A Chemical Guys Professional bucket dolly after a cleaning. A clean dolly is a beautiful thing!
A bucket dolly is a great addition to your studio or workshop. Dollies are great for anything heavy, and also maximize studio space by allowing you to move and reorganize for any task. In my studio, we use them for glazes and clay slop and they really save time, energy and reduce possible back strain.
In this post, I’ll review a different bucket dollies, show how to make your own, and share a few tips and tricks.
The best bucket dolly I’ve found is the Chemical Guys Professional Bucket Dolly. I’ve had a few in use for 5 years in a busy academic ceramic studio, and these dollies are still going strong. They are worth every penny. I have also used homemade dollies and other options, but the quality of the casters, ease of clean-up, and large plastic tightening screws make the Chemical Guys Dolly a superior product.
Keep scrolling for the full review with pictures and more info.
Table of Contents
Top Pick for Bucket Dollys
Advantages of the Chemical Guys Professional Bucket Dolly
Other Bucket Dolly Options
How to Make Your Own Bucket Dolly
Other wheeled options for the studio
Wrap-Up: The Best Bucket Dolly
Top Pick for a Heavy Duty Bucket Dolly
The Chemical Guys Professional Bucket Dolly after a few months of heavy use for reclaim / slop storage.
The Chemical Guys Professional Bucket Dolly is the top pick for the best 5 gallon bucket dolly on the market. It’s made of thick, easy-to-clean plastic, has 5 high-quality, full swivel casters, 2 of these casters have locking levers, and 3 large plastic screws to lock in your bucket. I have used these buckets at two different studios and even after years of hard use, they just keep working. I usually clean the dollies a few times a year and at that time, hit the bearings with a bit of grease such as Boeshield T-9 or 3-in-1 Oil. As of this writing, these bucket dollies cost about $40 each.
Advantages of the Chemical Guys Professional Bucket Dolly
These dollies just work and keep working. They do exactly what you want, the roll easily, and they are well built and long lasting. If you don’t have your buckets on wheels, you’ll experience an immediate quality-of-life improvement with these. Your back will thank you! This is just one of those simple but effective products that really help in a studio.
What you can do with a 5 Gallon Bucket Dolly
The Bucket dolly after cleaning
Glaze storage
Clay reclaim and slop storage
Store a mixing drill with a long drill shaft
Move for clean-up or glaze pouring
Dry material storage
Store bricks or kiln posts
Anything you would put in a 5 gallon bucket
At home, great for garage storage
Also useful for cleaning your car or truck
More Pics of the Chemical Guys Professional Bucket Dolly
These images are of a Chemical Guys Professional Bucket Dolly before and after cleaning. It’s been in use for approximately two years in a busy community studio.
A bucket dolly after a few months of use with a bucket for slop storage.
Detail pic of the large plastic screw and wheel lock mechanism.
Check out those red casters! It’s very easy to clean.
Other Bucket Dolly Options
Bucket Wheelies
Bucket Wheelies from Bill van Gilder
A great budget option comes from potter and tool maker Bill van Gilder. His plywood Bucket Wheelies are are functional and economical at $24 each. If you coat these with a water-based sealant, especially the exposed plywood sides, you should have a long-lasting and easy to clean wooden dolly.
Other Plastic Dolly Options
If you want a plastic dolly, the Original Bucket Dolly is another option. It is usually listed at a higher price than the Chemical Guys Bucket, around $50, and the screws are metal with a plastic cap. If you are working with clay, it’s best to avoid metal when possible as the wet clay can lead to rusting and other problems.
There are a few other plastic bucket dolly options we’ve seen, but none that we’d recommend. One option, the TCD Parts 5 Gallon Bucket Dolly, looks a lot like office chair feet / casters, and just doesn’t seem useful for a studio.
Here are some product links to the various bucket dollies, to compare prices.
How To Make Your Own Bucket Dolly
This can be a great way to make your own dollies of any size, especially if you are making a bunch for all the glazes in your studio. If you just need one or two, it’s probably easiest to order one of the dollies mentioned above.
Here’s what you need:
Plywood cut into squares or circles. Use plywood that is a minimum of 5/8 inch thick. This can be ordered online but probably cheapest to go to your local hardware / plywood supplier.
2 inch swivel casters with or without brake (This 4 pack is $14.99)
wood screws
Drill
Steps to making your dolly
Cut and sand plywood. Make sure it’s a bit larger than the bucket you need
For a bonus, screw or glue on raised corners such as in the van Gilder Bucket Wheelie pictured above
If desired, treat plywood with 1-3 coats of a water-based sealant, such as an outdoor deck sealant. This will make cleanup easier and extend the life of your dolly.
Turn board upside down and arrange casters evenly. Trace holes with pencil
Pre-drill holes with a small drill bit
Screw casters to board
Ready to use!
Here’s a video from YouTube on how to make a 5 Gallon Bucket Dolly.
Other Wheeled Options for the Studio
Moving Dolly
An 18x30 inch moving dolly is a great addition to the studio. Put a piece of plywood on top and you’ve got a perfect way to store up to 800-1000 lbs of clay. This can be useful if you need to move clay around, or want to move clay for cleanup. This two pack of moving dollies is just $40.
Rubbermaid Ingredient Bin
The wheeled Rubbermaid Commercial Ingredient Bin is a wonderful addition to a studio where you are mixing glazes from scratch. It can hold well over a 50-pound bag of dry materials. We use them to store dry materials such as plaster, feldspars, sand, silica, etc. They are sturdy, tough, keep things dry, easy to scoop, and access, and best of all, they are on wheels. Wheels just make everything easier in a studio.
Wrap-Up: The Best Heavy Duty Bucket Dolly
Through years of experience and research, I’ve found the Chemical Guys Professional Bucket Dolly to be the best 5 gallon bucket dolly on the market. It’s exactly what we use in our own studio, and what we’ve purchased for studios we have managed or consulted with. It’s durable, functional and at $40, worth every penny. Buy one and you’ve made a lifetime investment.
In addition to Bucket Dollies, other wheeled devices such as moving dollies and Rubbermaid Commercial storage containers will make your life easier in the studio..
What wheeled storage containers to you use? Have you made your own dollies? Leave a comment with your experience below.
