Air Compressor Cart

After completed the workbench, I started to focus on a couple of projects in my mind that could make my life easier. Now it’s time to put my thought together.

I have a Porter Cable pancake air compressor that works great for the trim work as well as framing work. The drawback was, it’s heavy, and I don’t like to carry it going up & down stairs or even around the room when I am doing trim work. I would also like to tackle the air hose issue at the same time, without a reel, the hose just end up tangled and laying all over the place, and it’s a mess to clean up as well.

If I work in a small room, it doesn’t make sense to set up the multi functional workbench, so I would like to have something small but serve the purpose of a workable.

This instructable will cover the compressor cart.

Just realized that my cart looked just like someone's published metal compressor cart, it's a great cart and the authur did a very nice job! Here is the link:
https://www.instructables.com/id/mobile-compressor-cart-for-under-50/

Step 1: Design Concept

In my case, the cart is fairly easy, and workbench is a challenge.

·I wanted to have thefuture work surfaces height at 38”, as it might become my table saw in-feed table someday. So my compressor cart height was very limited to be at least 1/2" shy of 38".

·I like to have a split top again to avoid using sacrificial wood strips underneath the table - one thing less to carry. In that regard, I would like to have two of these tables build, one with compressor, one with some kind of tool boxes so I can use them together.

·I also like to have a shelf under the table that I can put my tools on so that they don't taking up the work surface. In the future, I'd build a miter saw support or integrated router box to fit in between the two, so eventually this will be the portable miter saw station and router station.

Step 2: Materials

The project will be build from scrap I have, ¾” BC plywood, 1x6, and 2x4, and table top would be 1/2” plywood.

I bought 4 HF 10” tires that I will use 2 of them for one cart - $4.00 each with coupon.

2 of the 5/8” hex bolts with washers and nuts - $7.00 total at HD.

Hose reel from Harbor Freight at $14.00 with coupon.

Step 3: Hand Truck / Cart

Start with the base plate. Cut 2 pieces of 1x6 cut and 2 of 2x4 to the dimension, these dimension were based on the parts I had - PC compressor and HF reel, you might have to design yours differently based on your compressor and reel sizes. For me it was 16"x19".

Two notches on the base plate were cut to match 2x4, the trick here was to use an actual 2x4 cut off piece to mark the lay out line instead of using a ruler. Four pieces were then glued and screw together. I used a speed square as a guide to make sure they were square to each other - it’s a good process practice during the build, so the actual work piece usually came out as it’s on the paper.

The vertical pieces of 2x4 were cut to 36”, then glued and screw to the bottom plate. I added two pieces of ¾” plywood as corner brace, so it’s rock solid. The HF tires were 10” diameter with 5/8” arbor holes. I used 5/8”x5” hex bolts as axles. Two holes for the axles were drilled with 5/8" drill bit through plywood and 2x4, and two nuts were jammed together to lock the axle in place.

Trace the footing of the compressor on the bottom plate, and drilled holes to mount compressor onto it. The HF hose reel was then mounted on the cross brace between the 2 of 2x4 vertical pieces. I fit it in proper location, clamped it to the cross member, drilled the ¼” holes through for ¼ 20 bolts and tighten them down.

Step 4: Compressor Cart Completed

I used a piece of salvaged round-over oak stair spindle as the pulling handle, with just two 2 ½” cabinet mounting screws to the 2x4 vertical pieces. Make sure to pre-drill the holes, especially working with hard oak. Then, hooked up the lead hose to compressor, and it’s ready.

And next, making the table top, folding leg and shelving.