I needed to use more tools than I could carry while crawling on hands and knees back to a water heater under our house in a crawl space. One knee began to bleed a little even though I wore knee pads. To keep trips in and out to a minimum I made a tool cart I can drag behind me. It is about 12 x 15 inches with 3 inch wheels.

Supplies

Materials

3/4 inch plywood
1/2 x 4 pieces from a pallet
1/4 inch steel rod or hex head bolts
1/8 x 3/4 inch flat bar
#8 wood or sheetmetal screws (for axle mounts)
#12 wood screw or lag
Clothesline rope
3/16 inch steel rod
Finish nails - 1 1/2 inch
Wood glue
Washers
Clothesline rope

Tools

Circular saw
Square
Hammer
Drill
Holesaw - 3 inch
Hacksaw
Clamps
Welder (optional)

Step 1: Cart Bottom

I pulled some 3/4 inch plywood pieces twelve inches wide from my son-in-law's burn pile. I decided to use my cut off guide and a circular saw to cut a piece fifteen inches long for the bottom of the cart body. I have a longer cut off guide for precise cuts on sheets of plywood up to eight feet in length. I made a second, shorter cut off guide for small jobs like this. I made one side for trimming with my JC Penny (Skil) router and a 1/2 inch bit. The other side is for my Porter-Cable circular saw. This Craftsman saw is just like one I had back in the mid-1970s. I added an adjustable fence to its baseplate so the distance between the blade and the fence face is the same as the distance between the blade and the edge of the baseplate on the Porter-Cable saw. This added fence also corrects for a baseplate that is not exactly parallel to the blade. The Porter-Cable saw would have to be dismounted from my homemade table saw before I can use it for handheld cutting. I used a square I made to get an accurate cut. It has been a very handy configuration for a square.

Step 2: Preparing Pallet Lumber

A few years ago there were a number of Instructables about making claw devices for deconstructing a pallet so the wood does not break apart and can be reused on a new project. I made my own version with 1/2 inch concrete rebar and a piece of pipe for a handle. See the second photo. An easy way to prepare the pallet lumber for jointing on a project like this is simply to shoot one edge of the boards with a longer bed plane. The plane in the photo is the wood bed plane I made with a blade for a block plane. The plane is about fourteen inches long and it has become my favorite plane. My table saw was piled high with all sorts of things when I wanted to make this tool cart, but not spend a lot of time making my table saw ready.

Step 3: Building the Cart Box

Despite carefully jointing pieces for the box that is the body of the cart, there are slight warps and distortions in the pieces. I used clamps to pull things into shape and hold them in place. But, it is a cart for moving tools under a house, not a piece of furniture. I applied a good wood glue to each joint and used finish nails to hold things in place until the glue could dry.

I did not want to split the pieces I used, so I ground the head from a finish nail and chucked it in a drill. I used the finish nail as a bit so the hole would be an exact fit for a finish nail. I removed the nail used as a bit and drove a nail with a head into the hole. This works rather well. The hole made with the spinning nail in the drill chuck does not drill as deeply as the nail is long, so the nail does grab well, but does not crack the lumber. Leave the clamps in place until glue has dried and cured.

Step 4: Wheels

I used a 3 inch holesaw to make the wheels. They automatically have a 1/4 inch centered axle hole. I did allow some old motor oil to soak into the wood around the hole for smooth operation later.

Step 5: Mounting the Wheels

I made axles with mounts. I used a piece of 1/8 x 3/4 inch flat bar welded to a piece of 1/4 inch rod. But, a hex head bolt 1/4 inch in size smooth above the threads to the bolthead would make a good axle. Just drill a 1/4 inch hole into the edge of the 3/4 inch plywood, cut the bolt to length, put a washer, the wheel, and another washer onto the bolt, and drive it into the hole with a hammer. I drilled the flatbar and mounted my axles with two wood or sheetmetal screws each.

I cut a short square piece of flatbar and drilled a hole in it. This became the retainer to hold the wheel on the axle. I did weld them in place. If you choose a hex head bolt as the axle, this will not be needed. I was careful to make certain corners of the retainer would not dig into the face of the wheels. Then I welded.

Step 6: A Pull Loop

I added a loop for a tow rope at the front of the tool cart. I bend a piece of steel rod around a piece of pipe and welded it to the head area of a larger diameter wood screw. In the absence of a welder a lag with a hook on it woud work well. Just make certain the rope cannot slip off of it. Tape it in place, if needed.

Step 7: Using the Cart

Fortunately, our crawl space has enough height to allow being on all fours while crawling, and the dirt floor is not rough. But, my poor knees were suffering from several trips in and out at about 65 feet of crawling each way. This cart was a very big help. It tracked behind me quite well and was easy to pull.

For your information, I was attempting to replace a water heater element. It was very stuck and a normal wrench for such things had no effect. The Internet showed me many use an impact wrench with a 1 1/2 inch impact socket to remove stuck elements. It sounded extreme, but it worked very well. The stuck element released and I did not even hear the hammers in the corded electric impact wrench clatter. A large electric drill probably would have done the job, at least, in this case. A socket for a regular ratchet probably would have worked, too.

Introduction: Crawl Space Tool Cart