- Member DIN
- S410
Hello all! I wanted to show you this folding cart that I made so make it easier to move booth props and supplies from a car that is parked far away to a booth located quite a walk inside the convention hall.
The unfolded cart
The space on the inside is about 5' x 30". The overall space it takes up is 32.5" x 5'3". It can fit 3 standard 102 litre totes across the bottom. You can stack up to 6 full totes in the cart without any of them going over the top. It fits through a standard commercial door (36") and should fit in a standard passenger elevator (to be tested..). When the time comes to store or transport the cart in a car, it can be folded down to take up less space! Simply undo the latches holding the end pieces in place, fold up the end pieces, and slowly lower the walls down.
Latch to hold end pieces in place
One end folded up
Both ends folded up, side walls folding down
Fully folded cart
Once the cart is folded up is is less than 12" tall including the height from the casters. It can be stored on its wheels or on its side. When it's stored on it's side it site tilted to one side, but the wheels and the moving side walls sit in such a way that it stays up solidly on its own. The entire cart if made from two sheets of 1/2" plywood and five 8' 2x3s. When the cart is assembled it is string enough to hold my entire body weight (72 Kgs / 160 lbs) just by sitting on top of the long walls. All the weight gets transferred down the end panels, so no weight is sitting on the hinges of the folding panels. There are 6 5' piano hinges used, and 2 2' piano hinges. I used piano hinges because they are continuous and they don't require a gap between boards for the hinge pin like regular door hinges do.
I have a fusion 360 file in the zip file attached to this post if you want to see how it works closer. All the joints are positioned correctly so you'll even be able to watch it fold down by dragging the components around. The fusion 360 file can easily be turned into build plans by going to the drawing tab. It's a parameter-based design so if you search for "parameters" you'll be able to change the size of the cart simply by inputting your desired length and width. The height is calculated automatically based on the width.
I hope you guys find this interesting! I'm going to try it out at C2E2.
The unfolded cart
The space on the inside is about 5' x 30". The overall space it takes up is 32.5" x 5'3". It can fit 3 standard 102 litre totes across the bottom. You can stack up to 6 full totes in the cart without any of them going over the top. It fits through a standard commercial door (36") and should fit in a standard passenger elevator (to be tested..). When the time comes to store or transport the cart in a car, it can be folded down to take up less space! Simply undo the latches holding the end pieces in place, fold up the end pieces, and slowly lower the walls down.
Latch to hold end pieces in place
One end folded up
Both ends folded up, side walls folding down
Fully folded cart
Once the cart is folded up is is less than 12" tall including the height from the casters. It can be stored on its wheels or on its side. When it's stored on it's side it site tilted to one side, but the wheels and the moving side walls sit in such a way that it stays up solidly on its own. The entire cart if made from two sheets of 1/2" plywood and five 8' 2x3s. When the cart is assembled it is string enough to hold my entire body weight (72 Kgs / 160 lbs) just by sitting on top of the long walls. All the weight gets transferred down the end panels, so no weight is sitting on the hinges of the folding panels. There are 6 5' piano hinges used, and 2 2' piano hinges. I used piano hinges because they are continuous and they don't require a gap between boards for the hinge pin like regular door hinges do.
I have a fusion 360 file in the zip file attached to this post if you want to see how it works closer. All the joints are positioned correctly so you'll even be able to watch it fold down by dragging the components around. The fusion 360 file can easily be turned into build plans by going to the drawing tab. It's a parameter-based design so if you search for "parameters" you'll be able to change the size of the cart simply by inputting your desired length and width. The height is calculated automatically based on the width.
I hope you guys find this interesting! I'm going to try it out at C2E2.
