Angle Grinder Cart

[jimgood]

Completed cart pics...

View media item 58938
View media item 58939
View media item 58940
Build progress pics...

View media item 57540
View media item 57541
View media item 58116
View media item 58547
View media item 58546
View media item 58641
View media item 58662
View media item 58661
View media item 58881
I didn't get a pic of the piece I bent to close the bottom of the cart.

 

[txvwnut]

Yeah that's damn nice right there.

 

[Farmall450]

Very nice! I like that shroud you put on there.

 

[sberry]

Not bad, all that is certainly a problem. The cords are a never ending battle and if the stock is critical you can see at a glance.

 

[saceone]

you know you've made it in life when you have a dedicated angle grinder cart+supplies

well done!

 

[sberry]

you know you've made it in life when you have a dedicated angle grinder cart+supplies

well done!

I thought about this a bit. This may not have been the first thing I did for a new shop but the op looks like he has his feet under himself and in the long haul this may save some work.
I have all of my specialty stuff in air but use 1 or 2 electrics with 1/4 grinding wheels on them and they do 95% of the work. All our drilling and sawzalls are cordless.
But in a shop like I envision the op being in from what background we can see this selection of routinely used grinders would suffice. Air can be tossed in a drawer but these little fuggers got cords, the are cheaper to buy and a lot cheaper to operate than air but even a couple of them is a tangled mess and they got to go somewhere and as a bonus may help the life of rubber cords.

 

[sberry]

This is custom built but a guy certainly could reduce the labor some by salvage with the core pieces and use the same principle for the cord management. I was thinking file cab with the duct on the side etc.

 

[jimgood]

Thanks for the kind words. I have had the tubing and some of the aluminum sheet laying around for a while. I would have had all of it but I boogered up my last sheet of aluminum and couldn't use it for the back so I had to buy another 4 x 8 and have it cut. That set me back about $80 but I still have most of that left over for other projects. Most expensive thing was the casters.

It was also an excuse to buy the HF 36" sheet metal brake. I could have done without that as I formed the first piece by hand, clamping the sheet on my bench with some angle at the bends and hammering. It was not pretty. But I wanted those long bends on the back to be nice and clean so the brake worked best for that.

Later today or tomorrow I'll be adding a multi plug so that all the grinders will be plugged in and I'll just connect an extension cord to the cart. Needs a handle too.

 

[jimgood]

Forgot to mention the motivation for building this.

The grinders and all the accessories were under a work bench in cardboard boxes. I was constantly digging around for one thing or another. When I'm welding stuff I usually have at least two grinders on my welding bench; one for prepping the metal and one for grinding and finally fitting. They always end up competing for space on top of the bench.

This way, the grinders and all their accessories/tools are in one place and I can roll them wherever I need them. Hanging at waist height like this will ensure they're easy to pick up and put down and are not on the bench when not in use.

The only issue now is that the boxed area for the cords is, well, boxed. I was going to use expanded metal for the bottom but changed my mind. So, debris might collect in there. Oh, well.

 

[jimgood]

Multi plug won't work unless you're very close to your work.
You need a male self winder reel to the wall outlet and a female self winder reel for the tool to have some mobilty. Cart goes to the work space(from its storage space), grinder goes from the cart through the car door/obstacle and to the dash/specific job.

If you're going to get organized you might as well organize it all.

It'll work. If I need more mobility, I'll plug directly into the extension cord. Most of what I do with the grinder involves a part on the bench getting cleaned up. If I was building trailers or something, it would definitely not be useful.

 

[sberry]

I would be tempted to wire the spot on my bench if I could help it or use a 14 or better wire with a power strip. If no strip is used then use a 12 cord. But part of the beauty here is the simplicity, nothing to disconnect or snag, I might hang a simple 16/25 on it as a convenience for away from bench.

 

[jimgood]

I got a power strip and shortened the cord on it. I made a little shroud for it then riveted the shroud onto the back panel. I epoxied the power strip into the shroud.

I went over the edge of the back panel with some sand paper to smooth it out then covered it with electrical tape to keep the cords from getting abraded.

Tested it briefly and it seems to be working fine but we'll have to see what happens when I start grinding stuff. Started working on a handle but this was one of those mornings when I just didn't have what I needed to finish the job. Then it started raining so I gave up for the day.

View media item 59016

 

[firemanast]

Very nice build I need to do the same.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Very nice, if the back get full of grinder dust and stuff, just use your shop vac.

 

[jimgood]

Very nice, if the back get full of grinder dust and stuff, just use your shop vac.

Thanks. That's exactly what I was thinking. I already dropped a roll of electrical tape down there but was able to fish it out as there's plenty of room to reach down there with my arm. So the shop vac will reach too. It will be interesting to see what else drops down there as time goes on.

Edit: I just noticed the stink bug in that last pic. Damn I hate these things.