Practical and stylish: the DIY serving trolley

- Difficultymedium
- Cost< 92 £
- Duration1-3 h
Introduction
A stylish serving trolley is high on the list of interior design trends. And of course, it’s not merely a piece of furniture. It’s very practical too – for transporting drinks or crockery. We’ll show you how to build your own trolley with a circular wooden frame.
Have you heard about our 18-volt system yet? It offers a very wide variety of devices for many uses. The thing that makes the project below so special is that you can use the same rechargeable battery for every part of this project. Simply swap out the battery pack, insert it into a different device that is part of the 18-volt system and continue to the next step.
It should go without saying that your safety is paramount throughout every step of the project, so make sure you take the necessary precautions to protect yourself. You can find everything you need to know about the correct protective clothing you need when using each type of tool in our overview.
- pencil
- pocket rule
- Set square
- glue
- masking tape
- masking paper
- 2x plywood board, 400 x 600 x 18 mm
- 3x plywood board, 400 x 100 x 18 mm
- 2x wooden hula hoop, 700 mm diameter
- Copper sheets, 1 mm thick:
- 1x 582 x 400 mm
- 1x 600 x 400 mm
- 3x 120 x 400 mm
- 1x 100 x 400 mm
- 4x furniture casters with 10 x 40 mm stem (load capacity 30 kg)
- Nine 4 x 50 mm wood screws
- Eight 4.5 x 60 mm Spengler screws with ‘copper’ washer
- Matt black spray paint
Let's go - step by step
Marking the hoops
You need: pencil, Set square, Plywood board, 400 x 600 x 18 mm, Wooden hula hoop, 700 mm diameter
First, mark the points on one of the hula hoops where the shelves will be attached later. To do so, place one of the plywood boards (400 x 600 x 18 mm) on the hoop and position the short sides of the board so that the corners are flush with the hoop. Then mark the position of the board onto the hoop using a pencil (figure 1).
Then use a set square to mark the centre point of the hoop width at the four marked positions (figure 2).
Drilling holes in the hoops

You need: Cordless combi drill, Brad point drill bit, g-clamps, 2x wooden hula hoop, 700 mm diameter
Lie the hoop that has already been marked flush on top of the second hoop and secure to the work bench using G-clamps. Then use a 4 mm Brad point drill bit to drill a hole through both hoops at the four marked points.
Spray painting

You need: masking tape, masking paper, Matt black spray paint, 2x wooden hula hoop, 700 mm diameter, 4x furniture casters with 10 x 40 mm stem
Cover your work bench fully with masking paper and carefully mask the rubber part of the four casters with masking tape. Spray the casters and both hoops black from all sides.
Drilling holes into the boards
You need: Cordless combi drill, Suitable bit set, Brad point drill bit, pencil, pocket rule, g-clamps, 2x plywood board, 400 x 600 x 18 mm, 3x plywood board, 400 x 100 x 18 mm, Wood screws, 4 x 50 mm
Next, on one of the large plywood boards (40 x 600 x 18 mm), mark three drill holes on each of the two short sides. Then place the large board on top of the two small boards (figure 1), clamp securely and drill the holes at the marked points using a 4 mm Brad point drill bit.
Repeat this step with the second large plywood board. In this case, however, only drill the holes on one side for a small board. You can see the L-shape of the trolley’s top shelf in the title picture.
Then screw all the boards together (figure 2).
Sanding

You need: Multi-sander, 80 to 120-grain sanding sheet, g-clamps, Screwed together wooden boards from step 4
Sand down all the drill holes and edges using a G120 sanding sheet.
Drilling holes for the casters

You need: Cordless combi drill, Brad point drill bit, pencil, pocket rule, Wooden structure with two narrow boards from previous steps
To make the holes for inserting the casters later, mark a total of four points centrally on the narrow boards, 3 cm from the edge. Then drill holes that are approximately 40 mm deep using a 10 mm Brad point drill bit.
Gluing on the copper sheet

You need: glue, masking tape, Wooden structure from previous steps, Copper sheets, 1 mm thick:, 1x 582 x 400 mm, 1x 600 x 400 mm, 3x 120 x 400 mm, 1 x 100 x 400 mm
Apply mounting glue to the five copper sheets and glue them to the upper sides of the two shelves (see the title picture for positioning). For optimum adhesion, secure the sheets with masking tape while drying.
Extra tipp:
Attaching the wooden hoops

You need: Cordless combi drill, Suitable bit set, All components from previous steps, Eight 4.5 x 60 mm Spengler screws with ‘copper’ washer
Next, screw the wooden hoops to the two copper-topped elements. To do so, place the hoops in turn onto the two wooden structure elements so that the pre-drilled holes are positioned over the corners of the wooden boards. Secure the 4.5 x 60 mm Spengler screws at the correct positions.
Attaching the casters

You need: 4x furniture casters with 10 x 40 mm stem (load capacity 30 kg)
Finally, insert the four casters into the holes that have been drilled for them. Your smart serving trolley is ready!