Lumber Cart Question

[Steve Siwek]

Hello Everyone,

I'm in the early planning stages of building a lumber cart. Throughout my research on carts people have built they all seem to be in the 30"-40" wide range. I was thinking of making mine 48" wide and about 6' long. The reason I want to make it 48" wide is that on one side (the side I want to hold sheets) I want to add a peg board to help maximize space in my garage.

1. Is there any structural consideration I need to think about going this wide, for example additional support in the middle?
2. Is there a reason going this wide is not recommended?

The overall build will be a typical A frame with slots for vertical storing of lumber, flat stock, and sheets.

Thanks for the help!
Steve

[Carl Kona]

Steve,

I was looking to build something similar until I found this from the Woodworking Maniak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcqKSHcs_Kc It seems to be the most efficient use of space I have found. I am about to build mine (within a week) and found bins for some of the shelves (where short cuts go) from Walmart that will store really small stuff. I am also adding more holes in mu posts for shelf adjustability. What I liked about this is the conduit is very strong but does not use much vertical space.

Wood Rack.JPG



Hope this helps. Let us know what you do.

Carl

[Steve Siwek]

Lol that rack is HUGE and beyond my skill and tool set at this time haha.Thanks for the link though, cool to see what people are doing.

Steve,

I was looking to build something similar until I found this from the Woodworking Maniak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcqKSHcs_Kc It seems to be the most efficient use of space I have found. I am about to build mine (within a week) and found bins for some of the shelves (where short cuts go) from Walmart that will store really small stuff. I am also adding more holes in mu posts for shelf adjustability. What I liked about this is the conduit is very strong but does not use much vertical space.

Wood Rack.JPG



Hope this helps. Let us know what you do.

Carl

[Vince Rosypal]

Hi Steve,
I had a thread on a lumber cart a little while ago.
At the end I show what I have built. Keep in mind the bigger it is and the more it holds the heavier it gets..... I had 5 sheets of MFD on mine and it was tricky to maneuver

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...d-Storage-Rack

[Steve Siwek]

Great point to remember, thanks!

Hi Steve,
I had a thread on a lumber cart a little while ago.
At the end I show what I have built. Keep in mind the bigger it is and the more it holds the heavier it gets..... I had 5 sheets of MFD on mine and it was tricky to maneuver

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...d-Storage-Rack

[glenn bradley]

Maybe some long-time users can comment. Most large lumber carts I have seen on the forums get abandoned as once loaded, they are not very moveable. Anybody out there have, or have built, a cart this size that is still in use care to chime in?

[Greg R Bradley]

Do your calcs and you will find going from 30" wide to 48" wide means the strength of the base needs to DOUBLE. In order to do this, you need to increase the height of the base and/or make a torsion box. A torsion box means the wheels get mounted lower increasing the height of the base. Since it is expensive to buy 6" wheels that will work with this kind of load, you may end up increasing the height of the base by using larger wheels. You loose the ability to easily move sheet goods on/off the base.

The finished unit was not really mobile and the polyurethane wheels failed under the static load. Here is a picture of what the failing wheels left on the floor as the wheels decomposed:

PolyWheelFail.jpg

I also learned that 4 wheels that swivel make it much harder to get something moving as they may not all be ready to move the same direction. One pair rigid and one pair swivel is the way to go.

In the end I bought this for the heavy sheet goods:
https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail...-Truck-30-x-60

It works much better. Since it only has sheet goods, the weight is less on each unit but I expect the wheels will get upgraded to phenolic at some point. Phenolic rolls easier and doesn't flat spot or fail under static load. It does mean you need smooth concrete without debris on the floor.

[Steve Siwek]

Thanks for the information. At most I'd have 2-3 sheets on it at any given time (weekend warrior woodworker ). the flat stock and cut pieces will be on racks in the middle and opposite side of the cart while full length 2x4s will be stored in-between studs. This does beg the question that if I'm not housing a lot of material at a given time, does it need to be 48"? thinking about it, probably not.

Do your calcs and you will find going from 30" wide to 48" wide means the strength of the base needs to DOUBLE. In order to do this, you need to increase the height of the base and/or make a torsion box. A torsion box means the wheels get mounted lower increasing the height of the base. Since it is expensive to buy 6" wheels that will work with this kind of load, you may end up increasing the height of the base by using larger wheels. You loose the ability to easily move sheet goods on/off the base.

The finished unit was not really mobile and the polyurethane wheels failed under the static load. Here is a picture of what the failing wheels left on the floor as the wheels decomposed:

PolyWheelFail.jpg

I also learned that 4 wheels that swivel make it much harder to get something moving as they may not all be ready to move the same direction. One pair rigid and one pair swivel is the way to go.

In the end I bought this for the heavy sheet goods:
https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail...-Truck-30-x-60

It works much better. Since it only has sheet goods, the weight is less on each unit but I expect the wheels will get upgraded to phenolic at some point. Phenolic rolls easier and doesn't flat spot or fail under static load. It does mean you need smooth concrete without debris on the floor.