WEN Mobile Base, Universal Heavy Duty, 500-Pound Capacity for Tools and Machines (MB500)

This a nice unit. It's well constructed of good quality materials. Assembly was easy and straight forward. It was a good addition to my belt/disc sander project. The machine is now easily moved around and the base has no trouble supporting the weight of the machine. I estimate the machine weight at 200-ish pounds. I'm very happy with it.

I'm buying my third one today. I've also purchased a higher end mobile base for a much heavier planer (1000lbs); I can make a bit of a comparison. This base is not as smooth to operate as a $120 base, which should be kinda obvious given the price difference. The adjustable feet seem a little flimsy, but have not broken on either of the bases I have so far. The wheel raising/lowering paddle that you are meant to operate with your foot is the primary reason for a bit of clunky-ness. If you are wearing normal shoes, the lever takes a bit more force than I find comfortable on the top of the foot to lower the tool into the stationary position on the feet. You can kind lift the saw or machine and that takes some of the resistance out of the paddle lever, or you can bend over and pull them both up with your hand. I find I use my hand more than lifting the saw. Even then, it often fights me and the mechanism feels like it is binding. This is probably a byproduct of the need for the mechanism to have some bite to hold the wheel down for rolling without collapsing, but either way it has a hitch in it's git-a-long so to speak. Since I have bought two of them and they both have the same feel, I think it is safe to say that it's just the way they are. When raising the tool back onto the wheels to move it, the levers work pretty well by just stepping down onto them. However, once on the wheels, they do seem to have a little bit more limited ability to turn which I think is caused by the fact that they are essentially not turning on a plane parallel to the ground. You can see this in the close up photo of the caster wheel on the lever. By contrast, moving a much heavier tool in a more expensive base is just a smoother process even though it still requires bending down to use your hands. The wheels on the caster end roll and turn a little smoother because the mounting plate stays parallel to the ground. Making the tool stationary is done by turning two knobs to lower feet, which otherwise hover maybe 1/16" above the floor while moving the tool. Moving it on the wheels is done by turning those knobs the other way to raise the feet. All that said, I would still recommend this base for lighter tools that you want to move around the shop. When you are buying enough mobile bases to move half a dozen tools around, the price difference is a big savings and this base is plenty good even if it feels a bit cheap to use. Giving it 5 stars with price being a big factor. If you want the highest quality feel to your mobile base, this isn't it, but if you want a very functional mobile base for the least amount of money spent, I think it's hard to beat the WEN Edit on 3/3/24: I used my 3rd base on a bandsaw, which is the lightest tool I have on a mobile base. For this tool, these work excellent and the problems stated aren't much of a problem at all. If your tool is only 200lbs or so, these will raise and lower with your foot just fine, swivel and move pretty smoothly, etc. If you are putting it on a tool that's closer to the rated max, like a unisaw or a 15 inch planer, that's when you will encounter more trouble with the raising/lowering mechanism and the angled casters. I'm buying a 4th base for another tool, obviously I still think they are a great value and would recommend them. Even more so for lighter tools like a 14 inch bandsaw.

If you’re looking at this Wen base, you probably already know your way around tools. That’s good because as other reviewers have noted, you’re probably going to need some of that knowledge to get this set up right. Others have commented about quality control. I had a similar problem with parts that did not fit well (judicious use of an angle grinder helped) and mediocre instructions. That said, assembly is not difficult and there are plenty of videos online to assist in the process. Other than an overly tight caster mount on one side (hence the grinder), mine went together easily with a bit of trial and error to get the rail lengths just right. I had been frustrated trying to get the base level when the casters are retracted; even when the casters are folded up the wheels are a bit too large for the rubber support feet to have solid contact without being too high on the caster end. Speaking of the casters, Wen skimped on the ball bearings. They are one or two short of a full complement and they're not lubed. If this was going to be moving the rated 500 pounds on a routine basis I'd be looking for replacement casters. To fix the tilt I turned the caster wheels’ diameter down a bit, and it doesn’t appear to be much of an issue now that I’ve bolted my 125-pound drill press to it. As shown, I did add a ¾ inch piece of plywood for the drill press base to rest upon. I don’t plan on moving this often, probably only during the occasional cleaning of the shop, but I think it will be a good accessory. Fully assembled it’s solid, weighty, and provides a larger footprint for the top-heavy drill press. Minus one star for the fitment and quality control issues.

I had ordered this WEN MB500 to use under my jointer. The jointer weighs probably 200-250lbs. However when I placed the order it was out of stock, so Amazon gave me the "we'll send you an email when we know when it will ship" notice. I wasn't in a big hurry, and this was the cheapest mobile base in this class on Amazon, so I figured I could wait a couple days. Well, a couple days turned in to a couple weeks and by the time I finally I received it, I had acquired another base for the jointer and ended up using this one on my planer instead. The planer only weighs maybe 150lbs. Now that it's here I am happy with the investment though. To start, this is an all-steel construction with the exception of the wheels and some spacers. It comes with 4 long rails, 4 short rails, two fixed wheel corners, two lift wheel corners, and enough bolts to give a lot of flexibility on how to put it together. I like it better than the ones that just bolt to a sheet of plywood that you have to cut to the proper size, although you could certainly add plywood to this one too if you wanted. That makes for a lot of flexibility and allows using it for different tools in the future should you decide to trade up. In my case I needed a 21x26" base. 26" is about the longest span the long rails can manage by themselves, and it only allows two adjacent holes to be used, which seemed like it wasn't an ideal situation if you had something really heavy on it. I ended up adding the short rails and a couple washers as reinforcement, partly for strength, but mostly for storage of the parts in case I decided to use it on something else some day. If I needed to go any longer, then I would have needed to use a combination of long and short rails joined together to get more length. The lift arms seem sturdy. I added some grease to the mating surfaces during assembly to make sure they operate smoothly. They seem to stay in the raised position ok, but it's not quite as positive a lock as you might like. One of them kind of "snaps" in to the raised position, but I think that's mainly because there is a little lump in the weld that works as kind of a detent. The other one is a little less positive feeling and seems like it could easily get knocked down if you kicked it while moving. It never released on me, so hopefully it will continue to hold firm and I'm just being paranoid. Since my tool wasn't that heavy, I also stood on the end with the levers and even with the combined weight of the planer and I (> 300lbs) they operated easily. With my weight centered over the lever end, the actual weight being lifted was probably comparable to what it would be with a 500lb machine with it's weight spread more evenly. If I could give 4 1/2 stars I might knock off a half star for the "feel" of the levers, but really it's being kind of nit-picky since they haven't actually failed to hold yet. If they do, I may come back and update my review, but for now I am quite pleased. When you factor in that this is about the cheapest "tool class" mobile base on Amazon, I think it was a great buy.

I bought the Wen to be able to move an old Sears craftsman drill-press around my shop. I was worried that the drill-press would be too top heavy to be able to use a rolling system. The drill-press is a floor model with a heavy base. I was able to customize the Wen to custom fit it to the drill-press base and it works great. My shop has a smooth floor surface which makes it easy to move around the shop. It was easy to put together even though the instruction illustrations are not good. I did learn that it is best to keep all the bolts loose until everything is together then tighten everything after the assembly. I messed up by using a power ratchet which tightened the bolts too much and slightly bent some of the metal parts. The Wen has been especially useful, and I bought a second one for my bandsaw. The second time putting the Wen together was quite easy. It makes moving and storing my heavy power tools a breeze. I may buy a third.

Sometimes this brand feels like a gamble. I'm this case, I'm very impressed with the quality. It's heavy duty. I have my bandsaw sitting in this mobile base now and am very happy with it so far. The installation manual isn't that great. It comes with pictures that are so zoomed in that it was hard to see what was even happening in the picture. But I figured it out. Glad I didn't overspend on a mobile base.

All I can say, is this is one purchase that completely surprised me with the quality and price. Works terrific for my old craftsman table saw!

I recently purchased 2 of these tool stand rollers. **Quality of Materials:** The roller frames are constructed from solid steel, which gives them a heavy and durable feel—aside from the wheels, which are more lightweight. Overall, they seem to be well-made and capable of handling the tasks I need them for: Tool stand mobility for my chop saw and small band/disc sander. **Assembly Experience:** The assembly process had its challenges. One of the units came with a lock lever frame that was too tight, requiring some effort to pry it open a bit—definitely a slight quality control issue. Additionally, I found the instructions to be a bit confusing. They felt like they might have been created by a low motivated intern with a passion for Japanese Manga: as the most critical info for such builds (Parts list, names, and quantities) was put in the back of the booklet, and the pictures used were too dark to make good use of. **Metric vs. US Sizes:** When it comes to tools the instructions offer both US and Metric size socket suggestions. Heed my warning: use the metric sizes provided in the instructions and consider this a metric build. I tried using the US socket sizes, but they kept slipping and caused significant frustration. Once I obtained metric sizes, they worked perfectly and made the assembly much smoother. **Height Adjustment & Frustration Tips:** Adjusting the height of the screw-in rubber static feet was somewhat of a headache, as I struggled to get them set just right during the build. I recommend setting them after the assembly is complete for easier adjustments. Also, be cautious with the static wheels: the axle bolt and nut may later be needed as bolt supports for the sidebars. I suggest only minimal hand tightening any outer frame, and static wheel bolts until you are sure of the layout size wise — tightening everything fully only after confirming the setup works for your space. **Final Thoughts:** The good news is that once you've assembled one stand, the second one goes together much quicker. By a third build, you'll feel confident, and the design will begin to shine. Overall, I am pleased with the purchase and the eventual outcome, despite the initial setbacks during assembly. If you're considering these WEN's toolstand roller, just remember to prepare for a metric build, be patient during the assembly process, and if you want pocket change for ice cream afterwards - hid the Curse/Swear Jar!