Vegaman_Dan
Well-known member
I love bench top power tools, but the problem is that they require being mounted on a bench to be most effective. And a bench with tools mounts on it becomes cluttered and harder to use effectively. I like to have everything in my garage to be mobile so I can wheel it out to the driveway for more workspace as needed, and also it makes cleaning and reorganizing the garage SO much easier.
So the drill press, bench grinder and a recently picked up belt/disc sander needed a new home. I had a cheap service cart from HF that I bought about 15 years ago handy I was using for holding metal cutoffs along with grinders, wheels, etc. I originally thought I would use 1.5" angle iron and weld it to the outside of the original legs and build a new framework. Then when I was done drilling all the mounting holes for the shelf trays in the angle iron, I realized how silly that was. Why keep the original stamped sheet metal lags at all? So I tossed those and used the angle iron which was superior anyways.
Welded up a top frame to hold a piece of 3/4" plywood and vinyl 'planks' to look like a wood floor. Why vinyl and not wood? I wanted a surface I could wipe clean with solvent or cleaners and not get soaked in like a wood top would. The choice of the wood grained tile planks was just because they were on sale at Home Depot for 25 cents each for each 36" long x 4" piece. I have all of a dollar invested.
Cart with welded frame. In hindsight, I should have moved the top shelf lower for better storage, and I could do that by redrilling the mounting holes a little. Not worth the effort though.
Painted up in red engine enamel that matched the original finish.
Plywood top installed with vinyl top surface.
Bench grinder, drill press and sander bolted down.
All the cords for each tool pass through a center 1" hole in the top. Underneat they are all zip tied together and attached to the underside of the top to keep them out of the way. They then go down to a plugin strip mounted on the inside of one leg so they won't get bumped. This outlet strip is controlled by an outlet and light switch mounted in a box attached to the other leg. This is fed by an extension cord permanently connected inside of the outlet box.
http://i1243.photobucket.com/albums/gg555/flinters1
The advantage of having this configuration is that the cart's extension ord is always with the cart and it becomes a mobile power tap when deployed. The switch is in a very easily accessible location to be turned off in case of any emergency with any of the tools present. It will kill all power to the cart entirely and anything else plugged in. This central kill switch is meant for the operator's safety. I do this on any cart or similar that has power on board.
It's not tipsy as I had feared it might be. Even without anything in the trays, it's pretty solid. I added a bucket of my metal cutoffs and the whole thing became very stable. I might swap out the casters for four with locks though just to give it more footing on the epoxy floor of the garage.
The top tray is now perfect for carrying all the smaller associated tools and debris that collect near your power tools. Wrenches, collets, accessories, etc. I keep a plastic tub of general disposable drill bits near the drill press for my roommate to use so the *good* bits don't get used instead on the wrong materials.
The last feature is that I made sure the top would end up matching the bench height of the large steel bench in the background. I don't need it as another workspace, but I have set that to be my default bench height for all platforms.
So the drill press, bench grinder and a recently picked up belt/disc sander needed a new home. I had a cheap service cart from HF that I bought about 15 years ago handy I was using for holding metal cutoffs along with grinders, wheels, etc. I originally thought I would use 1.5" angle iron and weld it to the outside of the original legs and build a new framework. Then when I was done drilling all the mounting holes for the shelf trays in the angle iron, I realized how silly that was. Why keep the original stamped sheet metal lags at all? So I tossed those and used the angle iron which was superior anyways.
Welded up a top frame to hold a piece of 3/4" plywood and vinyl 'planks' to look like a wood floor. Why vinyl and not wood? I wanted a surface I could wipe clean with solvent or cleaners and not get soaked in like a wood top would. The choice of the wood grained tile planks was just because they were on sale at Home Depot for 25 cents each for each 36" long x 4" piece. I have all of a dollar invested.
Cart with welded frame. In hindsight, I should have moved the top shelf lower for better storage, and I could do that by redrilling the mounting holes a little. Not worth the effort though.
Painted up in red engine enamel that matched the original finish.
Plywood top installed with vinyl top surface.
Bench grinder, drill press and sander bolted down.
All the cords for each tool pass through a center 1" hole in the top. Underneat they are all zip tied together and attached to the underside of the top to keep them out of the way. They then go down to a plugin strip mounted on the inside of one leg so they won't get bumped. This outlet strip is controlled by an outlet and light switch mounted in a box attached to the other leg. This is fed by an extension cord permanently connected inside of the outlet box.
http://i1243.photobucket.com/albums/gg555/flinters1
The advantage of having this configuration is that the cart's extension ord is always with the cart and it becomes a mobile power tap when deployed. The switch is in a very easily accessible location to be turned off in case of any emergency with any of the tools present. It will kill all power to the cart entirely and anything else plugged in. This central kill switch is meant for the operator's safety. I do this on any cart or similar that has power on board.
It's not tipsy as I had feared it might be. Even without anything in the trays, it's pretty solid. I added a bucket of my metal cutoffs and the whole thing became very stable. I might swap out the casters for four with locks though just to give it more footing on the epoxy floor of the garage.
The top tray is now perfect for carrying all the smaller associated tools and debris that collect near your power tools. Wrenches, collets, accessories, etc. I keep a plastic tub of general disposable drill bits near the drill press for my roommate to use so the *good* bits don't get used instead on the wrong materials.
The last feature is that I made sure the top would end up matching the bench height of the large steel bench in the background. I don't need it as another workspace, but I have set that to be my default bench height for all platforms.