Sheet Goods Mover/Lifter
Few shop chores rival the awkwardness of moving large sheet goods by yourself. And it's nigh on impossible to get them up on sawhorses without help (or the horses skittering across the floor). You'll never again have to cajole reluctant family members into helping if you use this system.
Build the dolly from 3⁄4 " plywood or medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and solid stock, as shown in the drawings below. Carefully position the casters so they run parallel to one another-otherwise, the dolly can shimmy like a bad shopping cart.
Each sheet mover consists of a pair of hinged 2x4s. One attaches temporarily to the top of your sawhorse; the other guides the stock from vertical to horizontal.
To work the system, slide the angle-iron of the dolly under the edge of the sheet you want to move. It works best if you store your sheet goods standing on their long edge, raised up on 2x stickers.) Grab the top of the sheet and tip it toward you. This lifts the material off the stickers and shifts its weight to the dolly. Now wheel the sheet to your work area, steering it by tilting and pivoting the dolly on one caster.
To lay the sheet on sawhorses, roll it into position over the angle iron of the lifters, and tip the sheet toward the sawhorses to free the dolly. (The sheet should be resting only on the lifters.) Pull the dolly away and set it aside. Now, raise the material by tilting the top toward the sawhorses-the lifters will drop down to the floor once the weight of the sheet has transferred to the horses.
If you like this project, please check out the hundreds of shop-proven paper and downloadable woodworking project plans in the WOOD® Store.
