Retractable Casters for Scroll Saw Stand 1

It seems that lots of people have come up with solutions for making their scroll saw mobile so I thought I would throw my hat in the ring. I recently purchased a Dewalt 788 scroll saw with the base and work light (BTW, Grizzly has a pretty good deal on this package) and I quickly realized that I liked having the tool near my workbench but didn’t have sufficient room to keep it in that location full-time. Thus, I decided to make the scroll saw mobile.

Retractable casters mounted to Dewalt scroll saw stand

I first tried mounting some relatively cheap locking casters to the underside of the stand but I didn’t like this approach because it raised the saw too much and the whole unit was unstable. So after a bit of research, I found some retractable casters made by Powertec that sell for $65 on Amazon. I decided to give them a whirl.

Powertec workbench casters sold as a package of 4

Normally, the casters are attached to the vertical legs of a workbench or other shop tool, which is a rather straightforward task. However, two of the three legs on my scroll saw stand are angled so I had to fashion angled wooden spacers to mount the casters upright. The other leg was vertical but a wooden spacer block was also needed there to prevent the caster from rubbing against the leg. I opted to place the casters on the inside of the legs so they wouldn’t be in the way as much.

The casters are secured to the legs by #10 machine screws with nylon lock nuts. The caster instructions provide details on where to drill the two mounting holes. (Note: I removed the scroll saw from the stand to simplify the caster mounting process). When the foot pedals are depressed, the wheels are pushed down which raises the stand by about 1″. To lower the stand, the pedal is gently lifted up. I found that it works best to bear some of the weight of the saw when lowering the wheels so the saw doesn’t get jarred so much.

Close-up view of retractable casters

I’m quite pleased with my newly mobile scroll saw although care is needed when rolling it around because it is a little unsteady with only three legs. But once the casters are retracted, it’s rock steady.