Stanley mobile project centre

For years, I’ve used an old door with folding table legs as a jobsite worktable. It makes a great work surface, but it is heavy and awkward to carry. As a result, I often find myself leaving it behind and working on top of a toolbox. Recently, I tried out the Stanley Mobile Project Centre and I found myself pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to tote around.

The Mobile Project Centre is a wheeled dolly that converts to a clamping work surface with a few deft movements. I recently used it to cart large cabinet components from the curb to a clients’ living room. Also, I found it was a great step-saver when it came to moving tools to and fro. I just stacked up the toolboxes and wheeled them away. As a work surface, I thought the plastic tables did an OK job of clamping the face-frame trim that I was working on. By clamping a length of 2×4 stock in the table and setting my chopsaw on top, I jerry-rigged a chopsaw station in less than a minute.

The stance of the table was sturdy enough when the legs are folded out, but it’s not a terribly wide footprint, so you have to ensure you don’t throw the structure off-balance. Likewise, I thought it performed quite well when using power tools, but it was a little wobbly as a base for cutting with a handsaw. The top of the table has a hole in it that might strike West Coasters as a spot for a coffee cup, but in reality it’s designed as a clever place to drop in a drill when not in use. Built into the base section is a three-socket splitter that you can plug an extension cord into for a little more convenience. Stanley sets the load rating of the dolly configuration at 100 kg and that of the worktable at 300 kg.

If there is a flaw with the Mobile Project Centre, it is that the dolly handles are a little short for climbing stairs. It would be better to have a single, continuous handle rather than two, so that you could steer with one hand and steady the load or open a door with the other. I haven’t thrown out my old door yet, but now it’s much easier to tote to the jobsite. For more information go to www.stanleytools.com or call 800-263-6292.