Pit design help

[Sean Schuff]

One word...wheels.

The more of your pit set-up you can put on wheels, the better. Our pit has evolved over the years to the point where EVERYTHING is on wheels! Take a look at the picture of our pit here then read the description below. We have the following items that make up our pit.

Two 4' x 2' pit carts. The bases are cabinets that hold spare parts bins and large power tools (band saw, drill press, arbor press, etc.). The upper cabinets (that collapse down low enough to fit in our trailer and raise high enough to support the frame of our pits) hold manuals, cordless/corded power tools, some spare parts, and have fluorescent lights mounted underneath. In addition we have power strips integrated into our pit carts as well.

Our battery cart charges 15 batteries at a time with custom electronics (courtesy of our friends at Plexus) and serves as another work surface. The top of the charger station is at the same height as the bench portion of our pit carts.

Our parts organizer holds 20 Stanley parts organizers and has a space for holding raw stock in the back. The parts organizers hold anything from fasteners to pneumatics to controls hardware.

Our tool chest holds all of our hand tools as well as milling bits, measuring instruments, drills, taps and dies, and a host of other "must have" items.

Our pit frame superstructure holds pictures from previous and current seasons to show off our students in action and serves as a mounting point for our lighting. We originally used halogen lights but switched over to compact fluorescent bulbs to save energy and reduce heat.

Good luck and happy pit designing/building.

Sean