Seeking tips/advice on building a sheet-good storage cart

[branimal]

I have some partial sheet-goods from past projects leaning up against walls. Plywood, cement board (full sheets), etc. I'd like to get the mess sorted out.

I have enough 1 1/2" square tube (~ 1/8 wall thickness) for the job. I have casters and a partial sheet of 3/4" plywood for the base.

I found this cart on Uline's website. Seems like a decent design. The cart is 30" wide, 60" long" and the uprights are ~30" tall off the deck.

I'm going to mig weld it together.

Any tips or advice on what you would change in the design?

Uline cart link

 

[ycgoat]

No advice, but I have been eye balling these as well but was leaning toward one of these

Adjustable Panel Truck - 30 x 60

Customize your truck to fit any size panel or sheet. 7 socket positions for maximum versatility. Includes 2 of each upright height: 12", 24", and 36". 6" polyurethane casters: 2 swivel, 2 rigid. 1 ton capacity.ULINE offers over 41,000 boxes, plastic poly bags, mailing tubes, warehouse supplies...

www.uline.com

Because of the adjustability. I have gone back and forth on making something but I do not already have the material and to buy everything now puts me close the cost of the new one

 

[ez-duzit]

I see no reason at all to have material storage that can be rolled around.

 

[nadogail]

Look at the panel carts at Home Depot, or a catalog; they have been found to be pretty good for the purpose.

 

[whateg01]

I see no reason at all to have material storage that can be rolled around.

I have found that it's a lot easier to move it when the time comes if it's on wheels. That said, casters develop a mind of their own when they have a lot of weight on them. Consider that sheet goods weight adds up pretty fast. It's easy to get it loaded to the point where some casters won't roll at all. For things like that, I have started building it to allow my pallet jack to move it. I still have some with casters but some of the casters have developed flat spots. A friend has had awful luck with urethane casters crumbling after a few years, as well.

Keep in mind that the lateral force can also be pretty significant. When you shove all of the pieces in one slot to one side to get to the piece on the "bottom" the farther from vertical they are, the more force they are applying to whatever you use for uprights. I underestimated that force on a skid I built for some metal and had to reinforce the outer most uprights.

 

[Zeke]

I bet you can buy one that has been trashed from HD, etc.

 

[The Cobbler]

when I was contracting full time I was going to make a cart for hauling 6"x48" vinyl plank flooring into buildings . I had the base formed , have the casters etc and never got around to it.
one thing I was going to do is put large swivel casters on each end, with a set of non swivel in the center, raised up so the cart would teeter totter on the center casters, making it easier to make tight turns .

 

[ez-duzit]

What I have done for partial and full-size sheet good storage is made a wall rack in the narrow space next to the overhead door. Located right next to my assembly bench, the rack also serves for clamp storage.

 

[NakeDiesel]

This is what I just built to solve this type of problem, I don't keep much sheet type material, few sheets of plywood or whatnot or parts of sheets, I have a bunch of lumber and steel tubing, angle, strap, etc. You could shorten the side I made big for dimensional lumber and steel and expand the sheet side.

 

[Monza Harry]

I built a "multi H" (4 shelf) steel rack, I built this to be finished into the bench for my garage ((revision 3 is actually complete minus paint R4&5 in queue) what I had strongly considered adding a piece of "C" channel on the back at the bottom for sheet goods to be sandwiched between the bench and wall. I abandoned the plan as access to this in my garage would have been awkward and the bench size would have been compromised. I also had planned on a roller at the access point to facilitate easier loading and unloading. Harry

 

[LeeG]

My recommendation is to put the best casters you can afford on it. Granted that my cart is mostly for steel, but it quickly got too heavy for the “decent but not great” casters I used initially. I replaced them with some quality casters from McMaster and it is much easier to roll around.

Lee

 

[NakeDiesel]

My recommendation is to put the best casters you can afford on it. Granted that my cart is mostly for steel, but it quickly got too heavy for the “decent but not great” casters I used initially. I replaced them with some quality casters from McMaster and it is much easier to roll around.

Lee

I'm hoping mine hold up once I get it loaded down, but they appear to be decent quality ones. Paid 140 bucks for the 4 of them, they are rated at 5k between the 4 of them.

 

[Toolfool]

I like to build lumber/plywood storage in place (horizontally or vertically). Pushing a cart loaded with sheet goods sounds like a PITA.

 

[whateg01]

Fixed storage is great if you have the space for it. Not everybody does though.

 

[ez-duzit]

Fixed storage is great if you have the source for it. Not everybody does though.

You must mean space.

If you have the space for the material on a cart, and space to move the cart around (I don't), then you must have space for the material in a fixed storage rack.

For a cart that won't tip over, you need feet of width. Fixed storage, like I have built, only requires inches.

 

[whateg01]

You must mean space.

If you have the space for the material on a cart, and space to move the cart around (I don't), then you must have space for the material in a fixed storage rack.

For a cart that won't tip over, you need feet of width. Fixed storage, like I have built, only requires inches.

Stupid smart phone! Yes, space. I'll fix it. Thanks.

I disagree. I know people who have to basically wheel everything out of their garage under car carport so they can work in the garage. Otherwise, it's just a walkway.

 

[NakeDiesel]

Stupid smart phone! Yes, space. I'll fix it. Thanks.

I disagree. I know people who have to basically wheel everything out of their garage under car carport so they can work in the garage. Otherwise, it's just a walkway.

Yep, before I moved back to Oklahoma and bought the farm and built my shop, I was crammed into a little 2 car garage to work on projects. This is a pic before I added an 80 gallon vertical compressor and a separate air chiller to remove moisture from the compressed air.

I had to move things around/out depending on what I was working on at the moment.

Sad thing is, with my 40x80 shop, I still end up doing this with all the **** I store in there, such as parts of projects, future projects, current projects and all the materials I keep on hand as it's an hour drive to get most things I might need.

old 2 car garage:

I dismantled a 69 Camaro in there, sand blasted all the parts and coated it all in epoxy to get it ready to sit till I have time to begin cutting basically the back half of the car off and start restoring it.


Shop as it sits now:

69 Camaro in the far back corner, next to it is a farmall m tractor needing the engine rebuilt, next to that is the orange truck that's a mud race truck I've built and raced, currently need to finish up the engine rebuilt on it. Next to that is my motorcycle/4 wheeler lift. Inside the tent is the back half of a 4010 John Deere tractor I've started going back together with and parts piled up in areas that I haven't worked on yet. The side you can't see has the rest of my 20' workbench, compressor room, bathroom and the room with all my bee keeping equipment and is setup like a commercial kitchen (still working on getting it finished) and my first bay. Along the wall are my mig and stick welders, plasma torch, ice box (fridge), welding table, mobile fab station (contains 2 grinders, band saw, 2 position sander and drill press)

 

[branimal]

I started welding the main frame yesterday and got the wheel supports tacked into place. Slight change of plans on the uprights. I was going to make all three uprights 31" tall off the deck. Now I'm thinking staggered heights to accommodate shorter (all ready cut) sheetgoods. Maybe 18",24" 31" tall uprights.

I got all the metal (12 gauge 1 1/2" square tube) and wheels for free from a TV production a couple of years ago. They had two chandelier transport carts they wanted to get rid of. I spent a few hours cutting it all up with a grinder. There's no way I would have built this if I didn't get the metal/wheels for free. It's amazing how quickly material disappears when building something.

Pic of the frame and the wheels below.

 

[branimal]

Got the cart done last week. Here are some pics. I should have taken pictures before I started loading it up.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[NakeDiesel]

I got mine loaded down last week before I had to head off to London, England for a week of work there.

Thinking I should have added 1 more level up

20230621_163953 by NakeDiesel, on Flickr

20230621_163958 by NakeDiesel, on Flickr