Did you ever have a project spread out all over your workbench, and then have another job come up where you needed the space right away? Of course! It frequently happens to all of us. Last spring I was working on big project, had parts scattered all over several shop carts, and decided that what I really needed was a BIG shop cart/assembly table, so the shop would have more working room. A quick look at the shop carts I was using gave me the design for the new table, and I had enough material in the wood rack to build it, so it was fun time!
When it comes to projects, my design philosophy says to don't spend your time making pretty drawings as that takes too much time away from the really fun part, - sawing wood and building. I use a pad of graph paper, a quick hand-drawn sketch to get the construction down in your mind and to determine a few dimensions, then head over to the stock rack to get going. This table was one of the easiest projects I ever made, and has turned out to be one of the most useful too.
I needed a big table, but it had to be on wheels so it could be rolled out of the way when the assembly area was needed for other large projects. I made my table 40" wide because I can't reach over a full sheet of plywood, and 80" long to keep the size from taking too much shop space. Don't let the large size hold you back though. You could build this table in any size you need or have space for in your shop.
Other than the top and shelf, the frame took just over 1/2 sheet of plywood. The legs were sketched out to be 4" wide, but half of the verticals were reduced to 3.5" wide to made the most efficient use of the plywood. In my shop I already have an abundance of drawers, (see my shop tour thread from a couple of weeks ago) or this table would have been filled with a dozen drawers. What I really needed on this project was a large shelf to hold parts for the project being assembled. Anyway, the bottom shelf is cheap 1/2" cd plywood and the rest of the frame was 3/4 oak plywood. The only fasteners used are lots of glue and my 16 gage nail gun, using 1.25 - 2" finishing nails. I have to confess, I did add one drawer after finding a single set of left over drawer slides while I was looking for something else in another cabinet. The drawer parts were sized and built from scraps in the stock rack.
Reply With Quote