Organise your workshop
Project guide
Difficulty: Beginner
Estimated time: One morning
Cost: R550
If your workshop or garage is looking a bit untidy because of tools lying around everywhere, then this garage trolley is the solution you’ve been looking for
By André Gous
Cutting list
• Four 900mm pieces of the 20mm x 20mm square tubing
• Eight 450mm pieces of the 20mm x 20mm square tubing
• Four 665mm pieces of the 20mm x 20mm square tubing
• One 745mm x 900mm pegboard
• Two 450mm x 900mm pegboards
• Four 450mm x 700mm x 16mm plywood
Materials
• 10m of 20mm x 20mm square tubing
• Four swivel caster wheels
(one should have a brake)
• Pegboard
Tools
• Circular saw
• Angle grinder
• Tape measure
• Clamps/Magswitch clamps
• Square
• Drill
• 5mm drill bit
• Chalk
• File
Step-by-step guide
Step 1: Place the four 900mm pieces next to each other and make sure the ends are flush. Take another piece of square tubing and place it on the four pieces and make sure it’s flush with the ends as well. Now, draw a line on the four pieces of square tubing, which will give you a distance of 20mm from the ends to the line.
Step 2: From the first 20mm mark you made, measure 280mm and draw a line on all four of the pieces of square tubing. Place a piece of square tubing next to this line and draw another line to give another 20mm gap. From this line measure a further 280mm and again draw a line, then place the square tubing next to the line and draw another line. From this fifth line measure 260mm and again draw a line. From this line to the ends of the square tubing it should then be 20mm.
Step 3: Take two of the 900mm pieces of square tubing and place them on your workbench. Now you can start welding the crossbars, where the shelves will be placed, in place. The 450mm square tubing crossbars are welded in place where you made the four 20mm marks. This will be one half of the trolley. Do the same with the two remaining 900mm and four 450mm pieces of square tubing.
Step 4: Place the two sides that you’ve just constructed opposite one another on your workbench. The shelf crossbars should be on the inside. Take the 665mm pieces of square tubing and weld them on the inside to the top and bottom shelf crossbars. Make use of clamps to hold everything upright. You can also use Magswitch clamps to hold the pieces of metal in place before you weld. Because the Magswitch clamps are perfectly square, you’ll have the peace of mind that after welding, everything will be square.
Step 5: Now it’s time to install the shelves. Start at the top and place one of the 450mm x 700mm pieces of plywood onto the top crossbars. You can pop-rivet the shelf to the metal structure, but you can also use self-drilling tek screws. Continue by fastening the remaining three 450mm x 700mm shelves to the structure as well.
Step 6: The 745mm x 90mm piece of pegboard goes onto the back of the trolley. Place the trolley flat on its front side and line up the piece of pegboard so that it’s flush all around. Drill three 5mm holes along each side, and then fasten the pegboard to the trolley structure with 4.8mm x 15mm pop rivets.
Step 7: The two 450mm x 90mm pieces of pegboard go on the sides. Again, fasten the pegboard pieces to the trolley structure with some pop rivets.
Step 8: The last thing you need to do is to place the trolley on its head and weld the four swivel caster wheels onto the underside of the trolley.
For more information on this or other metalworking projects, contact André Gous on 082-303-4830, 011-824-4995, email: metalandhome@telkomsa.net or visit www.metalandhome.co.za
1. Use an angle grinder or a cut-off saw to cut the square tubing required for the trolley
2. Place the 900mm pieces next to each other with their ends flush and mark where the first crossbar will go
3. Mark where the other shelves will go
4. Construct the two sides
5. Use clamps to keep the sides upright and weld the four 665mm pieces of square tubing in place
6. You can also use Magswitch clamps to keep everything in place
7. Install the shelves
8. On a sheet of pegboard, mark out the pieces required
9. Use a circular saw to cut out the pieces of pegboard
10. Place the pieces of pegboard in their respective positions and drill 5mm holes
11. Fasten the pegboard to the trolley with 4.8mm pop rivets
12. Secure all three pieces of pegboard to the trolley
13. Place the trolley on its head and weld the four caster wheels onto the trolley