Modular Miter Station - Phase 2 - Air Cart
Have you ever walked around your shop and tripped? Well I have plenty of times and am I just fed up with it… plus it could potentially be dangerous. So for Phase 2 of the Modular Miter Station series I knew that I wanted to make an “Air Cart”. A cart dedicated to housing my heavy, hard to move around, super loud air compressor and all the tools, hoses, and accessories that go along with it.
This post contains affiliate links. This post is sponsored by Kreg Tool & BuildSomething.com. All opinions, pictures, design, and published plans are my own!
This is Phase 2 of a 4 part series I teamed up with Kreg Tool to put all the build plans on their DIY project plan website BuildSomething.com. But before you go check out the plans on their site let me tell you a little bit more about the build and accessories!
When I started designing this piece I knew I wanted it to fit or roll under the left side of Phase 1 - The Foundation of the Modular Miter Station, so that right away gave me the max dimensions. I also knew that I didn’t want anything on the top of it so that I could use that as another work top surface. I made the height the same as Phase 3 - Assembly Cart so the two could be pushed together to create a large work surface. And lastly the height of the cart makes it perfect to be used as an out feed table for my table saw. Once I knew all that the next place to start was finding a spot for my air compressor since it would take up the most space.
You might be like me a bought the Porter Cable air compressor and gun set when it was on sell one year. It came with a 16 ga brad nailer, 18 ga brad nailer, and a pneumatic stapler. And ever since I got it those guns have been in the boxes they came stuffed in a cabinet wherever I could find room. The boxes are falling apart and it is getting harder and harder to protect them. So I knew they needed to have a place on the cart. And what better place for them than right next to the air compressor! So I created a shelf for them to sit on with adjustable dividers by ripping some 1/4” dado’s 1/4” deep in both shelf pieces. Then you just slide in a piece of 1/4” plywood/underlayment and each gun has it’s own spot. I really like that I can adjust the width of the slots in case I ever get new tools or change what this cart is used for.
And now lets talk about the the brad nails & staples… yes they were in those same cabinets. I probably wasted more nails than I used shuffling them around, so they got a home on the cart as well. The best home I could think of for them was a drawer, but drawer slides could be expensive! So this gave me a chance to try out making wooden drawer slides. And what I found out was they are SUPER EASY…. just rip a 3/4” wide dado 1/4” deep in the side of the drawer boxes and then install a wooden runner/slide inside the cabinet using brad nails and glue. You’ll want the runner to be slightly smaller the the width of the dado so that the drawers slide freely. Then add a little wax to make sure they slide smoothly and you’re done!
Those nice grooves on the from to the drawers fronts were an accident!
And then last but not least was the dreaded air hose!!! It needed a place to go, so I picked up this manual hose reel from Amazon. I got a manual one because I already had a hose, less stuff to break, and it was affordable. Just know that if you get the same one you will need to get a connector hose (a hose to go from air compressor to reel) and a 3/8” to 1/4” fitting to make everything work.
This post is sponsored by Kreg Tool & BuildSomething.com. All opinions, pictures, design, and published plans are my own!
Okay so here is the link to the plans so that you can start building Phase 2 - Air Cart of your Modular Miter Station.
Happy Building and have an AWESOME day!
Sadie Mae
