In Tricks of the Trade

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A mobile workbench is handy in a small shop, until you want it to stand still! After outfitting my bench with casters, I found that their locks didn’t prevent the bench from wiggling.

My solution is to add levers to each leg. They work like a cam. With the lever in the horizontal position, the bench rests on the casters. In the vertical position, the casters are raised off the floor about 1/4″, so the bench stays put, sitting on wide, flat feet.

Each cam is made from two pieces of 3/4″ plywood—there’s a spacer behind the lever for hand clearance. Cut the spacer’s shape to match the cam’s foot, to give the foot a larger area of contact with the floor. Attach each assembly with a bolt and lock nut. –Mark Thiel

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