Ultimate Sheet Carrier

MDF, OSB, Plywood, Chipboard, Hardboard etc are all great materials to make stuff with. However, if you don't have transport, then getting large sheets home can be a real PITA. More-so if your local DIY store is anything like ours, who will happily charge you 30 quid [UKP] to deliver a sheet of MDF that costs 18!

Getting a firm corporate "no" is also commonplace, if you've ever tried to borrow a Board Trolley from a DIY store. You could try sneaking a 3X7 feet [1.2MX2.40M] sheet onto a bus, but generally the drivers will notice :)

Which leaves an assortment of things such as Handheld Panel Carriers and Carrier Trolleys. The upside is your friends get a free workout and longer arms. The downside is cost, these can range from £12 to over 500, plus your friends soon learn not to go DIY shopping with you. Fortunately there is a simple, cheap and totally over engineered solution...

Wood

Pallets or any other scrap wood

Metal Stuff

One [or more] Busted Shopping Cart(s)

Screws

Small Metal Brackets

Bolts & Nuts

Shopping cart wheels appears to use M12 bolts. Though initially, due to lack of cash and shop shortages, I used M8 & M12 bolts [5cm/2inch length].

Using M12 bolts resulted in very stiff wheels. Using M8/M10 gave very movable wheels, but they do jiggle a bit. So theres no hard or fast 'rule' here, just use whatever you have and whatever works for you.

Note: I'm aware theres some ethical debate about using dumped store carts amongst makers. All I will say is either use dumped carts that are clearly beyond repair or just buy some caster wheels.

Tools

Anything that cuts wood.. [Handsaw, Mitre saw, Alien Laser Destru-O-Ray, etc]

Angle Grinder [Fitted with metal cutting disc]

Cheap Hole Saw for Drills

Electric Drill

Selection of Drill & Screw Bits

Spanners, Grips, Small Needle Nosed Pliers

Wood Glue

Some folks like pictures, some like text, so here's the best of both.

Step 1 is image only, the rest is all text.

As per Figure 1, cut the rubber/hard plastic ring off using your angle grinder.

Next cut the wheels off from the carts frame. A process that'll differ on how the wheels are joined to the frame. Hence the use of a compound image here, which shows the two most common places to cut.

Either way doesn't matter, the idea is to get the wheel looking roughly like the third image in Figure 1. If the bolt hasn't been cut through do that now.

Now check the bearing around the cut through bolt. On most wheels the bearing is slightly down into the dome section and won't be affected. Sometimes you might just nick the top of the bearing, it'll look rough, but that's fine.

What's annoying is when you cut and all the ball-bearings fall out. But don't worry, instead leave the bearing in place and use some washers later on. Just large enough to cover the bearing, but don't extend past the dome edge.

Finally, push, pull and jiggle the bolt out. I'm also aware it's possible to get the wheels off without cutting, but I've never managed to figure that one out.

Another option is to remove the wheels from the brackets. Either by unbolting or drilling out the flattened pin that holds the wheels in place. However you'd need to create some kinda axle, which isn't covered in this instructable.

Main Support Bars (X2) Length: 50cm/20 inches Width: 14cm/5.5 inches

Wheel "Stopper Toppers" (X4 minimum) 14x14cm/5.5 inches square

Board Holders (x4) Length: 40cm/15 inches Height: anything over 14cm/5.5 inches

Extender Bars (X2) 1 to 1.5 metres/39 to 59 inches.

Note: these measurements are not a given, it's all based around what scrap wood you have. Which for the real world version of this was some old pallets and some junk plywood.

Plot out the location of the holes on the main section and mark the centre. Using a meduim sized drill-bit, drill a pilot hole in the centre. To give some structural strength, leave at least 1-2.5cm [or 1/2 to 1 inch] from the holes to the edge of the board.

Next take a wheel and find a hole saw that matches the top dome of the wheel. Attach that hole saw to your drill and cut out the hole. Test fit a wheel into the hole, and (if required) sand down the hole to make the wheel fit.

Repeat until you have 2 holes on each Main Support.

Take a Spacer, plot the location, find the centre point and drill a pilot hole. If your wood is the thickness of standard pallet wood [I think that's around 2.5cm/1 inch] you should only need one stopper per wheel hole. If not cut out some more stoppers until you reach the desired height.

Either way now take a drill bit the same size as the shank of your bolts. Using the pilot hole, and that bolt sized bit, drill out a hole to take the bolt. This is where a side cutting drill bit and round wood file can be helpful.

But, if you don't have these, just move the drill around a bit and up/down until you get a hole of roughly the right size. Repeat until you have enough Spacers on both sections.

Take a Stopper Topper, find centre point and using a very small drill-bit, drill a pilot hole. Now get a drill bit the same size as the shank of your bolts. Using the pilot hole, and that bolt sized bit, drill out a hole to take the bolt.

This is where a side cutting drill bit and round wood file can be helpful. But, if you don't have these, just move the drill around a bit and up/down until you get a hole of roughly the right size. Repeat until you have enough Stopper Toppers for both sections and put these to one side.

This is the fiddliest part of the build and can require 3 sets of arms. Insert a wheel into a hole on the Main Support Bar. Flip the work over and glue/screw on a spacer(s).

Thread a bolt through a Stopper Topper. Apply some glue to the bottom of a Stopper Topper. Now slowly push the bolt and Stopper Topper down into the top of the wheel bearing. But don't push the bolt all the way down. That's because there won't be a lot of space between the wheel and the bolt. Instead take a nut and thread that onto the bolt.

Then while pushing down tight the nut up. Now use pliers, spanners or grips to tighten things up to the desired "grippiness". A ratchet spanner can be helpful here, but not essential. Once happy with the bolt tightness, glue/screw down the Stopper Topper.

Screw on one upright, but on the second use brackets. Doing it this way allows the carrier to be adjustable for different sized boards.

During prototype usage it was noticed that these parts would bend. Most likely due to the large size of the sheets, but it didn't seem to affect usage.

Simply screw on two extender bars and job done. Congratulations you now have your own Ultimate Sheet Carrier. You can now enjoy the look of envy/strangeness from other DIY store shoppers at your crafting skills!

During it's maiden flight, a 5-10 minute walk, I managed to get the board back totally intact. No chipped corners, which was a nice first. Though I gotta be honest, it doesn't work very well. Primarily it steers like a pig. So I started looking at how shopping carts work.

What I found was (generally) on European carts all 4 casters can freely rotate. Whereas on US carts the rear 2 don't. So I decided to "lock" the rear casters in place and try that. Initially the idea was to use metal backets and bolt/screw the sides of the casters to the main support. But I don't posses a drill-bit tough enough to drill the strong steel casters. So I added some wooden chocks that forced the rear casters to remain straight.

First by adding some pieces just on the sides of the casters. Then 3 thin pieces on the front, yet it didn't seem to improve things greatly. I have also considered removing the extender bars to see what will happen. Though the idea behind these is to stop the board from coming out if two wheels where separate and one section detached. Say if it hit a kerb or a rock.

Another thought is to using a different form of caster wheel. Perhaps the smaller type used on furniture moving boards. Though if anyone has any thoughts/experiences on this, please leave a comment below.