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Want to replace the
stock leg levellers with something a little more meaty?
Here's a quick explanation on how I make heavy duty leg
levellers with handy materials and a welder.
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 First,
You'll need some stock 1/8" steel, and a matching mut and
bolt, thick enough to support a few hundred pounds of
cabinet dragging on it, not sure if it's strong enough?
Go one size bigger then. The steel stock has to be
wider than the head of the bolt you are using, so adjust
accordingly. |
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 Cut
the steel into lengths to match the application.
The square pieces should match length of cut to width of
steel (or else it sure won't be square!). The longer
(rectangle) pieces should fit where you want it to go under
the cabinet (you could cut steel into triangles for corner
fit if you wanted to get real fancy, this is a bit more
basic). The longer the lengths of the steel, the more
screws you can get into it, but the more likely it will
overhang the edge. |
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  Now
you need to weld a couple of pieces. Actually, you
could do all the welding together at once, but for this
tutorial I'm splitting it up to (hopefully) make it more
clear. If you don't think the cabinet will move a lot
or isn't very heavy, you can probably get away with some
good spot welds, as in the first illustration, but I really
suggest a full bead on the "feet" as they will probably take
a bit of punishment. On to the next piece of the
puzzle. |
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 You
want to drill your screw mounting holes and a hole big
enough to clear the diameter of the bolt. If you don't
have a drill bit large enough, drill it as big as you can
and get the rest with a dremel or drill mounted grinding
bit. |
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 Now
take the nut that fits that bolt, and weld it into place
over that hole in the steel. Make sure you line it up
and clamp it before you weld or the bolt won't clear the
edges of the hole and will bind up. If you do this
right, you should be able to thread the bolt right in. |
 Using
a hand or bench grinder, take the sharp corners and edges
off the feet. These could catch easily on some carpet,
rugs, hardwood or cracks in the floor. Smooth them
over until you can run you finger along all the edges
without making your fingers leak. |
 oLastly
you need to make clearance for the nuts/bolts in the wood.
If you want the mounting plate to sit flush with the bottom
of the cabinet, make the countersink hole big enough for the
nut, and deep enough for the bolt when it's threaded all the
way in. If you don't think you'll see it, leave the
nut outwards, but remember to drill the hole for the bolt.
Remember, if you leave the bolt showing, you can't thread
the "foot" in as far, so the cabinet will sit higher.
There are many
variations of this setup that you could use. If the
steel you use is strong enough, you could use a tap and just
thread the bolt into that, although it would not be as
sturdy as this method. As stated, you could use angled
steel so you can get closer to the corners. you could
grind the "feet" completely round. Also, I have also
done a setup where instead of four of these levellers, I use
steel casters in back, and these in front, so the machine
stays sturdy, but can be adjusted. Make sure you don't
try and use the el-cheapo rubber/plastic casters,
you will regret it, guaranteed. Get some steel or cast
iron roller/casters. Here is one I commonly use, and
even it is only rated for 300lbs. So far they have yet
to give out on me, however, I can surely say that the
plastic ones would probably fail at 50lbs!
If
you think of a new or better way of doing this, feel free to
drop me a line! |
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