Rolling Test Equipment Cart

A Harbor Freight service cart with a second shelf added on top, so the test equipment can roll to wherever I'm working in the shop.

A white rolling cart with a drawer, loaded with test equipment: an oscilloscope, a power supply, a multimeter and a hot air rework station on the top shelf, and a frequency counter, soldering iron and electronic load on the middle shelf — The finished cart with its test equipment

KF7PSM, a fellow amateur radio operator, suggested I might find a rolling cart useful, so I started with a Harbor Freight 30 in. 1-drawer service cart in white (item 71210), and added a second shelf on top of it, using aluminum angle stock for the posts and a laminated compressed wood board for the shelf.

I roll it around to wherever I'm working in the shop, so the scope, the power supply and the meters are always within reach.

What's on it

Top shelf: a Tektronix oscilloscope, a B&K Precision power supply, a Fluke multimeter and a hot air rework station
Middle shelf (the cart's original top tray): a B&K 1851 frequency counter, a Weller soldering iron and a Kunkun KP184 electronic load
Drawer and bottom shelf: room for tools, cables and a carrying bag

The build

The white cart with its drawer and two shelves, partly assembled, in front of a garage door — The cart as it comes, with its drawer and two shelves

The cart with two tall aluminum angle posts added at each end, and tools sitting in its top tray — The aluminum angle posts going on

The cart from another angle with the aluminum angle frame standing above the top tray and tools inside — The frame from another angle

The aluminum angle posts rise above the cart's top tray and carry the new shelf, so there is a second level for equipment while the original tray stays usable. The angle is attached to the cart with simple through-hole bolts and nuts.

The finished cart standing in the garage with test equipment on the top shelf and the original tray, and a carrying bag on the bottom shelf — The finished cart

The cart in place in the shop next to a workbench and a blue vise, loaded with an oscilloscope, a power supply, a multimeter, a rework station, a frequency counter and an electronic load — In place in the shop

Parts

Harbor Freight 30 in. 1-drawer service cart, white (item 71210)
Aluminum angle stock, for the posts, with through-hole bolts and nuts
Laminated compressed wood board, for the second shelf

Links

50 µA Current Source My ham shack