The Planer Cart - Main Assembly

I've made quite a bit of progress so far. The rain stopped, so I was able to get the plywood. I opted for a 2'x4' piece of oak veneered fibercore mainly because that was just about all the home center had that would match fairly well and I didn't need a full sheet. I also purchased the casters while I was there, so I should have everything I need to complete the cart.

I made pretty good use of the 2'x4' plywood. I needed two pieces that were 20"x21-1/2" so there wasn't much drop. After I cut the pieces, I made a rabbet all around so the 1/2" plywood would fit into the grooves I made in the rails and stiles. Once this was done, I sanded the plywood to 220 grit and then assembled the side panels.

Here are the side panels cooking in the clamps. I'll let these sit for awhile to give the glue plenty of time to cure since I'll be running them through the machines later.




Once the glue had set up enough, I removed the side panels from the clamps and cut a 1/4" deep rabbet on the bottom to accept the bottom shelf. I also cut a rabbet in the bottom of the bottom rails for the bottom shelf. After resetting the fence, I then cut a 1/4" deep rabbet along each inside edge of the side panels for the bottom rails and a stiffener (which I'll be adding later).

Here's a the main assembly in it's dry-fit stage. This gives you a pretty good sense of what I'm going for. The side panels will be connected at the top with a 5/8" dia. threaded rod, which is part of the flip-top assembly. We'll talk more about that later.



Next, I'll tear down the dry-fit and do some sanding. I also want to round-over the outside edges of all the pieces. Not much, just enough to knock the scary off of them. Once that's done, I'll glue-up the main assembly.