Extremely Versatile Flip Top Cart

[@m.d.d.3051]

In my research on different flip top work stations, this is one of the best I've seen. I'm getting ready to build a flip top work station for a miter saw and planer, and your adjustable wings solution solves an issue I've been struggling with; different table heights on both tools. Your plan is well thought out, and well executed. I'm not crazy about your wing support (tongue and groove), and a couple of other details I'll tweak out as I sketch out mine, but the basic design is exactly what I've been looking for. The positive stops built in for the table top is elegantly simple and makes more sense than most of the others I've seen. Well done. Best I can do for support at this time is a sub to your channel. And thanks for your service.

[@jelaperk]

19:56 Did you build it yet? I need to build the same for a miter saw and scroll saw. Having a problem figuring out the distance from the flip top and bottom of the cart. I would HATE...lol to build it and when I go to flip, there is not enough space for it to fully rotate. If you did build yours, what measurement did you use? Thanks in advance

[@stevedionne1931]

Music drive me nuts but your cart looks good

[@rickhayhoe]

Half-lap joints have another advantage; they result in less wood used because you don't have to double up your 2x4's to get the half-lap effect. Not only do I like your cart design and building method, Hunter, but upon noticing your wall in the background I find that we are brothers. Early 1970's 1st SFG for me.

[@tbullard52561]

First and foremost - thank you for your service - much appreciated. Second - Just retired from Goodyear Tire and Rubber (IT Manager) and getting my shop in order. Been doing hobby woodworking for close to 30 years but now get to do it on a regular basis. FIrst project is a miter saw station and then an outfeed table. Going to your Etsy site to see if you have plans for your dust collection hood. I have spent the last three weeks looking for flip cart design and gone through dozens and dozens of videos and have stopped my search with yours. Awesome work and will be purchasing your plan for this. Lastly - looks like you are (or have been) stationed about 45 minutes away from where I live so welcome! PS. Also subscribed to your channel. Best wishes!

[@DaveDayCAE]

Surely the flip top workshop table is the most ubiquitous project on KZbin, and you win! I bought the plans and I intend to build two. I have bought the lumber and will start building this weekend. Oh and by the way, thanks for your service to our country.

[@Anthony_DP]

Damn dude. Bad ass. The tongue and groove support makes me nervous but the rest is amazing. I will surely be using this design.

[@thefeet]

Couldn't resist because I'm lazy. I picked up the plans at your etsy store. Very detailed. Thank you very much! Well worth it and 2 thumbs up for this video too!

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Awesome! Thank you very much for your support. Please reach out if you have any questions. Good luck on your build!

[@dbnoho]

Music started. I tightened my bandana. Great design. Thanks for the ideas.

[@mitchdiaco]

Love your design, especially the CAD model pre-production verification!

[@woodworksbygrampies1284]

Thank you for your device. I hope you are back home and safe with your family by now. God bless. Really like your cart and the video.

[@Heart-Beliefs--SamWilliamson]

Really like the design. Love the solid rotation with a stop. I've been looking at dozens of flip tables, and this is best. I like: the solid 2x4 framing, the solid stop rotation, and I LOVE the idea of the feed and outfeed. I'm making a table for the same planer but a Jet 10-20 drum sander on the other side. The infeed/outfeed heights are identical but I'll still probably make the feeds with a little flexibility, like yours. I think I'll use a piano hinge instead of a door hinge, and I might use a hinge for the bottom bracing instead of the tongue/groove thing. Great video. Thanks.

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

I’m glad you liked the video and I could inspire a design! I’ve really enjoyed the flip top cart so far - I’ve had it for about a year now. It’s continued to perform as designed. I think piano hinges would be a great upgrade. I do think the tongue and grove supports could be improved, but I honestly haven’t had any reason to do so - they simply work every time, exactly as expected. I expect improvements to this design would allow for one-handed deployment, and possibly add rigidity to the hinge joint between the wing and the cart (right now the support mechanism is loose enough at its attachment points that it doesn’t constrain the small flex in the conventional hinge at the wing base). Maybe someday I’ll get around to innovating and iterating on this design, but it will have to fail first for me to find the motivation. Best of luck with your build!

[@GJ11598]

solid job man! Finally someone had the same idea of orientating the planer the same directions as the wings!

[@kevinthomson6324]

Definitely going to use this wing design for the flip cart I’m planning to build soon. Just needs some better hinges and some magnets to hold the supports in place.

[@MikeMcAuliffe-g2f]

Like it, and appreciate that you allowed for wanting enough density to be good for hammer strikes and your other thoughts about plywood.

[@billdeeberg1960]

Excellent design and combination of ideas. I like how you start with a problem statement and go from there. It's great you give credit to those who provided inspiration for parts of the design. Most importantly: THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE IN THE MILITARY!

[@davidlee2822]

Your build is SO terrific I wouldn't care if you accompanied it with John Phillip Sousa! I love your talented and beautiful over-builds. I'm going to make use of your flip-cart and your miter saw over-build. Man! Your plans are incredibly detailed and helpful. THANKS for going the extra mile (extra 10 miles) on the plans! And thank you for sharing your vision and your terrific skill.

[@douggroves1812]

Very nice design. I'm building Fisher's cart now, but I wish I would have seen yours before I started. ODA-072 and ODA-092.

[@neitzsche5150]

Excellent craftsmanship. Very nice work!

[@laplumedescaron142]

Les p'tits gars !!! ils ont des ateliers !!! on dirait des halls de gare ... quelle chance :)

[@alanchambers5450]

Well done, thank you for a great video and explaination👏🏻👏🏻

[@barbarianatgate2000]

I love this build! I especially like the support wings. Lighter weight but the framework provides stability and strength. And the break-away support is a very elegant solution. My only question is regarding the power strip. Granted, it's not something that should happen very often, but what do you do if the onboard circuit breaker trips? As it's built, it requires the removal of at least one tool and the mounting board. I think the simple but far less attractive solution is mount it on the outside and drill a couple of holes for the cord ends to feed through. Or replace it with a multi input adapter with no surge suppressor and keep everything inside as shown. Again, it's probably not a high occurrence issue. But it will only take once before it's a major work stoppage. All in all, still a very cool design.

[@clintoncaudle9732]

Best moment of the video: planer drops on stand to the beat. Prove me wrong.

[@myteric117]

Nice build. Your choices make sense to me, and the outcome fits your needs well. Your music selections are awesome. The thing made listening harder for me, is that the sound of the music was very full compared to the sound of you speaking. I had to keep cranking the volume to hear you, then dialing it back for the music. Anyway, great build. Thanks.

[@genefoster54]

looked at several best so far

[@mattwlane]

Love you 2x4 adaptation of Fisher's Cart. More importantly, thank you for your service.

[@sincerelyyours7538]

It's been nine months and I'm sure you've worked out the kinks by now, but I'd like to say that I like this design the best of all the flip-top carts I've seen on YT. The locking top is very clever and the 2x4 sides are strong and minimize the use of expensive plywood. I do have a few suggestions, however. 1. The wings look like they stick out several inches when folded down. My shop is so small those few inches are precious, so I would fix that by using T-nuts and shorter bolts to hold the top hinge boards in place. 2. If you haven't done so already, do use piano hinges as they should eliminate the side-to-side wiggle you mentioned. 3. If the tongue and grooves in the support bars have proven sturdy enough then by all means keep them. If not, then a sliding groove arrangement like what you did for the wing hinge boards might be better. 4. Finally, I'm nuts about retracting castors. They're easy to make and allow the cart to stand on its own feet (not wander about on wheels) while the machines are in use.

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Thank you for the comment and complement. What actually causes the wings to stick out, is the proportion of short and long support braces for the wings. The way I have it adjusted for my planer, the short support brace is 0.5” too long to tuck under the wing support base. This causes everything to stick out, rather than lay flat. If I lowered it or designed it to be shorter, it would be fine in my specific application. I did switch to piano hinges; should have started with those. The tongue and groove joinery has held up really well; it’s stable and easy to deploy. I also don’t ever worry about it coming loose. The dual locking casters have been good enough for my application, but I really appreciate the engineering that goes into retractable caster designs - really classy. I’ll probably tackle this at some point, just because it would be a good challenge. Thanks for the discourse!

[@phl40]

The positive stops are an excellent feature! Great job.

[@davidcoles5915]

Brilliant design and execution. Well done, and thank you for your service!

[@jim2642]

Thank you, I appreciate this, how solid you designed it. Have you made changes to the arms and will you put a video out on those changes? Thanks again

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

I haven’t changed the support wings. They have actually held up really well. If I were to do it again, I’d use better hinges next time. I get the most play/ instability from the hinge joint than anything else.

[@konstantkrash]

Is that power strip fused? You may need a hole to reset it if it ever pops. Overall many nice design features. Add 3/4 inch strip to the hinge mount so the arm drops drops flat. Piano hinge, possibly? Thanks for your service.

[@rapph]

Nice job Hunter. I have 2 suggestions though. Make the side panels from 3/4" ply, using a full piece on the inside and strips to make the frame on the outside. Also, the bottom should be dadoed into those sides 1 1/4" so the casters have the full support. As it is, 2 screws are supported into the 2 x 4 frame, and 2 are in the plywood bottom.

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Thanks! Dados are a great idea; that would definitely make the casters more supported. I haven’t had any issues thus far with the design, but everything can be improved.

[@jerrymorrison2956]

Ultrawall 24 inch Black Sturdy Folding Shelf Brackets, Heavy Duty Adjustable Steel Wall Mounted Collapsible Shelf Bracket, Max Load 550lb (Pack of 2) on Amazon Not affiliated with product: I have used brackets like this for many folding projects in my shop. Extremely sturdy and easy to use. I just bought a planer and jointer and was looking at how to adapt Fishers cart for these. Great video. (and if these can last through PCS's you've done a great job. Those movers can destroy a rock) HooAhh.

[@Greybeardmedic]

If you wanted the weight to go straight through the frame, then you should have placed a stile directly in line with the bearing right in the middle. This is how houses are built when you want to transmit the weight of a heavy structure directly through the house and into the foundation (also called a point load). At the least you could have used a heavier support at the top, like doubling the stiles (kind of like a header).

[@laurawhite4490]

I really like the miter saw station, but I LOVE having this in our shop. It is probably my favorite shop piece that you have built so far. It is super easy to flip and move around.

[@mmgross144]

First, thank you for your service to our country! Second, thank you for making this video! Now for suggestions: I would replace the hinges with a piano hinge like you mentioned, but would also replace the tongue and groove joint with a piano hinge that folds upwards when closed. Your wings may protrude a bit more but you’ll get greater stability and an easier mechanism to operate. On a production note, your voice is too low in volume. Consider a wireless microphone (wearable) to record your voice and/ or turn down the music so that the listener can turn up the volume without the music being too loud. The stand looks great. I have Fisher’s plans and when I build it I’ll incorporate those wings as well.

[@paulbeaver2918]

I’m planning on using Fishers design (downloaded already) also and now you’ve convinced me to add the wings. Nice 👍🏽 design. Keep making videos 🤟🏽

[@paulbeaver2918]

I like your cabinets with lights. And my emojis aligned like that..wasn’t planned

[@robertmorris9998]

Just found this video, and I like the build you have. Wanting to build a flip table for the planer and this one looks awesome. I wonder after 2 years now if you have reinforced the wing supports with metal as the tongue and groove looked pretty sketchy.

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Thanks! Honestly the tongue and groove has worked really well. I figured with frequent use they might become looser, but they are still really tight and solid. The tongue and groove is actually the most solid part. I get way more wiggle / play out of the hinge on the wings than I do the joint or sliding adjustment. I never liked the hinge out support with a single threaded bolt for adjustment. That solution never seemed as stable. There is a much greater contact area with the tongue and groove than an edge of plywood or bolt head. If I were going to do it again, I would use a piano hinge or machinist hinge to take all the play out of that joint.

[@apowell389]

Best I've seen.

[@thefeet]

vert nice!

[@bjorn6660]

Sehr coole Idee! Danke für das Video!

[@raikkonenkimi9839]

Wow! Nice shop and great video. I like

[@johnvodopija]

I like this build a lot. Thanks for the interesting build video. Cheers 👍😎🇦🇺

[@akivazohar2502]

SF? Great and the adjustable wings are great, haven’t seen that. Maybe switch your supports to that other method that has the 2 parts samwitched

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Yep. I love the adjustable wings. My wife and I have loved how easy this cart has made planing our stock for projects. The supports have actually been really reliable. Quite a few viewers have pointed out the possibility for folding shelf brackets, but we haven’t had any problems.

[@ericklein2589]

De Oppresso Liber, brother!👍

[@bobleicht5295]

10th Gp 18C? DOL.

[@PleaseFacts]

Thx Hunter

[@hemidesign]

This is pretty damn cool dude.. wow

[@desertman3]

Just found the channel and became a subscriber. Nice work on this and the miter station! I pray for your safe return. God bless you, the men you lead and, your growing family young man.

[@jaimereyes1083]

Great stable I’m building now but I need to know what bit do you use for router your frame I’m no profesional I’m beginner Thanks

[@Sportyg1960]

Do you have plans for this amazing fliptop

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

I do: search “extremely versatile flip top cart” on Etsy. Or “HuntersEWStore”.

[@DocRonSnyder]

I would have used the folding shelve bracket. It would provided stronger support, easier to operate, and would look better flush with your cabinet. But overall great work.

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

The folding shelf bracket is a great idea! I have never seen that before. At minimum, I'm was going to change the base hinges from door hinges to a piano hinge to reduce the wobble, but I may give this bracket a try first. Especially if it can be deployed with one hand. Thanks so much for the suggestion!

[@ngoti8tor]

How would you adjust the folding shelf bracket? It may not open up to be exactly level with your infeed/outfeed surfaces.

[@kevingibson9453]

How can you get plans on this

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

www.etsy.com/listing/909891949/extremely-versatile-flip-top-cart

[@keithwinchell310]

First off, thank you for your service! I have watched tons of flip cart videos and I love how you have taken several designs and integrated them into yours. The 2x4 structure is solid and definitely what I am looking for. I was wondering how you attached the 2x4 that was milled with the holes for the pipe (swivel point) and 2 screws for wings to the main 2x4 that have the half lap joints?

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Thank you! Each face was milled smooth for a glue joint. I just used clamps to hold the top piece to the frame.

[@TheHandystanley]

Hunter, just found your video. Have the plans been updated to reflect using a piano hinge? Have you come up with an updated solution to the planner wings? Thanks for your service!

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Hey Stanley, thanks for the comment! The plans have not been updated yet; I just returned from Afghanistan and have been spending time with family. In terms of the piano hinge, I think that would be a simple substitution for the door hinge used in that spot. It only needs to be the top hinge connecting the wing base and the wing. Another viewer recommended using folding shelf brackets to support the wings, in place of the wing support arms. This seemed like it would work well, would be deployable with one hand, and sturdy enough to support lumber on it. I do think support arms will offer more support for heavier loads with less (no) deflection, but they take more time to set up. I will update the plans shortly, I’m just getting back into the swing of things at home :)

[@TheHandystanley]

@@EngineeringWorkshop_hvwThank you and welcome home!

[@davekelly2003]

Is there a way to get detailed plans/bom for this

[@jeffolsen3228]

Excellent job and using features from other flip top carts to make an overall better design. Question: do you think this would work with a planer on one side and a bench top jointer on the other and the wings could be raised flush with the jointer and offer a lot of indeed and outfeed support to joint longer boards? The downside to benchtop jointers is the inability to joint long boards and this could fix that. Also good for small shops because floor model jointers take up a lot of space.

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Thank you! I do think a jointer would work on the other side of the planer. You can check my build plans on Etsy for specific dimensions to make sure your jointer would fit. The only inconvenience I see would be adjusting the wings for each tool. It would be a rare coincidence that the work heights of each tool is the same, so the wings would have to be set each time. The angle of the wing is easy to adjust (bottom threaded knob), but the height of the wings takes some time (two nuts on the wing base). If you are just setting the wings for the jointer, then you won’t have to worry about adjust the wings all the time. I do really like the wing support for planing longer boards though. It’s also possible that the wings would need to be really high for the jointer, and would impede the planer, even when folded down. This might require you rotate the planer 90 degrees. You’ll just have to asses for your specific tools. It’s a great flip top cart and I love having it in the shop.

[@bretthollenbeck812]

Just found your channel Hunter and very glad I did. Been looking for a good flip top cart, hopefully., for my drill press and band saw. This one might be sturdy enough. That’s a great miter saw station. Love the hood for the saw. How does it do containing the dust?

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Hey Brett! Thanks for the kind words. I love the Flip-top cart so far. It is very sturdy, the top is very stable when secured, and the wings are great for planing longer boards - though you can skip the wings for a drill press and bandsaw. I have build plans available on my Etsy store if you are interested. I absolutely love the Mitersaw station. It came out just like I imagined (3D CAD helps lol) and works wonderfully. It makes me so much more efficient in the shop. The Dust hood is great; it traps 90-95% of the dust, depending on wether or not I’m making a sliding cut, or just a standard miter cut. The negative pressure from the dust collection does a great job at keeping the fine dust away too. I notice this because I don’t sneeze when using it, along with not needing to vacuum up the large chips. You could improve the dust collection by running a hose directly to the saw. While virtually all the dust stays in the hood, I do still have to vacuum the hood out sometimes. Collecting directly off the saw would reduce this a lot.

[@bretthollenbeck812]

Hunter, thanks so much for getting back to me so quick. I will definitely check out the plans on etsy for the flip cart and miter saw station, for that hood. My shop is very small so everything must be on wheels, and better dust collection is a definite plus. Thanks!

[@tighecrovetti2844]

From 3:05 - 3:10, an additional piece appears....?

[@PleaseFacts]

Hunter, was wondering how you attached the side assembly on the top ( 1.5” x 14” x 2.25”) that the 1” pipe is slotted through? Just glue?

[@PleaseFacts]

I did get the plans but may take some liberties with the extension wings.

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Hey, I just glued the two pieces together and clamped them until the glue was dry. I milled these two pieces so the glue face was flat and smooth, allowing for a strong glue joint.

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Take all the liberties you want! I’d love to see pictures when you are done; feel free to drop them on Etsy (review, message, whatever you prefer). My first change would be to use a piano hinge over a door hinge for the wing attachment.

[@kennethbroyles1841]

Superb design, just bought the plans on Etsy. I'm considering adding a second layer of plywood (well probably actually two layers) on either side. I would have the innermost layer with the notch for the table to rest against but then add a thin spacer layer followed up with a full height - full depth outer panel. I could then this wider side to hold up a nearly full depth wing, hopefully minimizing that swing you mentioned at the end, plus it would then support a 13" wide board with room to spare on either side. Any thoughts?

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Thanks for the comment and the purchase. It sounds like it will work! Minimizing the swing is good; piano hinges work pretty well for this too. I’d love to see a picture when you are finished.

[@billkiessel6682]

Nice build, very well thought out. How do you like that dust collector? Thanks

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Thanks! I like the dust collector a lot. It’s surprising how much more volume of air it moves than a regular shop vac.

[@samspade4634]

Nice. Great addition with the extension arms for the planer. I will add my name to the subscriber list if you can change the "background" music. It was too loud and didn't match the video but I really enjoyed your building technique. Please let me know when the next video comes out. It looks good for being a new channel. Hang in there.

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

I just finished my CNC enclosure video! Thanks for the constructive criticism; video editing is hard lol. I can see how people go to college for this. I’ll keep working on it :)

[@marcgulko6893]

Stupid question, but where are you buying good straight/flat plywood? Most of our box stores, have twisted junk. Lol. Thanks

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

I usually buy my plywood from the Home Depot. I’ve had pretty good luck in Colorado Springs, CO. I always check it, mainly the edges and corners to make sure they aren’t damaged. I also use the plywood right away (I don’t have room to store it) so maybe it’s a little wet, and if it’s allowed to dry before use, it will twist. I’ve noticed this with some of the lumber I’ve purchased; I let the lumber dry and check with a moisture meter before using, but I also always mill the lumber myself to ensure it is square. I hope this helps!

[@kentrichardson9070]

Recommend narrating the build instead of the music. Sound was poor quality and didn’t like the music. I did like the design.cheers

[@Heart-Beliefs--SamWilliamson]

What is the outside diameter of your steel pipe? I'm having difficulty finding a 1 inch OD steel pipe.

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

It's 1 inch outside diameter steel pipe. I bought a 36" piece off the shelf at the Home Depot. It was threaded on each end if that helps you find it.

[@davidslater5403]

When you going to build a work bench ?

[@EngineeringWorkshop_hvw]

Well, funny you should ask. I finally convinced my wife to move into a different house; I think it’s because we’re expecting, but I joke that it’s because I need a larger shop. I plan to get a CNC router, build an enclosure for it, and build an out-feed / assembly table / router table for the table saw. Im going to start on the designs soon, but it will probably be August - September before I can build it. I’ve been holding off because I just don’t have the room with the large safe, storage rack, and home gym in my shop space.

[@Inzyman100]

Dude the music is toooo loud!! Your voice not loud enough…

[@Amethyst1919]

OMG Kill the repetitive music blasting through the video... so distracting!

[@NS-YT1]

Great video & cart…but the damn music is WAY too loud (and distracting)….but if I turn the volume down, your voice is barely audible/understood. Suggestion: if you really want to have the distracting music throughout your videos, at least learn to adjust your audio input levels during editing…..so there’s no need for viewers to keep lowering and raising the volume (over & over)

[@WVgunfun]

Good vid, terrible music....why?

[@paulng6126]

The music ti toooo loud AND SERVED NO PURPOSE AT ALL.

[@jcoyle41]

Music makes it un watchable.

[@georgequalls5043]

Had to stop watching it because of the annoying background music. it adds nothing, so why put it in.

[@richardkeith2778]

Sorry, gave up. found the music too intrusive and loud compared to the commentary