PVC Portable Adjustable Bag Trolley

(First published in Dec 2017 to instructables.com/PVC-Portable-Adjustable-Bag-Trolley...)
Have a bag with heavy contents? If you did not buy bag with built in trolley, well, this project might be a nice solution for carrying your heavy bags!

Nowadays, kids’ school lessons are more and more in Indonesia. This also made their bag becomes heavier.

We need to build a portable trolley which will fit to any bag!


                      

Step 1: Gather Tools & Material

• 2 meter ½” PVC tubes
• 1 meter ¾” PVC tube
• 6 pc ½” PVC elbows
• 2 pc ½” PVC T-Joints
• 1 tube of PVC cement
• 7 pc rivet nails and rivet tool
• Angle grinder with 1mm thickness cutting blade
• Hand drill with 3mm drill bit
• Whiteboard marker/pen
• Hammer

Step 2: DESIGN YOUR TROLLEY

You can use either your smartphone, computer or even hand sketch.
Above is my hand sketch on my smartphone. It was a super quick and simple one!

Step 3: CUT ALL THE PVC TUBES

Note: my measurement is for Asian ergonomy, which may not be as tall as our caucasian brothers. You may need to add/reduce the length as per your region ergonomy standard.

Cut the tubes as per sketch using hacksaw or angle grinder.

Step 4: JOIN ALL TUBES USING PVC CEMENT

   

Right after you applied cement to the tubes and joint, knock them in using hammer for best strength before the cement dry.

Step 5: ADD WHEELS / CASTERS

Mark the wheel fastening location at the joint using pencil/pen.
Drill the joint (3mm hole diameter for rivetting). 

Continue with rivetting the wheels.

           

Step 6: MAKE IT ADJUSTABLE!

• Cut the 2 handle pillars into 2 sections: 30 cm lower side and 6 cm upper side (see following photo). Then cut the ¾” tube into 2 sides x 35 cm (left and right). These ¾” tubes are for sliding mechanism.
• Cut a slit 3 cm away from both edges of the 30cm tubes (one side only, the other side is optional).
• Drill both slit ends using 3mm drill bit. Both holes are for resting/stopping mechanism.
• Smooth away the edge of the holes using cutter. This is to ensure smooth sliding.
• Drill the ¾” tube (1” away from edge) then join it with the slit hole using rivet.
• Try the sliding mechanism. If it is not smooth yet, redo the smoothing using cutter
• Join the ¾” tube with the upper section of ½” tube using rivet (if you do not like using rivet, using ¾” to ½” reducer is also fine).

            

Step 7: FINISH !!!

Ask somebody to bring it around with a bag tied on it (bag usually comes with shoulder & waist ties). Try the height adjuster by pulling and pushing the handle.

When you need to carry the bag in your truck/car/motorcycle luggage, push the handle down.

Once you are going to carry around using hand, pull the handle up!

  

FINISH!!! Do you like it?