It's a Rolling Air Compressor Storage Cabinet Thing!

Surely this won't interest many of you. I know, it's just a freakin' box for goodness sake. My apologies. But. As my left shoulder has gone awry, Mike refuses to assist with the hall bathroom. He's blocking my progress. Purposefully. I guess he does care.

So it's really reeeeaaaally frustrating. Heh. To say the least.

The PT people say the dumb left shoulder isn't too too bad (it's frozen shoulder fyi, us middle aged [as the doctor so kindly referred to me as, thanks, *cough* growl] chicks get it most often, and yay, it's horrible), so hopefully I’ll be back a’roll in short order.

Maybe I can convince Mike to lend a hand anyway, knowing it’s not so bad. I just need like five minutes worth of help.....I can do the rest without hurting myself. I swear.

And of course any other projects to work on in the mean time, heh, of course they all seem to be arms overhead types. Ugh!! Grrrr!! Gotta revisit, retool my list here for gimpiness, hm.

So we're gonna reach back in time here today to a project I completed but had not yet shared: a little rollie pollie storage cabinet thingie to house my spiffy compressor. 

Nothing uber fancy or nothin', but what is fancy is I made it a bit soundproof. Or soundproofier. Yes, that's a word now.

'Cuz damn, that thing is loud! Whooie loud. I wear my earplugs* when I flip that puppy on but every once in a bit, I need to yank one out and ooooh, loud.

Do they make doggie earplugs? I should check. The noise scares poor Finny boy. Omg.* Heh, noooo, I won't put earmuffs on him. He runs off far far away usually so he’s a-okay.

Of course before I started this project, lots of web searching ensued seeking ideas and improvements and a direction to go with this. Weirdly, I didn't find too many thoughts on this general concept. Maybe my search terms were awry.

Quick measure here, quick measure there. No drawings made, I went directly at it.

Right so I picked up sheets of two by four foot whatever inexpensive plywood from that there my second home, Menards. Sure, I could've sprung for prettier stuff, made the box chichi but I don't need it to be.

One of the main ideas behind this? When I need to bring the compressor into another room of the house, it'll be in a box that will dampen some of the noise but also move around easily. And further, because I'll be hauling the box up and down and all around, it'll get dinged so there was no point in making a fancy schmancy box.

But please, by all means, make this classy for yourself!

My supply list:

• 2 pieces 2’ x 4’ x 3/8" plywood 
• 1 piece 2’ x 2’ x 3/4" plywood 
• 4 2" casters,* two of which lock 
• 2 2” strap hinges* 
• 1 hasp lock* 
• 1 twin size egg crate-like foam mattress pad* 
• 1 4" galvanized metal pull*

I started with the base of course, cutting it to 20.5" x 20.5" based off my compressor's dimensions, adding on for some breathing room. I used 3/4" plywood here; the compressor is kinda heavy and I wanted to avoid the base ever sagging.

Woot!  Compressor,* getting its day in the sun!  I love this thing.

Next the casters which I set at a randomly decided upon inset spot from the edges.

Smartly, I did not attach the casters at the corners, you'll see.

To aid in further under-girding, I attached a strip of plywood with the grain going in the opposite direction. I know, I know, plywood is layers of wood with the grain running in perpendicular directions already but my lil' support piece made me feel better. Like I was doing something correctly, heh.

Probably unnecessary but I am my father's daughter.

And feeling better is important, right? Right.

Right on.  You go, girl!

Since the base was up off the floor now, I set the compressor on it, marked a spot and drilled out a hole vaguely where the release valve is, a place for all the air to escape from the box.

Probably coulda made it bigger, yeah.  But it works.

After that, time to cut the remaining box pieces to size. Make sure you label your pieces after you cut them so you don’t get all confused and have to waste precious time refiguring out which goes where. Not that I'd know anything about that. Ahem.

I’m sure now you’re wondering, but wait, you're making a box....what did you do about the air intake needs this thing needs, the heat it blows out as it runs. And the power cord and the hose Becky, what about all that? Huh huh, what about that?

No worries. Out came my hole saw kit* and after some ugh math and laying things out, I drilled out inch and a half sized holes in two of the side panels.

Oh.  Yeah.  I guess I ruined this surprise with the first photo.  Pffft.  Ah well.

Air in and out solved. Nice. And! And the holes are big enough to pull the power cord through And!, and very easily large enough for the air hose leading out to my spiffy tool. Sweet!

Ok, box assembly time. With wood glue and brad nails, done, generally easy peasy. Attach all the sides together, flip the base and glue and tack that to the sides, flip the box, tack on the top. Bam bam bam. Or whichever method works best for you.

"Hey, heyyyy whaddya doin' to me waaaait!"

Next came the strap hinges and while I didn’t do the most bestest professional-est job of it maybe, the door does open and close with ease.

Eeehhhh little bowing of the ply.  No big deal though.  The hinges were bolted on as 3/8" isn't a super sturdy thickness for holding onto screws.

Time for the soundproofing. Unfurl that swanky foam mattress pad which is way cheaper than getting foam at the fabric store FYI and chop it up into appropriate size pieces for every interior side. Don't forget to leave space for the door to shut.

I snipped out a hole in the bottom for that air release valve and cut strips for the sides so as to not cover over those big ritzy holes I tediously drilled out. Everything was tacked in with the stapler.

Last was a hasp lock to keep the cabinet shut. Yeah, it tends to pop open so I’ll cram a screw driver in there to keep it closed.

How did the whole thing pan out? Empty it’s kinda heavy and its size a tad unruly for a smaller human, no real surprise there but it’s not unmanageable. It has gone up and down floors with general ease. The casters are awesome.

Granted I have to carry up the compressor and the box separately as I’m not that strapping which on occasion does result in me leaving the box behind in the basement and shutting the compressor into a nearby room.

Heh. I know.

I did find I needed a nice hefty handle on top to make it easier to carry so I added that later.

Handle for additional carrying ability.  Two on the sides would be good too.

But overall it works out quite well. It doesn’t cut out all the noise but it does cut down on some. More than no foam filled box at all.

Awwww so cute and cozy in its fancy new home.

There’s enough air moving around that I haven’t had a single issue.

Plus it’s a great place to store the compressor to keep it more on the dust-free side than it out in the nakey open.

Little cutie box, heh.

I like it. Project well worth it. Thumbs up all around!

Ok, I’m on the prowl for stupid-shoulder-accommodating projects now so I’m not all idle wasting time; I’ll try my best to be back here soon.

In the mean time, if you haven’t been by my and Jen’s new baking blog, Flaky Bakers, get ye there for oodles of great stuff!

*The banded earplugs, 2" casters, dog earmuffs, strap hinges, hasp locks, metal pulls, Bostitch combo kits, and hole saw kits are Amazon affiliate links. The foam mattress pad is a Target affiliate link. Mwah, thanks! Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave