Plywood mobile cart

[Augusto Orosco]

Nothing innovative here, but it works very well for my needs. I used two 4" swivel locking casters and 2 fixed casters from SES Industries. The use of fixed casters was a great suggestion from a thread at SMC discussing this A-frame type carts. Had I used swivel casters for the 4 corners, this monster would be impossible to maneuver. Currently is holding 3 full sheets of ¾ ply, a full sheet of ¾ MDF, lots of plywood scrap and some 8’ 2x4. It must be holding hundreds of pounds but I can still move it with some minor effort. It’s positioned against one of the short walls in my garage…err shop and all I need to do is swing it 45deg. to have easy access to the sheets. It’s really making my workflow much more efficient.

[John Thompson]

A very useful build especially where space is a premium. Nice job!

[Jeff Monson]

Augusto,

Really nice design, I need something like that to house both cutoffs and sheetgoods.

Is it 4 feet wide on the bottom? And how many sheets did it take for the construction?

[Augusto Orosco]

Augusto,

Really nice design, I need something like that to house both cutoffs and sheetgoods.

Is it 4 feet wide on the bottom? And how many sheets did it take for the construction?

Thanks, John and Jeff.

I copied most of the design from plans in Tom Carpenter's book. http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Woodworking-Tom-Carpenter/dp/0980068878/ref=pd_sim_b_6 (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Woodworking-Tom-Carpenter/dp/0980068878/ref=pd_sim_b_6)

My only modification was to leave both sides of the long shelves open so I can better store longer boards (particularly cheap 8' 2x4s that I always have lying around). The original design called for one side covered with a little hanger for clamps.

At the bottom, I don't think it's wider than 30 inches, but I have to check the plans (the book is currently in the shop, so I can't check them now). The side that stores the full sheet goods has a 5 degree incline and can accommodate 4 sheets of 3/4 plywood with some wiggle room for maybe another 1/2" or 1/4" sheet. The cart is 6 feet long.

I used 3.5 sheets of 3/4 plywood in the construction; so you can imagine how heavy it is when you load it up. The joinery is only screws, glue and dadoes and you don't need high quality ply for this (the book even suggests cheap A/C plywood). You need casters than can handle the heavy load, though. The ones I bought are from SES industries and are holding up pretty well.

If I were to do it again, I would make the two widest scrap bins wider and make the remaining ones narrower. A lot of my scrap pieces seem to be just a tiny bit too wide for the bins.

[Derek Tuchscherer]

There is a plan almost identical to this along with the associated "online extra" in Shopnotes Issue 55


http://www.shopnotes.com/issues/055/extras/roll-around-store-all/

Derek