Build your own Mini Dolly 1

We’ve officially begun our Mini Dolly clone project, ahead of schedule I might add. Research was done on the type of wheels that should be purchased for the dolly. We found that while a soft wheel gives you an overall smooth ride, in time the wheels tend to pick up small particles that could cause them to become unbalanced and eventually need replacing. So we decided on the harder rollerblade wheel that have a much stiffer ride but will last a lot longer with continuous use. Also when the Mini Dolly is in use it would be to our benefit to construct a smooth surface with an adjustable height.

Academy was the store of choice to find the rollerblade wheels we were looking for. They had a well priced package with wheels, bearings and spacers. Now that we had the wheels and spacers, they were measured them to make sure the blueprints were to scale.

With the help of the folks over at the HBS Board we had a rough blueprint and finished out detailed wheel scales.

 

The blueprint file was then taken over to FedEx Kinko’s to print them out to scale. After the exact measurements were taken, we made a trip to WoodCraft, where they have an unbelievable selection of wood items and accessories. Once all the “goodies” were brought back to the office there was some confusion as to how to make the cuts on the wood as precise as they need to be. Murray made a great suggestion, to glue or rubber cement the template paper to the wood before cutting. Like so:

 

Needing to find the exact center of all the circles, we tried several different methods without success. Until we enlisted the help of Genius Murray, who taught us the “Center Circle Finder Method”, a simple way to find the exact center of any circle.

The actual cutting process will have to wait until after the Holidays. Wish us luck!

Update: Be sure and visit Build your own Mini Dolly 2.