Engineering Help?? Roller Stand

Iplayfarmer · Mar 2, 2007

All you engineers out there, I need some advice.

I'm building a roller stand for a wood box that I load in and out of my pickup truck occasionally. The base of the box is 2' X 4' and the hole thing may weigh 350 pounds full.

I'm planning on building a top for the stand out of angle iron, and I'm planning on making the base of the stand bigger that the top such that the "legs" of the stand are angled from the corner of the stand base to the corner of the stand top. My hope is that by angling the legs as such I won't need to put in cross braces anywhere. The stand will be 28" from base to top. There will be 5" casters underneath the base.

Here's the question...

How much bigger than the top does the base have to be in order to provide the support without cross braces?

Or, if I can get some suggestions about what kind of angle I'd need, I can figure it out from there.

Iplayfarmer · Mar 2, 2007

I've attached a rough sketch of the idea to help you visualize what I'm planning

SPIKER · Mar 2, 2007

if you are planning on welding this up out of angle iron, I woulds use 2x2 angle (but 1.5 x 1.5 would work) in the 3/16" thick range. no need to angle the legs in as it is not high enough to worry about. TIPPING on rough floor or expansion joint may come into play with 350/400 lbs is a good bit of weight and will be top heavy. make sure to use large enough casters to hold the weight and roll over cracks ect without tipping... hard compound casters, not rubber tires, steel or hard plastic is usually best in higher weight needs...

consider making the unit a little wider or square (largest size of box + a inch or two) for added stability...

mark M

Iplayfarmer · Mar 2, 2007

Thanks for the advice on the tipping. Maybe I'll just angle to the front and back for a more stabile base but not to the sides

The top will be out of old bed rail. I've got some 2" square tubing for the uprights, and I'll probably make the bottom out of the same old bed rails. I also plan to put a wood deck on the bottom to use as a shelf.

I'm going to get casters from Harbor Freight tomorrow. I plan to get their 4" casters that are cast w/rubber tires... On sale right now for $3.49.

Iplayfarmer · Mar 21, 2007

I finally got the roller stand done. I should have taken some pictures of the stand before I loaded it all up, but I was too excited to get the box up off the garage floor and free up some space.

I did go get some pics tonight though. It still has a small bit of sway, but well within my tolerances.

Here are the pictures. The first is of the completed stand all loaded up. I also included the second picture to show what the stand was all about.