Roll Around Cart Top

Roll Around Cart Top
I decided to begin with a small, simple job first and work my way up.

I cut the AdvantTech base to exact size on the table saw and then used the table saw to trim the tongue off the first edge and the groove off the last.

I followed that up with a pass across the jointer to produce a flat, smooth surface.

Then to the sliding miter saw for careful trim of left edge.

A quick check of first two showed that the saw was cutting neither square or even straight edges!

So the old Ryobi power miter box (bought when we applied trim in house 25 years ago!) came out and produced perfect edges.

A little playing with available pieces yielded an acceptable layout.

By carefully looking at all available pieces, I was able to keep the scrap to an incredibly small amount!

I decided to glue each course with Titebond III, a glue rated for outdoor use but to use screws to produce the required clamping pressure while the glue set.

I drilled a grid using my little B&D Lithium Ion pocket drill.

 

 

 

 

The Titebond III instructions call for a generous application!

“The bigger the blob, the better the job!”

I have to admit, I was a little nervous when I applied the glue to my first course. I use orange sticks and learned that the glue is thin enough for a brush and the orange stick would not be very good once I had to deal with tongue and groove gluing.

Wipe away excess glue with a damp cloth

C-clamps hold the piece in place while I . . . .

Use my 3/8 Milwaukee variable speed drill to seat the 1.25” fine thread drywall screws.

Next night, back for additional courses. Visited Home Depot and bought 6 acid brushes, (so called because plumbers use these to apply acid to pipes prior to sweating the fittings) for glue application. 

These brushes worked very well indeed and the Titebond III was easy to apply.

Edge and end clamps hold the second course while I carefully invert the piece to apply the screws in the back.

While adding the third course, the ends were not perfectly aligned but the piece would not slide in the Titebond III! I wailed on it with my little rawhide mallet to no avail. I finally broke out a 3/4” pipe clamp and brought it into line. 

After edge and end clamping, I inserted the screws in the back but the front course broke through the groove of the board (which would cause great difficulty in applying the final course). So I backed the crews out (I’ll make the holes vertical instead of a slight angle as I had planned – at least on the course of holes closest to the groove edge of the flooring).

As a result, in a couple of places the maple flooring and substrate were clearly not “married” and a visible gap existed between the substrate and the flooring. So I added a couple of pieces of dimensional wood, lightly clamped at the back and more forcefully clamped at the front where the gap was.

Worked like a charm! But left me with a piece that had to stay in the clamp overnight.

Tomorrow, drill second course of holes vertically and add final three courses of flooring.

I am so glad I decided to do this little roll-around cart top first since it allows me to learn on a non-critical piece.