This is the great DIY flip top cart for a miter saw and planer my father built, and I have since inherited. Being that I don’t have a dedicated workshop – like many, I work out my garage – this DIY flip top cart on casters comes in very handy for almost every project I do. The casters allow me to roll it into the driveway, where I do most of my woodworking, and being that it is a flip top cart I need less space in my garage to store two of my most often used wood working tools.
If you would like to see the plans for building one for yourself, visit our Flip Top Tool Cart plans post.
The construction of this flip top cart is actually pretty basic, and a project almost any beginning wood working should be able to handle. The legs are made of 2x4s, planed down on one side to remove the rounded-over corners, and then glued together to form a 4×4 post (with actual dimensions closer to 3.5″ x 3.5″). Obviously, you could just start with a standard 4×4 post, but finding straight ones at your big box stores is often difficult and doubled-up 2x4s actually are stronger than a 4×4.
The stretchers between the legs are just 2x4s with a lap joint on the lower stretchers, while the upper stretchers in the front and back are actually mortised in. Note that the lower stretchers are actually going across both 2x4s of each leg – so these weren’t created just by leaving gaps in the 2×4 pieces as they were glued up, they were cut with a dado blade on the table saw after the legs were glued up. I suppose you could use lap joints for all four stretchers to save the trouble of cutting the mortises, but if you plan ahead and use your table saw to cut out the dados on the 2x4s prior to joining them together the mortises are actually fairly quick and easy to make.
The top side supports were made from 2x6s to ensure there was enough mass to hold the weight of the rotating top. These supports were also created with lap joints going across the 2x4s of the legs, which like the lower stretchers, ensures the weight is distributed across both 2x4s of each leg instead of just one; which could result in enough downward force to eventually shear the two pieces apart.
The easiest part of this flip top cart to make was actually the top itself. It’s constructed of three layers of 3/4″ material – the top and bottom layers are plywood while the middle layer is MDF. The top and bottom plywood pieces are both cut to the same size, while the MDF layer is cut 3/4″ shorter from front to back – and then cut in half so that when you glue all three pieces up there is a 3/4″ x 3/4″ channel down the middle of the top for the threaded rod to be inserted without any need for drilling or cutting dados, etc… Plus, at a total thickness of over 2″, this top has plenty of strength to support the miter saw and planer attached to it.
The four corners of the MDF have 1/4″ slots cut out to accommodate the heads of the threaded eye bolts that are held in place by bolts which go through all three layers of the top and are counter-sunk so not to protrude above the surface of the plywood. These eye bolts become the locking mechanism to secure the top in place, as they extend through a similar 1/4″ slot in each of the 4×4 legs, and then have lock washers and knobs used to tighten them down. The threaded rod going through the center of the top becomes the pivot point for rotation, and so you do not want to actually tighten this down with nuts to the side of the side supports. Instead, use a double-nut method on each end of the threaded rod to prevent the rod from sliding in either direction, but still allow it to rotate freely.
Now, attaching the miter saw and planer seems like it should be an easy task, and in reality it is. However if you want your flip top cart to truly operate easily you need to find the center of balance of each of your tools. The easiest method I’ve found to determine the center of balance is to take the threaded rod, and lay it out on a flat, level surface. Then set your miter saw on top of that threaded rod, moving the miter saw backward and forward until it is almost balancing on the threaded rod. You don’t have to make it actually balance there, but once you have it close you’ll want to put a mark on the miter saw directly above the center of the threaded rod. This is the miter saw’s center of balance. Then follow the same process for your planer. Now, when you are mounting these to your table top make certain those marks line up with the center of the threaded rod that is going through the top. This should ensure the top of your DIY flip top cart is well balanced and easy to rotate.
The last step was to mount the casters so we could roll this beauty around. That’s it. A fairly simple project for what turns out to be a highly depended on DIY flip top cart housing two of my favorite power tools. Make certain to keep checking back as I highlight some “enhancements” I’m making to this DIY flip top cart over the next few weeks and months. And if you have any questions on how this was made, please feel free to leave me a comment or send me an email through our Contact page and I’d be happy to help you out!
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