Shopsmith Forums

It was a busy morning. First, my grand daughter had invited me to her school where they were having A Veterans Day Tribute: "Because of the Brave". She and I along with others gathered for the morning, had some refreshments before attending the program. It was really nice. I don't do many veteran events but this was worth it, mostly because of my grand daughter.

After doing some grocery shopping and getting some electrical supplies at the hardware store I picked up a sweet potato pie for later.

Then I went to the harbor freight store. I had been looking at a tool cart they had on sale, it was listed as $259.99, they were advertising it for $105 off making it $154.99. Then one of there fliers came out that got it down to $109.99. I was getting pretty tempted so I went in to have a look at it, face to face. Yea it is harbor freight but the price was starting to look pretty good for what you get.

I was still not sure so I passed on it. Next flier has it for $104.99, then came yet another flier, only $99.99. That was my price point and it being Veterans Day I couldn't resist.

http://www.harborfreight.com/580-lb-cap ... 95659.html

It has a rating of 580 pounds....
Four drawers, they lock in place when the top is closed.
Area below the cover for additional storage.
Area below the drawers is open, I've got plans for that.
Two locking casters, two non locking.

The model in the store seem solid enough, without it being loaded anyway. I'll have to see how it feels after I'm done with my modifications.

The general idea I have is to make a shopsmith portable work cart out of it. A lot of my projects I build out in the driveway so I find I have to make trips in to get this and then that... then when I'm putting things away it the same way. If I can stock the cart with things I normally use this should make my day a whole lot easier. I can stock a box of pencils in one of the drawers, my general rate is a pencil and hour, no not worn out, just misplaced.

The open area below I want to use for things like the rip fence, miter gauge, and what ever else I might be able to fit in. Custom pigeon hole sort of idea.

At some point I'll add some more information as to how things are working out. Right now I'm waiting for the snow to lighten up so I can bring it in from the van.

Ed

Looks very useful to me... especially at that price.

My wife gets annoyed at me for picking up so many free pencils at various shows. I only take one from each booth that has them. She says "you must have a thousand of them" and I respond "yes but that isn't a years supply".

I went all around the old woodshop in the barn years ago drilling holes in the post and overhead beams and then put a decent pencil in each hole... Yep... The holes were always empty.


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Nice buy, those carts are highly regarded on the garage journal message board. Those guys are comparing them to the Snapon and other super high dollar carts.

Post up some pictures of how you end up utilizing the cart when you get a chance

jere wrote:Nice buy, those carts are highly regarded on the garage journal message board. Those guys are comparing them to the Snapon and other super high dollar carts.

Post up some pictures of how you end up utilizing the cart when you get a chance

I didn't look at any reviews but it nice to know that others guys are liking this one.

I was trying to come up with a name for what I want to make of this, I'm thinking of calling it a "Shopsmith Tender" something like a "train tender" or a "ship tender". How does that sound?

BTW it has been a bit cold to work on it but I have it unboxed, wheels mounted, and that is about it. It seems to be pretty easy to assemble as the drawers parts come as one piece. The negative to that is I don't think I can handle lifting it in to position by myself, yep getting old is getting weaker. May have to wait until the weekend and see if I can get some help from on of my sons.

Once assembled I can see how much I can fit in it and plan the pigeon hole bottom area. Might not be able to do the work anymore this year but I sure can plan it out.

Ed

I have this cart and really like it. I think I paid $109 for it and would gladly pay the same price again.

A little update on this project, before it becomes another project.

I was having some issues with by back the other day but getting at it right after it happened with ice and advil things got back to a working state really quickly.

I was hoping one of my sons would be available to help lift the cabinet into place but this was not working well with their commitments and travel plans. I could have waited but I wanted to get some assembled measurements and start my planning of the next phase.

My solution was to remove the drawers. With them out I was able to lift and place the upper assembly in the uprights. So yes it can be done by yourself this way. When I was younger I would have not had to remove the drawers but those days are gone.

The last step of the assembly was to put the handle on. Upon unpacking it I found the end caps for the tube were unusable.

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I was able to find a suitable replacement so mine has a distinctive look that will not be noticed by many. This was the only issue I had so I feel good about the cart.

Now I have to decide what needs to be included as I design it. Once I have that I can start planning the bottom section. Drawers? Pigeon holes, shelving? mix and match? Should be great fun.

Ed

Many of the younger diesel mechanics were I worked at bought those carts. They modified them to hold a creeper and a rod locking security system. They all seem to like them.

First look and peg board sides and maybe back seemed like possible additions.

Just bought one of these yesterday. Couldn't get it for $99 but I did go on-line and find a coupon for $104. Not bad considering it was supposedly on sale for $154. I plan on using it as a stand for my CarveWright. I just have to disable the drawer locking mechanism when the top is down since a heavy machine will be setting on it and lifting the lid to open a drawer would be a chore/impossibility for an old geezer like me. Thanks Ed. Hadn't thought about these til I saw your post.

I thought I would add a short update.

I've been very pleased with this tool cart. It turns out I've been using it quite a bit and finding out just how handy this can be.

One thing I discovered was that the handle seemed to be getting in my way when I was using the top as a work surface. The way I had it attached it was higher then the work surface, the good part was it worked as a stop that way, but also got in the way with longer pieces.

A few pictures should make this clear.

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Now with it reversed to the lower position.

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I still haven't started on plan for what goes where in the cart but it has been handy while doing lathe work this winter. Nice to stick the tools in one of the larger drawers and have access to them so close to where I'm working. One of these days I need to make a chisel holder, might be able to use the handle on the cart to hold that when needed.

Ed