Framed base and shelf

Hello, been reading and saw sometimes casters can cause legs to move out of square.

I was thinking of making frame from anglr iron, casters on underside. Then pro sits on top of angle iron. So legs arent taking stress of the movement.

I also plan to put a shelf on it for when I drain and filter table water.

Should i let pro just sit on frame, or use holes on legs and bolt bottom of legs to angle iron?

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Yes. The overriding opinion is that the shelf attached to the legs may be part of the culprit, in some set-ups of causing the table to move out of square.

One would think if a shelf, that is perfectly square, could be attached in a perfect union to the legs without causing any strains. The shelf would serve to keep the table square if everything goes perfect. The ‘ifs’ are where the issue falls. Since it is highly unlikely that you can attach the shelf without causing some oblique stress then many say don’t attach to the legs.

I am of the opinion, but no proof, that if the legs were stabilized more before adding the shelf then it could be possible.

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so I am proof…adding a shelf between the legs is not a good thing…putting wheels on the legs without some support is also a bad thing…my table went out of square by 3/16 along the 48" X axis…and I attribute it all to the shelf I put.

here is an example of stress you up on a table leg…take a 4’ level…12" from one end and place a simple toothpick under the level…now press down on the end that is 12" from the toothpick…watch how far the other end goes up…

so even though there are gussets and bolts the little bit of stress from something 1/8" out puts a whole bunch of forced movement on the other end.
Add into this the small shakes and vibration…it will loosen up…some of my gusset screws had actually started to come loose from this.

I also found the wheels from Mcmaster fantastic…but a real pain to level and to adjust.

so after going through all the effort of tearing apart the table to re-square it I modified my shelf to make it a rolling platform on wheels…and the table sits on the rolling platform.

to solve the level issue I rigged up some 3/4" threaded rod with a nut welded on top that I put my air gun to and turn the rod down to lift the whole platform up off the wheels…I can level the whole thing in seconds and from a standing position nearly…

And with the 3/4" rods as legs it makes the whole thing solid and stable…

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