Designing and building a mobile shop cart and tool support

[Frank Pellow]

I have recently purchased a couple of tools and received a couple more as gifts and I need to find room for all of these in my crowded shop. I am in the early stages of designing a mobile cart where they will be used and decided to record what I actually end up building and using in this thread.

First of all the tools. They are:


A Triton 2.25 hp router as describe3d in the thread: http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1521


A Ridgid combined spindle and belt sander:

3806 3807


A Veritas Mk II power sharpening system. See: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=48435&cat=1,43072


A Viel Sander/grinder. See: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=44884&cat=1,43072


Here are some rough drawings that show what I am thinking of building:

3808 3809


The cart will fit under the Festool Multi-Function Table which means that it can not be very high. The middle of the top surface will be an indentation into which the bases supporting various tools will fit when they are being used. The sander will be stored in the cart itself. The sharpening tools and the router table insert will be stored elsewhere.

That’s as far as I have gotten.

[Jim O'Dell]

Anxious to see what you come up with. I have a long wall (<24') that I plan on building a shallow cabinet the full length of it, with an opening in the center that will accept muitiple tools. I have the cyclone ducting already there, and a box bay window to accept the back end of a SCMS so it doesn't stick out into the room very far. The cabinet top will serve as an infeed/outfeed table for the lunchbox planer, and for the SCMS, and hopefully for the RAS, as well as some other tools. So I'm very interested in your cart construction. Jim.

[Robert Schaubhut]

Hi Frank,
I, like Jim look forward to your progress and solutions to the tool and space issues we all seem to have from time to time. Thanks for your thread.:D
Shaz

[Mike Armstrong]

I got the inspiration for my mobile bases and carts from a past FWW article. It featured guy who built a variety of mobile base cabinets for his 2-car garage/shop. You can probably get some good ideas from it. I've reduced them down to get under the size limit. If they aren't good enough, PM me your email address and I'll send you full size copies.

Mike

[Frank Pellow]

Jim and Shaz, I hope that I come up with something that meets your expectations. I work better under pressure, so part of the reason I started this thread was to put myself one the spot like this.

Mike, another reason that I started the thread was to get some suggestions. Thanks for yours. I have that issue of Fine Woodworking out in the shop and will look it up tomorrow.

[Art Mulder]

Frank, I thought you bought a router table also, is that not in the mix with your Triton router?

I'm just about to build myself a flip-top stand for my DW735 planer. Seems like you've got a more complicated plan to put together.

Danny Proulx had a book on shop workstations, and I remember one interesting idea: He had a series of (not too heavy) tools mounted to boards, and they would slide into a tall cabinet for storage. Each mounting board was like a shelf. And he could pull one out and pop it on to a mobile stand for actual use. Seemed like a good idea for smaller 50lb-and-under tools.

My DW735, in contrast, I find too heavy to be muscling it up and down onto shelves, which is why I'm going with the flip-top approach.

(I pulled most of my ideas for the flip top stand from some SMC threads.)

I'll be watching this thread.

[Frank Pellow]

Frank, I thought you bought a router table also, is that not in the mix with your Triton router?

I bought a router table top and fence but not a table, that I am building. And, building it is part of this design.

I'm just about to build myself a flip-top stand for my DW735 planer. Seems like you've got a more complicated plan to put together.

YEP.

Danny Proulx had a book on shop workstations, and I remember one interesting idea: He had a series of (not too heavy) tools mounted to boards, and they would slide into a tall cabinet for storage. Each mounting board was like a shelf. And he could pull one out and pop it on to a mobile stand for actual use. Seemed like a good idea for smaller 50lb-and-under tools.

That's basicly what I plan to do. I will browse the book you reference the next time I am at Lee Valley and see if it gives me any ideas.

My DW735, in contrast, I find too heavy to be muscling it up and down onto shelves, which is why I'm going with the flip-top approach.

(I pulled most of my ideas for the flip top stand from some SMC threads.)

I'll be watching this thread.
I hope that I come up with something that is worth watching. :D

[Frank Pellow]

After spending more than two hours yesterday at my favourite woodworking library (that is, my local Lee Valley store), I have decided upon a cart that will serve as the basis for mine. The cart that I picked is featured in the 90th Issue of ShopNotes. I assume that it is OK to show a magazine cover without breaking copyright (in fact, it is good advertising), so here that cover is:

3872

The ShopNotes cart is very heavy and solid and that’s what I am looking for.
My cart will have to smaller than theirs in order for it to fit under the Festool MFT; but I think that the plans in the magazine can be easily adapted.

[Jesse Cloud]

Hi Frank,
Don't know if you have the same problem, but I have a lot of MFT accessories that need a storage place. Your cart might be a good place for that, too.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Tom Henry]

Lowes had plans for something like this on there website a while back.

[Frank Pellow]

OK, I have now built the carcass of the cart so and am able to test it out. Here is picture of the cart under my Festool Multi-Function Table (MFT):

3967

I am going to have to put the MFT up on blocks in order to accommodate the cart. But, that’s not a bad thing because I would like the MFT to be a little higher anyway.

The cart carcass is made of 18 millimetre thick baltic birch plywood. There are double thicknesses on both the top and bottom. The following parts will be added:
- Hardwood trim on all edges
- Two layers of ¾ inch MDF on the top and some ¼ inch tempered hardboard on top of that.
- A square indentation will be cut into the top layer of MDF and hardboard and this “slot” will accommodate the base of all the tools to be used on the cart
- Shelves on both ends as well as on a portion of the back
- Drawers in the smaller of the two openings

Here is a picture of my partly completed router table positioned on the cart:

3968

[Rick Thom]

Hi Frank, your solution is really taking shape, and colour-coordinated to boot!
Have you considered a sliding shelf for the sander? At 40-odd lbs, pretty tight quarters and the location of the hand holds on the sander, might be worth it for both convenience and safety (lifting /back issues).
Jeez, now you've got me thinking that I should revamp my assembly table hmmm.

[Frank Pellow]

Hi Frank, your solution is really taking shape, and colour-coordinated to boot!
Have you considered a sliding shelf for the sander? At 40-odd lbs, pretty tight quarters and the location of the hand holds on the sander, might be worth it for both convenience and safety (lifting /back issues).
Jeez, now you've got me thinking that I should revamp my assembly table hmmm.
Rick, I thought about a sliding shelf for the sander but, instead I decided that I would mount some roller bearings such as these:

3991

to the bottom of the opening, mount the sander on a piece of plywood the correct size for the cavity in the top ot the table, then simply slide the mounted sander out over the roller bearings. I will also instal some sort of stop (yet to be designed) so that the sander does not slide out except when I want it to.

[Rick Thom]

Ah, I see. I look forward to seeing the final product. It is certainly more useful and functional than my assembly table. I may have to 'borrow' some of your ideas.

[Frank Pellow]

Ah, I see. I look forward to seeing the final product. It is certainly more useful and functional than my assembly table. I may have to 'borrow' some of your ideas.
That seems more than fair Rick. I have certainly borrowed a few of your's.

[Don Taylor]

Frank!
You are a blessing in disguise. I have everything set up and waiting in the shop for me to make the first cut on my shop cabinets/counters. I know I should, but I rarely put much on paper for a simple project. I have to get it built in my head before I will start it.
I am going to build a counter situation the length of one wall (The shop is 24' X 24') centered on a really big pair of double windows. The counter will be free standing. Instead of building drawers and cabinet space into it, I will build two workstations and park them under the counter at each end. The center is where I will park myself when I need to sit and loaf.
I guess a lot of people like the version in ShopNotes #90. That's the one I intend to adapt.
Anyway.... Something just wouldn't click into place for me for the added weight and strength I wanted these two work stations to have. Your double thickness top "AND" bottom are exactly what I was looking for.
I feel like I have been living in DUH land for the last four days. :doh:
I'll be sure to follow your progress. Thanks for sharing your work. :thumb:

Don

[Frank Pellow]

Don, I am glad to have been of help.

The shop setup that you plan sounds interesting. Please tell and show us more about it as you progress.

I have been out of town most of this week and only just got home again, so have not done a lot on the cart since my last update. I do expect to make progress in the next couple of days and to post another update tomorrow eveing. I can tell you that the estimated weight of my cart is just over 200 pound without tools. And, my cart is smaller than the one in the magazine.

[Homer Faucett]

Looking good, Frank! For others considering a tool stand, you might want to consider this plan as well for the "ultimate tool stand":

http://christophermerrill.net/ww/plans/UTS/Tool_Stand_1.html .

[Frank Pellow]

Homer, that does look like a great cart/stand. :) But, it is a whole lot too big for my shop.

[Frank Pellow]

I made good progress on the cart in the last little while. Here is an account of progress showing some of the steps in the construction.

01) All the plywood edges of the cart were trimmed with hardwood. I used a couple of large rough-sawn boards (probably Beach) that a neighbour gave to me last winter for helping him clear and clean up his basement and garage. In the photo below, I am preparing to put one of the boards through my planer.

4222

02) The corner posts are substantial. In the following photo I am drilling a hole into one of the posts to support a handle:

4223

And here two posts and their enclosed handle are being installed:

4224

03) The cart will be heavy (about 200 pounds without tools or contents) so I installed 4 rotateable lockable casters each able to hold 125 pounds.

4225

Three of the four screws holding each caster are screwed into the hardwood framework.

[Frank Pellow]

04) There is a double layer of ¾ inch MDF on the top with a rectangle cut out of the middle of the top one of these.

4226

I wanted to preserve the cutout so had to be quite careful making the cut. I did this by first drilling a couple of small holes right on the line near a corner then using a very small jigsaw blade to make a plunge cut. Here is the first such cut:

4234

05) I have a profiler attachment for my Festool linear sander that makes it very easy to sand the dowels (which were recycled from a previous life):

4228

06) I attached a layer of ¼ inch hardboard on top of the MDF. The idea is that this can be replaced in the future when it gets beat up. The plans suggested that I do this using double sided tape. I did try this:

4229

but, it did not work very well; I subsequently screwed down the hardboard from the top surface with slightly countersunk screws.

07) Here is the cart with the insert that will be used when the cart is being stored and when it is being used as an assemble table, etc.

4230

08) Here is the cart with the spindle sander insert:

4231

09) Here is the cart with the partly completed router table insert:

4232

The wood on top of the router cabinet is just there to give me a feel of the location of the table top and the fence.

[Frank Pellow]

I finished the cart this week.

First of all, here is a picture of the finished cart stored under the Festool Multi-Function Table;

4609

Now, I will continue the description of the construction steps picking up with the numbering where I left off at the end of the Feb 3rd update.

10) Locking slides were installed for five small drawers:

4610

The small chuck adapter on my drill came in very handy here..

11) Lee Valley had some roller strips on sale this week for $3.50 (Canadian). I bought some to try them out in support of the sander insert:

4611 4612

They make the sander really easy to slide in and out. I went back and bought 17 more roller strips.

12) The cart was finished with two coats of Spar Urethane. The top had an extra coat of urethane followed by three coats of Johnson Past Wax.

4616

[Frank Pellow]

This post shows several photos of the finished cart.

13) Here is another photo of the cart under the table:

4619

14) Here the cart is being used with the work table insert:

4620

Notice that shelves have been installed at the end of the cart. There are also shelves at the other end and on a portion of the other side.

15) Here is the cart being used to support the spindle sander:

4621

16) And here is the cart being used to support the router table:

4622

Notice the electrical installation. I couldn’t find a 20 amp power bar so I had to wire up my own. The cord holder was constructed as per the plan for the cart in Shop Notes.

17) Here is one of the drawers that has been customized to hold router bits.:

4623

18) I still need to build a spot to hold the router table top when it is not in use. In the next week or so, I will build a cabinet in the spot shown below:

4624

This cabinet will extend the bench and will be used to store the router top, some Festool systainers, and some other tools.

added on Feb 19th: Refer to the thread http://familywoodworking.org/forums/...ead.php?t=2244 to see what I built.

19) This picture showing the router cabinet in more detail.

4625

One good thing about the Triton router is that the hose from my Festool vacuum fits the router’s below the table dust port. The result of this happy combination is almost no dust within the cabinet.

20) The fence that came with the Busy Bee router table clamps to the table but I found that the clamps did not hold the fence well enough. This appears to have been solved by gluing a narrow strip of sandpaper at the underside sides of the table where the clamps now have a non slippery surface to adhere to.

4626

21) And the final picture shows the back of the router table, fence, and cabinet:

4627

I still have to make some sort of alteration in order to be able to hook up the router table’s above the table dust chute.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Very nice, Frank. That should prove to be very useful, and you did a great job on it. :thumb:

[Rick Thom]

Great job Frank. Lots of utility in the design. It will be heavy when all tooled up.. 300 plus lbs perhaps. You may need air brakes if that cart ever gets on a roll! LOL

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks Vaughn and Rick. I have now been using the cart for three days and it is meeting all my expectations. :)

And, so far, braking has not been a problem. :D

[Chris Mire]

looks good frank, some neat ideas you got there.

ordered my triton, but it's on back order...:(

can't wait to get it in and set it up in a table.

chris

[Frank Pellow]

...

18) I still need to build a spot to hold the router table top when it is not in use. In the next week or so, I will build a cabinet in the spot shown below:

4624

This cabinet will extend the bench and will be used to store the router top, some Festool systainers, and some other tools.

...

Refer to the thread http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2244 to see what I built.

[Frank Pellow]

Here is a photo showing my dust control set up for the router table:

6735

The hose coming out the side of the table is a small (about 3 ft long) section that a group of us bought from Triton USA. It threads into the dust port on the router. I fit the other end into a hose connected to my Festool vacuum. I connect the router wire to the electric box on the back of the table and that box to the vacuum. Then I operate the router with the switch on the box. Since the vacuum is in automatic mode turning on the switch activates both the vacuum and the router.

The dust control is the best that I have ever experienced with a router. :) Notice that the port on the back of the router fence is not yet connected to anything. Next winter I will experiment with tying it into the dust-pick up system as well.

[glenn bradley]

That came out great. I had tried to think of something to do with those LV roller strips. Your idea is cool. That's a great use of space under the MFT and keeps the other flat surfaces clear of 'stored' tools.

[Frank Pellow]

I have a 16 inch bandsaw (an ACM Star 400), but it is a pain to change the blade to a small width, so I don’t bother. But, there are many small jobs that I would like to do with a bandsaw. So, I decided to purchase a small tabletop bandsaw.

After some time researching, the saw that I cose was the Craftsman 10 inch saw. The reasons for this are:


• The weight is right (about 70 pounds including the plywood base that I added). This is enough to make the saw stable but not too much for me to easily lift on and off the table.

• Almost all of the 40 or so reviews on the Sears US web site are favourable

• A fellow member of the Canadian Woodworking forum, Zhi Tian, forum is upgrading, and he offered me his old saw for a good price.

Zhi delivered the saw about a week ago and I have installed on a base so that it can share my mobile cart and tool base. I’ve also installed a smaller blade, tuned the saw, labeled all the knobs and such, and given it a good workout. Here are a couple of pictures of the saw on the cart:

17008 17009

[Don Taylor]

Looks like that is going to work great Frank.
I know what you mean.
I keep a 1/4" blade on my 18" and I don't look
forward changing it out for the bigger blades.

DT

[Greg Cook]

Nice saw, Frank. I've looked at that myself a few times when I visited our local Sears store. As mentioned, I see you already have it "organized", with labels for various adjustment points...:thumb:

Oh, I was reviewing your "Shop 2" thread again just now, and noticed the "infamous screwdriver" link doesn't work... I don't believe I know the full story there. Can you help?