Stainless Steel Divider Board Cart (how to tips)

OK I'm sorry the pictures are indexed from the very beginning, I am assuming you already know about cutting and layout and the project needed to be submitted before I had learned my way around last years Christmas Camera.

Actually I was also working on modifying those 14 tables to a heigth of 39" which is in fact, when I got the idea of documenting some "Hillbilly Handy Man Tips".

Let catch you up to where these photos begin.

• A local company was about to be audited by the American Baker's Institution, to become certified vendors for "food labels". The label printers thought some stainless steel would seal the deal if I could manage the price to work within the company's budget.


• I drew up some plans and priced the stainless steel on the condition they were providing casters required, 2 swivel, and 2 fixed. We sat down and discussed the project with a company Representative, a dept. head and myself, the contractor.


• I offered my estimate of the cost and what I expected to get paid for my time and we all agreed.


• I purchased the steel, cut and miter cut the steel and began welding away. In order to replicate 6 identical carts I set up a simple fixture on a steel table top, that allows me to "Tac" weld the base and the rails that support the divider boards. In this series It has been welded inside and outside, then ground flush. Before I weld the caster pad in place, I will weld and grind flush again after I drill the bolt clearance holes in the bottom so there are no burrs.
  

Last month I posted a few pictures of the second of three in Stainless Steel.

The first picture, is another type of template that you can use if you want to transfer dimensions accurately. This series of photos will show you how it works.

The caster pad is 3/8" thick X 3" wide flat stock 4" long. In this case you need 4 per cart. So, step one, cut 5 to the same length knowing that the first will be the template for the rest.
By clamping the template in place you can then use your transfer punch to nail the exact center of each hole. Then simply drill a pilot hole or use a carbide step drill bit for a large enough hole to allow clearance for a bolt to clear the thickness of the flat stock (3/8")

Here I will use a 1/2" drill because the bolts are 5/16 X 18 tpi (threads per inch) x 3/4".

The pads are pre-drilled and taped, so now just tac and weld in place.


While was working on this project the company called and we discussed some work in the label factory's warehouse, repairing the damaged shelving supports to enhance structural integrity and safety. During these talks I was asked to search for my own caster vendor because the new 3 million dollar do it all in one machine is expected to take up most of their time and resources for a while this spring.

Its a shame that here in paper country just south of Green Bay and the fox valley they buy a machine from Spain! But I digress! I can't say enough for E.R. Wagner Manufacturing Co. They make every conceivable kind of caster you may ever want! They are local for me, and beside I have welded their casters for another subcontractor like myself. While I was learning my way around their web page I found these caster on the "$ Hot Deals $" page and by golly I got immediate assistance and next day delivery right to my front door! I can't say thank you enough for that kind of service, seriously! here is a link just in case you may need some casters yourself. http://www.erwagner.com/casterswheels/

As I had made my choice because the hole patters were identical between the swivel and the fixed casters I was so pleased to find little details I liked. The best idea I saw was to make one set of holes in the caster slightly larger than the other in case you or your drill drift off the proverbial mark they've got you covered! Look a little closer look at picture below, if you click on the picture Blogger will enlarge it to full screen . Yes they did provide the first set for trial purposes, and I believe I'll be buying 48 more soon!