After completing the lumber cart, I found that it was lacking a couple of things. Right off, I found the cart difficult to move when it was fully loaded.  I could pull on a panel or shelf but it was hard to get a grip on them and I was afraid that I would end up pulling something loose. I decided to put handles under one of the shelves to make it easier to move the cart around.  The second thing missing was something to hold the sheet goods to keep them from accidentally falling off the cart while I moved it around.

I started making the handles by ripping a 2X4 that was long enough for two handles to about 2” wide.  I then rounded over the bottom two edges with a ¼” router bit. 

I ripped an 85-degree edge along the length of what would be the inside of the handle followed by routing a grove with a round-nose bit along that same edge for more finger grip.  I then cut the handles to length at an angle to match the inside of the shelf assembly, again 85 degrees.

With the handles completed, I put glue on the ends and top edge, clamped them in placed, and screwed them in through the shelf and the A-frame side panels.  This created secure handles to move the cart without pulling the cart apart.

To secure the sheet goods, I mounted two pieces chain using eye bolts to one of the shelf supports at each end of the cart and then used a carabiner to connect the two pieces of chain.  This allowed me to adjust the chain depending on the amount of sheet goods on the cart. Any number f other devices could be sued to connect the pieces of chain.

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 3 – Assembling the Cart

                    Lumber Cart SketchUp Models

                    Lumber Cart Shop Drawings

I hope this series has been useful.  Let me know what you think.

Enjoy the wood,

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!

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,

A woodworking shop never has enough clamps or space and my shop is one of the smaller ones.  I built this lumber cart a while back to clear up some space in my small shop. The build is relatively straight forward starting with the base. I made mine from 2-4X8 sheets of 19/32” OSB and a couple of 2X4’s, some scrap ¾” plywood, and 4-3” locking casters.

Recommendations:

After building this cart and using it for a short while, here are a few recommendations on how I would make the cart better if I ever have to do it again.

• Use non-locking casters or only 2 locking casters in opposite corners. Even living here in earthquake country, I don’t think the casters need to be of the locking variety. It would take the “Big One” to make this thing move. If that happens, I’ve got bigger problems than figuring out how my lumber cart got moved. This would also reduce the cost slightly without affecting the functionality of the cart.
• Use 4” casters or larger. When the cart gets fully loaded, it is quite heavy making it a challenger to roll on the 3” casters that I used. 4” or larger casters would make it easier to roll, especially if you encounter a wood chip or power cord.
• Use 3/4” plywood instead of OSB if you can afford it. Placing screws on or near the edges would be more solid with plywood than with OSB.
• Install “handles” under the 3rd shelf from the top to aid in pulling cart. I did incorporate this recommendation into my cart after it was completed and, it does make it easier to start rolling out of a corner or from against a wall.

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