Storage/Tote Cart

[runneals]

So I tossed together a CAD of a concept that I'm planning to attempt to make from re-claimed wood from the StrongHold field elements during week 1-2. The goal of this project was to create something that is super functional to use in the pit at competitions and at home in our shop that would hold totes of stuff, but be on drawer slides, so you can pull out a tote, get what you need, then slide it back in again. Also planning to possibly put a butcher block on the top and of course wheels on the bottom! Please let me know what you think of it! This is our version 1 of the 973's Super Pit.

View the GrabCad!

[GeeTwo]

Neat idea, and even better as you're re-purposing old field elements.

Do you plan/intend to have full extension slides so that you will be able to open the totes while they are in the drawers? If not, rather than making sliding drawers, it would be much less work and cost, and probably easier to put the totes away if you just had blocks on the side which support the lip of the tote, or shelves which support the bottom. (You might want to put teflon or similar material on the tops of the blocks.)

[runneals]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

Neat idea, and even better as you're re-purposing old field elements.

Do you plan/intend to have full extension slides so that you will be able to open the totes while they are in the drawers? If not, rather than making sliding drawers, it would be much less work and cost, and probably easier to put the totes away if you just had blocks on the side which support the lip of the tote, or shelves which support the bottom. (You might want to put teflon or similar material on the tops of the blocks.)

There are 1/2" spacing on each side of the bottom tote drawers to allow for drawer slides. I had never even thought about the lips. I was designing this so you could easily pull out a tote, grab what you need and slide it back with the least amount of effort possible.

[GeeTwo]

As you are planning to access the totes while still in the drawers, ensure that the glide's travel is a couple of inches longer than the tote so that the flaps of the tote clear the front of the cabinet. (Edit: Unless you're planning to have the flaps open when in storage.) You may want to consider some sort of interlock so that only one drawer in each stack can be out at a time to reduce the chance of tipping.

[BrendanB]

How wide is this cart overall? When making a storage cart for daily use making sure it can fit through a standard doorway is wise. If you ever want to take it to a venue smaller than a large regional you'll find yourself navigating through more standard doors than large garage style doors at loading docks.

Give yourself some wiggle room as well or whatever door you frequently go through will start getting scuffed up overtime.

[cpapplefamily]

Here is a render of the cart we just built. I try to get some good photos next week. The top is hidden just to see what is happening all around it.

[runneals]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

How wide is this cart overall? When making a storage cart for daily use making sure it can fit through a standard doorway is wise. If you ever want to take it to a venue smaller than a large regional you'll find yourself navigating through more standard doors than large garage style doors at loading docks.

Give yourself some wiggle room as well or whatever door you frequently go through will start getting scuffed up overtime.

Aiming for 31" wide to clear all the doors at the venue. Totes are 27"ish long. We don't have to worry about doorways (except for our storage area) as we have a freight elevator to move stuff up and down, and our assembly space has double doors without a post in the middle (which is nice for fitting John Deere Combine Tractors through -- JK, they use the outside garage door

Originally Posted by cpapplefamily

Here is a render of the cart we just built. I try to get some good photos next week. The top is hidden just to see what is happening all around it.

This doesn't seem very useful for the pits as it is dual sided and if you keep this on the side, you couldn't get to the other side easily. But nice concept for working in the shop (I have seen a few educational type carts designed similar to this)! Like how you guys integrated the battery cart as well. We have ours mounted on our electrical cart, which may receive a modified version of the red tote cubes to mount on top of it.

[cpapplefamily]

We agree on the dual sided pit flaw. We are thinking we should have a good clue what we will want quick access to. Plus we built two with an over all length of 9'. The second cart has 4 small part bin areas (2 each side) and one area for two large storage totes like recycling rush had for game pieces. I don't have a render of that on me.

The project is a result of our club loosing a large set of locker/cabinet space at the school.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by cpapplefamily

We are thinking we should have a good clue what we will want quick access to. Plus we built two with an over all length of 9'.

Thoughts, in order of appearance:

1) Oh, you tempt fate with that.
2) If it's a Broadway production to reach the other side of the cart on the one occasion it's needed, it might as well not be there.
3) I'm hoping that 9' is (2*4.5'), since pits are only guaranteed to be 8'x8' at events.
4) Even if I'm right about that and you put one on each side, if you have to flip both at the same time you're back in the same boat.

[cpapplefamily]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Thoughts, in order of appearance:

1) Oh, you tempt fate with that.
2) If it's a Broadway production to reach the other side of the cart on the one occasion it's needed, it might as well not be there.
3) I'm hoping that 9' is (2*4.5'), since pits are only guaranteed to be 8'x8' at events.
4) Even if I'm right about that and you put one on each side, if you have to flip both at the same time you're back in the same boat.

is Correct.

I'm hoping that 9' is (2*4.5')

We will likely only bring one to the big show.

[nathannfm]

I would suggest turning the totes so that they slide in the short direction for a few reasons.

1. Totes can hold a ton of stuff, enough that they can be too heavy to carry if full in some cases. A fully loaded tote on the 3rd or 2nd row fully extended would be pretty scary so you are going to have to enforce strict weight limits on them to prevent tipping or drawer failure. Weight limits can be hard if they are not able to be removed for a rough estimate of the weight.

2. Because of the weight issue you are going to have to use pretty strong drawer slides along with a good factor of safety in case someone pushes down on an open drawer. With 9 sets of 32in extension drawer slides you are looking at around $500 in just the slides for the totes. If you slide in the short direction you can use less expensive shorter slides and probably skimp on the safety factor a bit because the worst case moment arm is shorter.

3. Total pit space. If they are lined up long ways it makes it about 7.5ft long, perfect for the entire side of a pit. It is also only ~20in deep leaving you a ~6x8ft pit. In the long pull orientation it leaves a ~5x8ft pit with 3ft square dead space next to it that can only really be used for more storage. The worst part about this orientation is when you want to open a drawer. Since the lids require you slide them all the way out you need to slide it ~60 inches into the pit from the back of the cart leaving you only 36 inches left from the opposite wall. A standard 28in square robot with 4 inch thick bumpers on either side is barely going to fit in the area thats left requiring you to move the robot and/or a pit members every single time you want to open a drawer. MOE has drawers that extend out a foot and even that can be tight when the robot is surrounded by people working.

[BrendanB]

To echo what Nathan said about the totes being heavy when loaded up, consider buying some tote bins in a smaller size. You can find some that are almost half the height of the standard kit tote bins. Some stuff you bring will need a large bin, but for most items you can split them up into smaller, more manageable bins.

Its more compartments but its less weight on the slides with less to dig through.

[runneals]

Originally Posted by nathannfm

I would suggest turning the totes so that they slide in the short direction for a few reasons.

1. Totes can hold a ton of stuff, enough that they can be too heavy to carry if full in some cases. A fully loaded tote on the 3rd or 2nd row fully extended would be pretty scary so you are going to have to enforce strict weight limits on them to prevent tipping or drawer failure. Weight limits can be hard if they are not able to be removed for a rough estimate of the weight.

2. Because of the weight issue you are going to have to use pretty strong drawer slides along with a good factor of safety in case someone pushes down on an open drawer. With 9 sets of 32in extension drawer slides you are looking at around $500 in just the slides for the totes. If you slide in the short direction you can use less expensive shorter slides and probably skimp on the safety factor a bit because the worst case moment arm is shorter.

3. Total pit space. If they are lined up long ways it makes it about 7.5ft long, perfect for the entire side of a pit. It is also only ~20in deep leaving you a ~6x8ft pit. In the long pull orientation it leaves a ~5x8ft pit with 3ft square dead space next to it that can only really be used for more storage. The worst part about this orientation is when you want to open a drawer. Since the lids require you slide them all the way out you need to slide it ~60 inches into the pit from the back of the cart leaving you only 36 inches left from the opposite wall. A standard 28in square robot with 4 inch thick bumpers on either side is barely going to fit in the area thats left requiring you to move the robot and/or a pit members every single time you want to open a drawer. MOE has drawers that extend out a foot and even that can be tight when the robot is surrounded by people working.

1&2) The heaviest tote we have is the one with batteries in it, which we put in our battery rack. I was estimating ~120 pounds per drawer.

3) OMG, totally love that idea! (I guess that's why we employ smart people like you around here, eh? I'll update the CAD with that idea once I get back to the lab during build season.
Looking like it'll be ~60"x20" now. And either going with a 4x gray totes + 4x red totes on top or going 3x gray totes with room for up to 10 red totes that'll put the height right around ~37-40".

[Captain_Kirch]

Winnovation uses ~3 foot tall tool chests on wheels with a work surface on top. It accomplishes pretty much the same thing this idea does, but its on wheels. For the sake of whoever has to move this thing, put it on wheels. I would suggest looking at these kinds of solutions for design inspiration.

Alternatively you could reuse the plywood for future feilds, prototypes, and permanent in shop storage where portability isn't a factor.