chan]

for my revised plan that I mentioned in another post in this thread.

Jay Chan

[Bill Stock]

[snip alternatives]

Jay,

Charles is suggesting that you make the legs adjustable and use regular casters. I rather like his idea, it would give you height adjustments up to double the length of your leg.

So you would drill ( or route/dado a groove) a long hole in the bottom of your leg to hold your threaded rod. Then attach a nut to the bottom of your leg to hold the rod. The other end of the rod would be fixed to a small block of wood and the caster would be screwed to the other side of the block of wood.

I might use two nuts a few inches apart in the leg to give me better stability. Perhaps you could even find a long threaded nut with a plate attached and just screw it to the bottom of the leg.

[Upscale]

Instead of a rolling outfeed table, what about one that fastens to the back of the table saw and folds down when not in use? Whatever imperfections on the floor might be, the table would always be the correct height for the table saw.

[Jay Chan]

Actually, that was the first thing came to my mind when I was designing the outfeed table. But it won't work well because my table saw is a "contractor" table saw, not a "cabinet" table saw. It has the motor assembly at the back of the table saw sticking out a good 12" or so. This means if I attach an outfeed table to the back of the table saw, I can only fold it _up_, I will have a hard time designing it in a way that I can fold it _down_ because the motor is in the way.

I am sure that I can fold it down _if_ I design it very carefully and with many clever operating joints. But that will be too "precise" for me to pull it off. I just want something relatively simple and will not go wrong.

Thanks anyway.

Jay Chan

[Jay Chan]

Thanks for the explanation. Now, I can see that this is a good design. I can use my hand to turn the wood block at the bottom to adjust the table height without using a wrench. This is indeed a very nice feature.

I don't understand this part.

Let's me explain what my understanding based on your description is:

- We drill a long hole at the bottom of a table leg. The hole goes up inside the leg.

- We chisel a square hole on the bottom of the leg surrounding the hole that we have drilled. The shape of the second hole matches the shape of a square nut.

- Attach the square nut onto the square hole that we have chiseled out using epoxy. We will screw a long threaded rod through the square nut into the long hole soon.

- Prepare a wood block, and drill a long hole at the center of the wood block and through the entire length of the wood block.

- Put a long threaded round-head bolt through the hole in the wood block. The square area under the round head of the bolt will bite into the wood and the long threaded bolt will not rotate.

- Attach a caster onto it using screws. The caster will cover the head of the bolt. This is OK.

- Put wax on the exposed thread of the long bolt.

- Screw the long threaded bolt through the square nut into the long hole of the table leg.

- Repeat this for the other 3 table leg.

I don't understand how the "two nuts" that you suggested fits into the picture. I must have misunderstood something very fundamental.

Look forward to learn more from you. Thanks.

Jay Chan

[Jay Chan]

I was thinking of using square nut and cartridge-bolt. I change my mind:

- I think a T-nut is better than using a square nut. Then I don't need to chisel a square for the square-nut, and I don't need to epoxy it in place.

- I think a cartridge bolt will lose its bite on the wood sooner or later if I turn it often. I think I will use a threaded rod and bend it onto the wood to secure it.

Great! Seem like I get the idea.

Jay Chan