I had a flip-top planer cart with a miter saw on the other side.  It worked pretty well for a couple years, but I wanted to change things up in my shop.  I didn’t like having my miter saw hard to access.  My rolling drill press cabinet was the first phase of two new mobile stands in the shop.  I also started storing my miter saw on top of my router table.

I noticed that the footprint needed for my planer was really close to the footprint of my big metal toolbox.  So, I figured they should share the same space, but I had to put it on some new casters and a dedicated mobile cart.  The casters on the tool box sucked.

This post is more of an overview, I didn’t do much of a write-up.

Here is the finished project on the right.

Overview and  Platforms

The construction is pretty simple.  My tool box is about 27″ wide, 19″ deep, 29″ (?) tall.  So the bottom of the cart has to accommodate that.  My planer with the supports down is about 33″ wide, 23″ deep, so the platform needs to handle that.  The entire stand is made from douglas fir (2X10s ripped down) and 3/4″ plywood.

The platforms are both half lapped rectangles with a rabbeted 3/4″ piece of plywood.  I glued up the rectangles first and let them dry for 2 hours.  Then I used a hand held router with a rabbeting bit to cut out the rabbet for the plywood.  My router bit is only 1/2″ deep, so I made a deeper pass after the first to seat the 3/4 piece of plywood.  Then I had to chisel the corners square.

Vertical Supports

The vertical supports have notches cut out in each end that match the thickness of the platforms.  All the weight is carried by the shoulders that are cut and the lower platform.

The top and bottom plywood panels were cut to size and glued into place.  I put some heavy tool boxes on them for pressure.  After an hour or so, I glued 4 vertical supports into place.

The following day I added the 4 remaining vertical supports and some small triangular ribs to stiffen up the structure.  The four vertical supports get glued and butted up against the existing supports in the corner.  I didn’t catch any pictures, but I Pocket Hole’ d the ribs to vertical supports and the platform.

Wrap Up

I added the same type of casters that I used for my drill press cabinet.  When I placed the tool box into the cart, I added some cleats to keep the box from shifting around.  I used shellac for the finish.  Then I added the same wings I had on my last cart.   I need to adjust them a bit to get them parallel to the planer bed with some shims.  I have found the don’t actually open to 90 degrees.