This cabinet on castors is ready for any storage needs you may have.

Maybe we’re bragging, but we think the PM rolling cabinet is about as versatile as furniture gets. It’s a bookcase, a printer kiosk, a DVD-storage rack or a kitchen workstation. It’s whatever storage you want, when and where you need it. Roll it from one place to another, set up shop, and move it again as required. We made the cart’s shelves wide and deep to accommodate those baskets you see popping up in furniture catalogues and in showrooms. Don’t like baskets? No problem – it works just as well without them.

Simplicity is a virtue, and this project is designed with that kind of goodness in mind. It’s made of just 12 wood parts (see “Construction details” below) and most of them are of the same material (we used red-oak plywood). You don’t need more than a handful of tools: a circular saw, a router, a pocket-screw jig and a drill driver. You’ve probably got these already. All that remains is a free weekend. Frankly, you won’t even need all of that time to knock out this cabinet. Here’s how to build it.

See end of article for a link to download dimensions for the mobile storage cabinet (measurements in millimetres).

Construction sequence
Begin by ripping and crosscutting the shelves, the sides, the bottom and the top panel plywood. Guide the saw with a straight piece of wood clamped across the panel, or use a clamping fence (see image 2). Clamp each side so that it’s stable and you have access to its edge. Cut a rebate along the back edge of each side panel using a router and a ball-bearing rebate bit (see image 3).

With the sides ripped and rebated, iron on the veneer tape along their front edges (see image 4). Let the veneer overhang the ends, and trim it to length using heavyduty scissors or sheet-metal snips. The heat-activated glue on this veneer is very strong, but you still need to ensure the tape is properly bonded. To do this, burnish the tape using a block of wood. Finally, shave the veneer to width using a file. Tip the file at a shallow 5- to 10-degree angle, and push it so its edge (not its face) cuts away excess veneer (see image 5). Veneer the shelves and the case bottom in the same manner.

Next, build up the top’s front edges using short pieces of pine blocking. Crosscut the pine pieces and place them carefully so that the top can drop neatly over the case sides. Then fasten them using glue and 3d finishing nails (see image 6). Apply matching 50 mm veneer tape to the ends first, and then tape the front edge. Iron the tape on, burnish it and trim it just as you handled the sides.

Bore pocket-screw holes into the underside of each shelf and of the bottom panel (see image 7). Next, drive coarse-thread pocket screws through these parts and into the case sides. Begin by attaching the case bottom (see image 8), and then move on to the shelves. Next, crosscut the cleats to fit between the sides, and attach the cleats by driving screws through the case sides.

There’s no need to conceal these screws since the top will cover them.

Rip and crosscut the plywood back to fit the space between the rebates and match the case length. Apply a coat of satin polyurethane to the front of the plywood back. Make small pencil marks on both case sides to indicate the centre of each shelf, the bottom and the cleat. Place the back in the case, and draw lines across its back to indicate these centres. Nail along these lines to fasten the back to the sides, bottom and cleat.

Finally, lightly hand-sand all parts with 120-grit abrasive paper, wipe off the dust, and apply a coat of satin polyurethane to the shelves and to the inside and outside of the side panels. When the coating is dry, lightly sand these parts with 220-grit abrasive paper. Wipe off the sanding dust and apply a second coat. Apply a coat of ebony stain to the top. When the stain is dry, apply two coats of polyurethane to the top using the same method you used on the case. When the top is completed, drop it over the cleats and drive screws through the cleats into the top (see image 9). Finally, attach each castor by driving screws through the flange into the bottom (see image 10).

Construction details
Parts being joined: Pine blocks and top
Fasteners: 30 mm (3d) finishing nails    
Direction of fasteners: Through blocks into top

Parts being joined: Cleats and top
Fasteners: 30 mm coarse-thread drywall screws
Direction of fasteners: Through bottom of cleats into top

Parts being joined: Cleats and sides
Fasteners: 40 mm coarse-thread drywall screws
Direction of fasteners: Through sides into ends of cleats

Parts being joined: Back to sides, shelves and bottom
Fasteners:  20 mm wire nails
Direction of fasteners: Through back into side rebate, shelves and bottom

Parts being joined: Shelves, bottom and sides
Fasteners: 20 mm wire nails
Direction of fasteners: Through shelves into sides; through bottom into sides