I’m going to try to make a new and improved tool to adjust the height of the retractable wheels I use on my workbenches. I’ll use my new xTool P2 laser, but the plans include printable templates to stick on the board and make the cuts with a band saw or jigsaw.
xTool P2 CO2 Laser – Affiliate Link (Europe)
xTool P2 CO2 Laser – Affiliate Link (USA)
If you have this kind of wheel at home and you’re interested in making this adjustment tool, I’ll leave a link in the button below so that you can download the files for free.
Retractable Wheel Wrench Plans
This is the one I made years ago, but it has two problems. Due to the rack being straight, it’s easy to bump against the front and back parts of the wheel that are made of metal. Besides, I made it with HPL, a material that’s much harder than the plastic of the cogwheel, and I’ve noticed it’s starting to warp it.
This is the new design with a curved rack. This time I’m going to use maple hardwood. I’ll try to cut this 10mm thick piece with the laser at full power, advance about 20mm and in three passes, as well as engraving some details into the wood.
It seems it’s cut it without any issues. And now all that’s left is to glue the three parts of the adjustment tool together using some brass rods to reinforce the handle. I think the result is quite decent, even on the edges of the wood. It doesn’t cease to amaze me that a laser can cut through maple wood so easily.
With this new tool, I managed to almost completely avoid the two issues I mentioned earlier. Here in the third photo you can see the marks that the old tool left on the cogwheel.
