WOOD CART

 

I thought I'd make one out of wood! 2x4's, some ripped into 2x2's, some plywood, screws, wheels and a pad for the top-

 

Rabbit as many of the joints as you can for strength, glue and screw. I'd like to make one with glue and finish nails as an experiment. I think it would work and the pneumatic nail gun would be way faster.

 

Some joints got a gusset glued in, and here you can see the ledger for the plywood being glued, clamped in place. These I did nail…

 

Some casters have a threaded post on top, just make the hole a little tight in the wood and they'll thread right in.

 

 

Plywood sits down inside of wood frames on ledgers.

 

I put a bolt through the kickup in the frame. Otherwise this joint is just a glued butt.

 

Paint!

 

 

The wheel axles didn't like going though the wood without additional strengthening, in other words they got perty wobbly. To reinforce the axles I schmeered as much wood glue into the hole, inserted the axle bolt, put the wheel on, shimmed it straight with the frame and waited for the glue to dry. Made the wheel mount a lot stronger.

 

 

And then there was another wood cart!

Here's another wood cart I made, this time with 24" tires in the front. Rear castors are made from pipe. The front wheels have a 6202 bearing which is 15mm id, so I used 3/8 inch pipe which is about 17mm od and turned it on the lathe to a shoulder. This pipe is then slid through a hole in the 2x4 upright and there's a slot running up and down a little bit from this hole to permit the axle to pinch. 2 bolts were used one above and one below and this holds the axle very firmly. On the outside of the wheel simply cross drill the axle and use a cotter pin.

Below is a detail picture of the front axle.

 

The same construction method was used as the smaller wood cart, 2x4's, plywood, and lots of glued gussets in the corners for strength. The stubs for the rear castors are rabbitted into the diagonal pieces.

Works Great and is not as heavy as it looks!

 

 

2x4 stub is also slotted and bolted (although it's hard to see because I painted over the bolts with white paint) to hold bushings tight! I usually "pinch" the nut on top of the caster stem with a center punch to make it a "lock-nut", either that or just whomp on the nut good with a ball peen hammer until it goes on "tightly". That way they won't work loose.