Casters?

[Jamesbeat]

I am in the design stage of building an upright cab, and thought it would be convenient to have it mounted on casters.
I read a few posts by people who have done the same thing, and they all seemed to be pleased with the results.

The issue that I'm having though is how to lock the casters when not in use.
Ideally, I'd like to recess the casters so they only raise the machine up by less than an inch, but this would mean that the locking mechanisms would be inaccessible behind the 'skirt' of the machine.

I thought that maybe I could leave the bottom rear of the cab open so that I could reach in to lock the rear casters, but that would mean moving the machine with the casters locked to get it into its final position.

Is there an elegant solution to this?

[dezmond]

Where are you putting the cabinet?  If the flooring is carpet, you won't have to really worry about locking them I would think.  The carpet will hold them fine as they will sink a bit.

Just a thought

[Jamesbeat]

That's a good suggestion, and I think you're right that carpet would stop the casters, but I have hardwood throughout so it's a no go in my situation.

I suppose I could put it on a rug, but that might look a bit cheesy.

[opt2not]

Don't use 4 castors (definitely don't use the ones that swivel), just put two in the back row and install leg levelers for the front -- a lot of original cabinets are set-up this way.
That way you can just tilt the cabinet back to move it, and when it's upright it'll stay in place.

If you go this route,  for the leg levelers I highly recommend getting some feltpads installed on them to save from scratching up your floor.

Like so:

[lamprey]

Everyone is going to have a different take on this. I don't case for casters. However, putting wheels (stationary) on the back that can be used when the machine is tilted, meaning the wheels are normally not touching the ground, seems to work well and don't interfere with normal operations.

[mgb]

I agree with the straight (not swivel) casters in the rear and leg levelers up front.
That is the setup I have and it works great (though mine is on carpet, it would still be fine on hardwood)
You can use non marring levelers and if you have to move it, just tip it back, throw some slider discs under the levelers and pull it out.

Just a side note on the raising of the cabinet. I actually opted to raise my cabinet by 2.5 inches. It much more comfortable on the back when playing.
I installed the back casters and made a 2x3 base to lift the cab.

[vwalbridge]

I actually opted to raise my cabinet by 2.5 inches. It much more comfortable on the back when playing.

+1, Try playing on a stock Donkey Kong cab for more than 15 minutes without feeling like Quasimodo.

[Jamesbeat]

Non swivel casters at the rear and leg levelers at the front definitely seems to be the best option. Thanks guys.