Critique My Lumber Cart Design

[mculik5]

Trying to clean my shop up a bit and decided to build a lumber cart. Took a look at some pics online and then designed my own in SketchUp. Although it's a basic design, would love a "second set of eyes" to provide feedback/suggestions.

FYI, I didn't model the shelves that will go in the middle of the A, nor did I model the casters (there will be 6, each rated at 250lbs). Also, on the sheet goods side, I'm going to chamfer the edges of the battens to aid in sliding plywood in/out without catching an edge, and the horizontal battens on the bottom will be UHMW, not wood.

Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[dltflt]

Looks similar to the one I made except mine is on casters. Reinforcing the bottom was smart. My bottom is sagging in the middle.

 

[jimbo51]

My bottom is sagging in the middle.

Mine too.

 

[bkharman]

UHMW is good but sometimes casters or PVC pipe is a great alternative. Maybe use small pieces of PVC or UHMW on the bottom of the plywood channel to slide on and out easily.

Looks great mate... now build it!  ;^)

Cheers. Bryan.

EDIT: from the first snap, it looks like you have UHMW on the base.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mario Turcot]

I would change the dividers to have them a minimum of 2" on top. That way longer boards will have something to keep them from sliding out. Something similar to Steve Ramsey cart

tube

 

[Chris Cianci]

I built one quite similar I only wish for sheet goods that I built it to store the plywood vertically rather that horizontally, it would help preserve horizontal space , Many times I’ll have tools in front of mine because it’s 8 feet long. I’d recommend consider building up and take advantage of any vertical space in your shop
Best

 

[mculik5]

Really appreciate the comments. Mario, your comment was especially helpful - I clearly didn't think of that.

Chris, will give some thought to a vertical cart, as I do have vertical space.

 

[Mario Turcot]

This is going to be one of my project in the near future. I will build mine base on Steve Ramsey cart. I also like Chris idea to go up for vertical storage. That pops some idea to also store my track saw guide rails witch is what i'm looking at right now. Most of the ply I use is BB 5'x5', so my cart will be 5' long. I find 8' to be combersome and a lot harder to move. Unfortunately wall space is a premium in my shop, otherwise I would go with a fix storage rack.

Please shoot us some pictures of your build  [big grin]

 

[Alanbach]

I have input on two areas.

1. I would suggest that you raise the height of the outer retaining piece in the area where you will you will store the large sheet goods on the slant and add a safety chain that will surround the sheets towards the top. Inevitably you will need to slide out the sheet that is on the inside and you will need to manipulate the stack safely in order to get it out.

2. I would just note something that you might already know. Lumber carts get super heavy and are a giant pain to move around regardless of the quantity or quality of the casters. Done imperfectly they are an accident waiting to happen. I don’t know your situation but you might want to consider making the lumber rack stationary. I understand that wall space is precious but you can make the outer wall of the unit a solid wall so it just results in a bump out that can be used as “wall space”.

 

[Alanbach]

Also, here is a previous thread which might also be useful.
http://festoolownersgroup.com/member-projects/one-material-cart-to-rule-them-all/

 

[sprior]

Here's mine which is very similar.  One thing I'd suggest is to have one of the front divisions at least 49" wide so you can stick a half sheet there.  You also want the biggest wheels you can fit so it rolls better.  The middle area where I have one shelf is a bit of a hassle as long boards go in there but they sit on top of each other at odd angles and jam each other in place.  Not sure what the fix is, but more shelves might be a possibility so that boards are sitting on a shelf and not each other as much.

The other issue is when you've got the full sheet side maxed out and pieces start to fall over (especially if a piece is slightly bowed or when you're moving it).  I've thought about some kind of strap going over the top from the other side to help keep things in place.

I'd also skip the horizontal battens - even if they're low friction they'd catch while sliding the edge over them.

 

[Alanbach]

After reading sprior’s comment and re-examining your plan I agree with him that the battens are a potential problem. If it was mine I would not use battens vertically or on the bottom. Once you push the sheet past halfway in, maintaining any upward angle will be challenging and the sheets will likely catch (even if they are beveled). I believe that they will be more of a hindrance than a help. If you do decide to use them I would advise that you use brads only and no glue. That way if they turn out to be a problem they will be super easy to remove.

 

[sprior]

Now that I think of it, if you want low(er) friction sliding then why not use melamine for the surfaces instead of plywood.

 

[sprior]

I would also consider something similar to what I did for the front fence - you want it high enough that it helps pieces not fall over, but having the opening between the top and bottom sections does help you get in there for small stuff.  It's also not very important for the vertical dividers to go anywhere near all the way to the top, but if you like the looks of it that way it doesn't hurt either.

 

[harry_]

I would run the 'side' battens horizontally, if I had them at all and use 2-3x the amount of the battens on bottom. As others have said, melamine might be a better choice on the bottom.

 

[mculik5]

Thanks, everyone. Really good suggestions.

I've given it some more thought. I'm going to stick with my current overall design, holding the plywood horizontally as opposed to vertically, and keeping the base on casters. Based on your suggestions, I'm going to change:

- bottom plywood to melamine and remove the bottom battens
- change the vertical battens to horizontal (I like having some kind of standoff so I can always get my hand behind the last sheet easily)
- lower the compartment dividers to save material
- install threaded iron pipe coming off the base and up vertically on the plywood side to provide a rest for when I want to lean sheets forward

I'll see if I have time to model this and post here. Renovating our powder room right now, so I'm currently spending my nights painting. Hoping to get started on this next weekend.