Once I had the pieces cut to their final sizes and shapes, I glued and screwed the shelf pieces to the shelf supports so that they formed the stackable triangular shelf assemblies that you see in the picture.

From there, I could then attach the completed shelf assemblies to the sides of the A-frame.

I cut the bottom edge of the A-frame sides at 85 degrees to allow them to sit flat on the base when completely assembled.  Then I drilled holes for pocket screws to screw through the cover of the base and into the 2X4 frame underneath.

I also drilled pocket screw holes in the back edge of the bin separators.

The positioning of the shelf assemblies is somewhat flexible.  You can move the shelves up or down a few inches on the A-frame. This will affect the amount of space above the top shelf and below the bottom shelf.  It will also determine how wide the base of the A-frame is and how much space is available on either side of the A-frame.  I decided to make the base of the A-frame 24” wide leaving 6” in either side of the A-frame for storing lumber and sheet goods.

On my cart, I positioned the shelves at 12 1/2”, 24 1/4”, 36” and 46 3/4” from the bottom edge.  This gave me a little more storage space in the bottom of the A-frame.  It still left a small lip on top shelf to keep something from sliding or rolling off the top.

I applied glue to each shelf support and clamped them into position on the side panel and then drove screws from the outside of the A-frame into the shelf supports.

Next, I applied glue to the opposite side of each shelf support, clamped then into position on the other side panel.  I then drove screws from the outside of the A-frame into the shelf supports.

This formed the self-supporting A-frame subassembly with four shelves.

I placed the completed A-frame assembly on top of the cart base and positioned it so that the sides of the A-frame were 6” from the sides of the base.  I screwed it to the base with pocket screws.

Next were the bin separators.  I positioned the separators so that all four bins are of equal size (I could have adjusted the interior separators to create bins of different sizes).    I glued and screwed the separators into position using pocket screws into the A-frame and base.

The last two things to do were to apply glue to the bin separators and the base on the sheet-goods side and then screw the outer panels onto them.

What storage ideas do you have for storing lumber and sheet goods in a small shop?

See Also:  Lumber Cart

                    Lumber Cart Build – Part 1 – Building the Base

                    Lumber Cart Build – Part 2 – Preparing the A-frame Parts

                    Lumber Cart Build – Part 4 – Accessorizing

                    Lumber Cart SketchUp Models

                    Lumber Cart Shop Drawings

Enjoy the wood!

Last night I added a detailed SketchUp model of my rebuilt G7947 17” Floor Drill Press by Grizzly Industrial to the model download area.  The dimensions of the drill press are roughly 30”L X 21”W X 70”H.

You can download the SketchUp model here.

Have a great day,

I began building the A-frame section of the lumber cart by cutting a second 4X8 sheet of OSB in half to create two 4X4 sheets that would form the sides of the A-frame structure. 

Then I cut to size the shelf pieces, bin separators, and side retainer pieces from the sheet of OSB left over from cutting the top skin of the cart base and then I cut the bin separators to their final shape.

Cutting the bin separators to their final shape meant cutting a 5-degree taper on one of the long sides and a curve along the top edge (the top edge now being the wider of the two ends) making for easier access to shorter pieces of lumber in the bins.  There are probably several ways to cut the 5-degree taper but, I chose to build a taper jig for the table saw (I’ll post a blog and SU model for that later).

To cut the curves, I first used a compass to draw the curve and then cut it out on the bandsaw (this bandsaw has since been replaced by a Grizzly G0555P, 14”).  Because the curve was large compared to the width of the separator and close to the edge, drawing the curve required placing a piece of scrap OSB at the appropriate distance from the edge of the separator for the center of the arc.  I could have free-handed the curve but, I chose to use a compass.

Once the curve was cut, I smoothed it out with a sanding drum on my 10” bench-top drill press (I have since added a used Grizzly G7947, 17” floor drill press and will be selling the BTDP).  I used this process to make the curve on the first bin separator and then used it as a template to mark the curve on the remaining separators.

The next step was to cut the shelf supports to length.  You can use 1X3 or 1X4 material. I had some 1X4 and 2X4 on hand so I used the 2X4s on one side and the 1X4s the other side.  I then cut one of the long edges at 85 degrees on the table saw so that the shelves would sit flat on the supports.  I think the cart could be assembled without going to this detail, especially using 1X material, but, it was easy to do and it make for a better fit so I did.

Because of the size of the A-frame side panels, I used a circular saw to cut the 85 degree edge along the bottom of the panels.  I clamped a fence in place to guide the saw.

OSB has a tendency to flake; especially at the edges so the final step in preparing the A-frame parts was to smooth all potentially exposed edges with a palm router and 1/8” round-over bit then a quick once-over with sandpaper.

See Also:  Lumber Cart

                   Lumber Cart Build – Part 1 – Building the Base

                   Lumber Cart Build – Part 3 – Assembling the Cart

                   Lumber Cart Build – Part 4 – Accessorizing

                   Lumber Cart SketchUp Models

                    Lumber Cart Shop Drawings

Have a great day,

When I ordered my new Grizzly bandsaw I knew that I would need some new blades to go with it.  I had used Timber Wolf blades on my old band saw and was very satisfied with their quality.  For my old bandsaw, I purchased the Timber Wolf blades at Woodcraft.  Doing that again would mean that the 4 blades that I wanted would cost me around $100 – $120.  That was more than I could afford along with the saw so I started looking around to see if I could find the Timber Wolf blades cheaper from another source.

Here’s what I found while searching for Timber Wolf blades.

Example blade specifications: 105” X ½” X 0.25”, 3PC

Woodcraft & Amazon:  $30.99
Grizzly Industrial:  $23.50 (Updated 2/13/12)
PS Wood Machines (Supplies Woodcraft who, in turn, sells through Amazon):  $22.90 (Updated 2/13/12)
Suffolk Machinery:  $21.30

Suffolk also has a one-time offer of a free silicon steel blade with the purchase of 3 other silicon steel blades.  Click here for the details.  (Updated 2/13/12:  It appears that Suffolk no longer offers the one-time free blade)

My 4 new Timber Wolf blades from Suffolk Machinery ended up costing me only $69.57 including shipping.

For re-sawing veneers, I also purchased a Wood Slicer blade from Highland Woodworking.  I couldn’t find the Wood Slicer blades anywhere else but Highland Woodworking.  I haven’t tested this blade yet but, if it’s as good as all of the reviews say, I’ll be very happy.  I’ll let you know the results as soon as I have a chance to try it out.