Need ideas for adding power to a cart.

[kturn15]

I would like for it to appear as clean as possible. I have a 5 drawer Harbor Freight cart. I saw on here in a thread that was several years old where someone added a snap on power supply, however that seems to be no longer available. Thanks in advance.

 

[DoyleDee]

Maybe a rack mount power strip would fit what you want.

 

[Cyberbear]

I'm presuming by "power supply" you are talking about a typical 120 volt service duplex outlet to be added to your cart. I've done several of these over the past years and they consisted of a standard metallic handy box, duplex 15 amp outlet, duplex metallic cover, a cord grip and an amount of 14/3 machine tool cord with U-ground male plug.
I sometimes used an exterior cast metal outlet box for appearance sake. These set-ups are cheap and work very well for simple shop or garage work.

 

[Norcal]

I cannot for any reason think of why someone should EVER use a GD "handy box", a screen door in the hull of a submarine is more useful, either use a 4X4 box (1900 box) and a raised cover with a single duplex receptacle or GFCI receptacle, or a double duplex raised cover, another way is to use a weatherproof box ("Bell Box") in either a single or 2 gang version with a stainless steel plate, they look pretty clean, just never do or use it in any place under OSHA jurisdiction. They would prob buy it if a FS or FD type box was used which is not carried at big box stores.

 

[nadogail]

A Bell Box with weatherproof cover and a cord grip get my vote.

To paraphrase a favorite movie "We don't need no stinking OSHA'

 

[kturn15]

I was looking more towards a power supply that comes in higher end boxes being made to work in a harbor freight box.

 

[JamesW84]

Any reason why you couldnt mount a power strip to your toolbox? Use an extension cord to plug it in. No wiring needed.

 

[Norcal]

A Bell Box with weatherproof cover and a cord grip get my vote.

To paraphrase a favorite movie "We don't need no stinking OSHA'

A weatherproof cover is cumbersome, stainless works better in a dry location.

 

[sberry]

I like the idea of a simple strip and a cord with ready made connections. I a not a fan of a lot of these schemes and while I used to do every one I could think of I really avoid them today and still am fixing old installs I did when I went thru that phase.
There area bout a hundred ways to add a code violation doing this and in the end most seem like a better idea than they really were.
Today would hang the cord on the wall instead on the acrt if the whole thing didn't need to be moved to another outlet and would use simple cords where needed it and use another light cord for tools.

 

[koditten]

I switched the plugs on a retractable power cord reel. Mounted the reel next to my power strip on my roll around fab table.

Don't know if its code, but dont care. It works awesome and is neat and tidy.

 

[Trey T]

Look into "flush mount power outlet" that are commonly used on office desks.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

Plug in strip. Mount to cart. Add extension cord.

Why reinvent the wheel?

But hey, if you want to get technical, then yes, you'll need to run a separate GFCI circuit breaker, heavy duty cable rated for portable use, ensure you use cable protection covers/boxes for the exposed cable on the ground, as well as proper outlets on the cart itself. Make sure you use covers on the outlets, mount protective impact barriers around it so it can't be accidentally hit or damaged. You'll want to be running 10 gauge or larger.

All of which will run you around $5-600, be horribly awkward, inconvenient, and a terrible tripping hazard to make sure you never actually use it.

Or just get a plug in strip and extension cord.