July 19, 2013

Make a painting and finishing cart for your workshop

Here’s a useful shop project. Store your painting and finishing supplies on one cart and roll it wherever needed. You won’t have to drag all your supplies from place to place when you’re working in various locations. (Click for free plans at the bottom of this page.)

The cart has doors and shelves on both sides to make it more convenient and to make maximum use of its space. You can spin it to either side easily because of the rotating castors on the bottom.

To create this cabinet, make a series of grooves in a large piece of plywood by using a three-quarter-inch straight bit in your router. Cutting one long center groove should help keep your cabinet square. After cutting the grooves, cut the big piece into more manageable smaller pieces.

The grooves for the shelves should be cut at the same time. To do that, first line up the two side walls and clamp them down flat. This will ensure that your shelf grooves will align across the cabinet.

Use dado blades on your table saw to cut out the edge rabbets.

After all your grooves are cut, it’s simple to assemble your cabinet. Just glue it and nail-gun it together.

Cut your shelves according to plan. Glue and nail them in.

For the face frames, cut a series of half-inch-wide strips from solid lumber. Use half-inch plywood for the doors. Shim the doors up a little bit when installing.