I’ve been working to build a tool cabinet for my electronics/precision workspace, and it’s slowly getting there.
I want to save major details for another time, but thought this might be a good time for some brainstorming, while I can still make major changes.
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Originally, I had planned on 8 drawers. Somehow I miscalculated, and my shallow 2.25″ drawer can’t fit. Actually, there’s barely room for the 7 other drawers.
There’s very little clearance between each drawer and the drawer slides from the above drawer. I still have to gently curve the tops of the drawer sides, so maybe that’ll add a teeny amount of more clearance.
I wanted the box to be as storage efficient as possible, and so I’m okay with the tight clearance. So far, no drawer rubs the slides from the drawer above it. Yet?
The original plans called for a 24″ wide cabinet and an 18″ cabinet, with both sharing the center column.
But, after lots of back and forth, I settled on a rear drawer slide mounting configuration that made this impossible.
That, and after I built my first 18″ drawer, I realized it’s just too narrow.
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So, the plans are for 2x 24″ cabinets. There are some losses due to the drawer slides and sides, but overall I think this is a good size for drawers.
Hmm, should I go bigger for the second cabinet?
These seem plenty sturdy, and there’s no racking, so maybe I’ll use a 30″ width for the second cabinet.
These cabinets will mainly hold tools and misc. supplies. Clean and tidy organization is the name of the game.
The drawer slides are 15″ deep, and the 80/20 15-series frame is 18″ deep, for supporting a worktop of the same depth. Maybe it’ll be a 20″ top, for a little overhang. I’ll be cutting the top from 25″ wide butcher block countertop from Ikea, so there are options.
Cost-wise, I would have been better off going with a steel tool cabinet, even a semi-premium one. I’ve got a 26″ Beta tool cabinet, and wouldn’t mind another.
But customization is the big goal here. That, and trying out some new tools and techniques.
The drawers are built using a Festool Domino, but pocket holes would have been okay too. The next series of drawers will be built using a Porter Cable dovetail jig.
These drawers were made from Baltic Birch, and I will NOT be doing that again.
The next cabinet will likely be made using ApplyPly drawer sides, or similar, unless I need a custom height, or height lower than 3.5″. Even then, ripping pre-made sides down to what I need is still going to be quicker and easier.
It took way too much time to cut and sand the drawers, and I’m not even done! Only 4 drawers have 1 coat of shellac. But I didn’t want to wait for another good day to finish, which will be hard now in winter, so I got things ready to go. When I’m ready to finish these drawers, removing the hardware will be quick and easy.
In addition to finishing the drawers, I also have to make drawer fronts. I’ve got plenty of hardwood lined up, and am actually looking forward to it. I’ll have to finish the drawer fronts too, of course.
I think I might part some of these drawers down. Maybe I’ll trim one of the taller drawers so that I can fit the 8th drawer and also add some more spacing between all the drawers. Not a lot of spacing, maybe just another 1/8″ to.
I ordered 14 sets of drawer slides, and anticipated this being the “small drawer” unit. So there’s definitely the potential to trim one of the taller drawers (with a table saw?).
Hmm, that won’t work. I need maybe 2.75″ to fit the last drawer and its drawer slides, and maybe another 1″ if I want added clearance. If I take that out of 2 of the 3 4.75 drawers, it would give me 2x 2.875″ drawers, which isn’t too far from the 2.75″ shallow drawers above.
That doesn’t sound very good. Cutting down 2x 4.75″ drawers to yield 2x 2.875″ drawers plus 1x 2.25″ drawer.
And remember that’s the outside height. The inside height is the outside height minus 3/4″!
Looking at the top image, 4 short drawers take up almost the same height as 3 tall drawers. I could create an inner shelf or sliding drawer in one of the shorter drawers if I really want more height. Or I could swap out bottom-mount slides to side-mount slides.
I went with bottom-mounted slides because they seemed easier to work with, they have high load capacity, full extension, and are soft close. They are easily removed, and in the way I designed this case, easily changed out.
I’m now kind of wishing I made the frame deep enough to accommodate 18″ drawer slides, but it’s generally recommended to have 15″ slides in an 18″ frame. The same is true for longer drawers – cabinet depth minus 3″ equals the “right” drawer size.
The second cabinet will also have 7 drawers, unless I want to have leftover drawer slides. I don’t think there’s a way for me to increase the drawer count unless I went with side-mount slides, which I don’t really want to do.
So, for the next cabinet, maybe there will be 3.5″ drawers, yielding a usable depth of around 2.75″. So, 7 drawers, each with 3.5″ height, 3/4″ for top and bottom clearance, and that’s a total height of 29.75″ to fit within 30″ tall space.
Or… maybe 6x 4″ tall drawers, with extra clearance?
I can always move drawers around. Maybe the 4.75″ drawers from this cabinet will go into the second unit, and I’ll replace them with 4 cabinets slightly shorter, at 3.375″ tall.
I’ll have to sleep on it.
I guess I was going for a bank of shallow drawers of the kind I love in my metal tool cabinets and tool chests, but that’s a benefit of side-mount drawer slides and a downside of bottom-mounted ones. I had considered this before, but it wasn’t until writing out this post that it all became clear to me.
You shouldn’t use bottom-mounted drawer slides on shallow drawers. It just doesn’t make sense, does it.
Okay, lesson learned. Bottom-mounted slides mean deeper drawers.
It makes sense too. For shallow drawers, the minimum clearance required is considerable in relation to drawer height. And that’s not even taking into account losses from the height.
My 2-3/4″ drawers have around 2″ of usable depth, and require around 3-1/2″ of vertical space. 2″ of depth in 3-1/2″ height.
So that’s around 57% utilization efficiency.
A drawer in my Beta tool cabinet has 2-5/8″ drawer depth in a 3-1/8″ height, for 84% space utilization efficiency.
Yikes! That’s a big difference.
There’s less width efficiency, but that’s not as big a problem for sheet metal as it would be for plywood or hardwood.
Let’s say I increase the drawer height to 3.5″. The space utilization then goes from 57% to 64.7%.
4″ tall drawers? 68.4% height utilization efficiency.
6″ drawers? 77.8% space efficiency.
A 7.75″ drawer? 82.4% usability. A 7.75″ drawer requires the same height as 2x 3.5″ drawers, which would give 2x 2.75″ of usable drawer depth.
I’ll stick with the bottom mount drawers, but will consider replacing the 4 shallow drawers with deeper ones in the future. Or I’ll use the slides elsewhere and swap in side-mount slides.
But I really don’t like the idea of losing 1″ of width to 2x 1/2″ drawer sides.
Maybe I should have just went with a pre-fab tool cabinet. It might have given me greater vertical efficiency. BUT, I wouldn’t have been able to dictate the height, and a good worktop would have been more difficult to attach. With this setup, I could always change things, at least a little bit.
The unit is HEAVY, and that’s with minimal drawer contents. 2.75″ feet on hardwood shouldn’t be an issue. Right? It’s also an outer wall, upstairs.
I’ll plan out the second cabinet a little differently. But for now, this is the plan:
- 24″ inner width, 18″ total depth
- 7 drawers (3.5″?)
- Connected to first cabinet for rigidity, maybe 18″ apart?
A few shelves between the two cabinets would allow for parts organizers, or perhaps space for small tools or equipment. I’ve got some ideas brewing.
Feedback is always welcome!
80/20 aluminum framing is very pricey, and there are other ways I could have went about this. Instead of 15-series (1.5″ width) components, I could have went with 10-series (1″ width). Or I could have went with a much simpler plywood frame.
I went with 80/20 because I want this to be a very sturdy heavy duty workbench base, and because I wanted to maximize customization, with minimal effort*. Right now it’s in what I guess you could call my home office.
*Minimal effort is relative. Building those drawers was no quick or easy task. That’s why I mentioned wanting to go pre-fab with at least the sides for the next unit. All I’d need to do is cross-cut the pre-fab side pieces, and then some 1/4″ or 6mm plywood for drawer bottoms.
I’m not about to test its load capacity, but I’m sure it can handle anything I would ask it to, whether at home or in my workshop.
The drawer slides have a soft-close, but they do snap in a little bit, making things vibrate a little bit. But overall, the top fields sturdier than the Gladiator workbench sitting to its left.
I know there’s a big wall of text in this post, and no other images – sorry for that! I intended for it to be a quick “here’s what I’ve been working on!” post, but it spiralled into deep discussion as I talked things through. I thought I had planned this project out as best I could, but a few sizing whoopsies and what came to light in this post has showed me otherwise.
Thanks for hearing me out, and again – your feedback is most welcome!
I’m also interested in hearing about your own cabinet and tool box building experiences!
Jon
Seems like a fun project, but I wonder when it’s all said and done couldn’t you buy a cabinet full of drawers for cheaper than your cost of materials?
Tom
That is usually what happens. Another alternative is to use some ikea kitchen cabinets.
6 drawers 18″ wide and 15″ deep $330
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S59034593/#/S09034623
The more drawers the more expensive, but designed for everyday use in a kitchen.
Stuart
I did consider Ikea cabinets, and then turned my attention to just the drawers, but they don’t allow for enough customization. That, and they are really designed to be mounted to the wall.
I tend to change the layout of my workspaces, maybe as often as once or twice a year. Maybe eventually wall-mounted cabinets might work, but for now I really wanted to give free-standing a try.
Ikea drawers look to assembly quickly and easily, but you lose some space due to the side profiles. I ultimately decided to go with wood.
Plus, I saw this project as a skill-builder.
Neil
I was in the cabinet business for quite some years. We always outsourced our drawers. We would order from places like Western Dovetail which were very nice. There are some guys locally who make and pre-finish drawers for about $75 a box. They are maple and nice – just not Western Dovetail quality but the freight is a killer. My suggestion should you ever try it again – find a local cabinet shop and get the drawers where they do 🙂
Stuart
I was looking at Ikea Sektion cabinets to quickly organize a different space, and remember why I dismissed their Maximera drawers for this project.
The ~15″ depth drawers have a weight limit of 44 lbs.
And in the size I was looking at, the depth is 13-1/4″.
My drawers have depths of 14″, and load ratings of 100 lbs and 90 lbs dynamic.
Ikea drawers are 1/4″ wider, but that 3/4″ depth would make a difference.
Correction: Their internal width is even narrower because of the inner drawer side geometry.
The 24″ deep drawers have greater load capacity, at a hair over 55 lbs.
Additionally, I wanted to start with an 80/20 frame, and Ikea’s drawers have shortened side rails that would have been difficult to attach.
fred
Its sort of like building a car from parts. By the time you finish – your home-built Ford might end up costing as much as a Bentley – but you will have learned a heck of a lot. It’s hard to beat mass-produced items for cost.
We built a lot of custom cabinets over the years – mostly because the customers wanted special features or as likely that wanted exactly uniform sizes without any filler panels – or dimensions that would fit into oddball spaces.
Stuart
Yes, but it wouldn’t be as customizable or adaptable. A plywood cabinet would have lowered the cost dramatically.
I like to change things around. At some point, I might want the top half open with a shelf, of shelves.
A tool box can only be a tool box. With this, I saw it as more of a modular workbench with drawers that can be swapped out without too much trouble in the future.
A lot of the trouble with this cabinet was learning the clearances I can get away with, but unfortunately that happened after I built the 8 drawers.
As I think about this more, I might move this cabinet to my workshop and find a 6 to 8 drawer short tool cabinet or 2 for this spot, but I’d skip the casters and build a flat-bottomed base instead.
Probably not.
One thing I want to do here is build some kind of locking mechanism that mounts in the rear space. And there’s plenty of space in the rear, behind the drawers.
My son likes to go through all my tool drawers, and it would be good to have an easy-open box that locked and unlocked all drawers with a keypad or press of a button.
fred
It is also very important to protect children from the danger of being crushed – possibly killed – by an overturning cabinet. Commercial cabinets may have interlocks that prevent more than 1 drawer being opened at a time. Cabinets that are tied into their side-neighbors are perhaps more stable – but there is nothing like solid anchoring to studs to prevent a tragedy.
This also applies to a chest of drawers, Hi-Boy or other furniture and even some appliances around the house.
Stuart
Agreed!
I bought 2 office cabinets from Ikea. One is in my workspace holding bulk items, one will be somewhere in a common area. The drawers are interlocked to avoid tipping. But, if put in a common area, it’ll still be secured.
I have a tool box under a workbench. I’ve been trying to think of a way to secure it.
I have an electronic lock for my office door for when my son gains free upstairs roaming rights. The same is on the basement door. Garage door? Working on it.
firefly
I first learned about those interlocking drawers when we got our first Steelcase drawer. It’s one of those feature that we don’t think about yet become immediately obviously useful the first moment we see it in action. That along with the recent news of ikea chests and dresser tipping over…
So yeah what fred said, it’s definitely an important feature to consider.
rhyino
What model drawer slides are you using for this project?
Stuart
Blum 563H, 15″.
JMG
In my experience, using dovetails on plywood does not give the strength that you might think it would. The weak point is the cross grain of the ply. Dovetails were a technique used for solid wood drawer sides that helped to keep the drawer square when not using mechanical slides. I would recommend sticking with your current design, or using a plate joiner.
If you are concerned about holding the finished drawer square, run a bead of hot melt glue around the bottom of the drawer after assembly. This will hold well enough and also take any rattle out of the bottom panel.
fred
The dominos you were using are much better IMO for plywood carcass construction than biscuits.
Here is a link for a different idea for plywood:
http://www.woodsmithtips.com/2010/04/01/locking-dowels-for-dadoes/
There is another plywood construction joint called the “quarter-quarter-quarter cut with quarter inch dados on the table saw.
There are various drawer-lock or lock-miter router/shaper bits too – but my thought is that these work better with slid stock
Stuart
Thanks! There are a few “if it doesn’t work out” techniques I’m willing to try, including the locking joint you mentioned, lock miter router bits, drawer lock router bits, and just going back to Dominos.
As you mentioned, I also have hesitation about using certain router bits on plywood, even higher grade stuff.
Stuart
I’ll keep that in mind, thanks!
The Baltic Birch is pretty tough stuff, but I’ll build at least one drawer to see how I like it.
The ApplePly I’d like to use on the second batch of drawers is hopefully just as good stuff.
JMG
ApplePly generally seemed to be of lower quality than the Baltic back when I was buying it, and the narrow point on the pins when cutting dovetails on ply is the weak point, unless you can cut wider pins on the PC jig that you have. The original jig I had would only cut one pattern of narrow pins, and I ended up purchasing a Leigh jig to replace it.
Stuart
Hmm. That discourages me a little from trying it, but if I find it’s lesser stuff, I guess I could use it to make drawers for a rougher workshop cabinet. Or something like that, so it wouldn’t go to waste.
I haven’t found pre-fab bulk sized Baltic Birch drawer slides, only pre-fab drawers at pretty high prices.
I’ll look up some more reviews before I’m ready to buy.
Kurt
Had you considered an Adam Savage style, first order of retrieval tool cart? I just made one from my most commonly used tools, and love it. All kinds of customization can be achieved.
Stuart
The top of my workbench – any workbench – quickly turns into a first order of retrieval surface. That just doesn’t work for me. Things build up first.
I don’t like open tool storage, as too many bits, chips, and debris gets all up in there.
I really like drawers, but am always open to ideas.
I bought supplies for a tool rack project once. Well, no. I bought some Foredom workbench storage stuff once, and while en route I devised a system of my own accessories to use on the vertical piers.
Then, when the Foredom stuff arrived, I learned that they rounded up the measurements of the vertical poles, and so all of the collars, thrust bearings, and other stuff I bought wouldn’t work.
When I have a chance I’ll buy some precision shafts – they’re not that expensive, and will create some rotating above-bench tool storage carousels. I just need to find or machine a nice and sturdy mounting base.
Or maybe I’ll go with the 1-1/4″ stuff I used for an oscillating multi-tool blade testing setup: https://toolguyd.com/omt-metal-blade-testing-final-setup/
It’d be better than having those linear rods and base mounting supports sitting around doing nothing. For my next semi-automated test setup, I’m likely to use pneumatic piston pressure rather than a weight system, so those vertical bases still might not see use anytime soon.
Oh yea, so… no, I don’t think a first order of retrieval cart would work for me, but I do have some limited open tool storage ideas on the to-do list.
Chad Brink
I’ve redone a couple of my shop storage units to have 2″ drawers. Just enough for one layer of tools. Any more and they overlap and cause clutter.
Stuart
That’s what I was trying to go for.
2″ is perfect for most hand tools, and could also fit small organizer bins.
Toolfreak
The cabinet looks cool and it certainly sounds like a good learning experience, I don’t know about using wood for precision/electronics tool storage though, since wood tends to absorb moisture and that isn’t something you want in the vicinity of precision/electronic tools, or even regular metal tools. I get that wood is easier to work with, and steel requires forming and at least tack welding, and aluminum is about the same, but you can use some pretty cheap aluminum sheet to make stuff if you can weld it.
As mentioned, you probably will wind up with much higher costs than if you had bought something already made, but it is hard finding units with a drawer configuration that will work.
I agree with your tool cabinet preference, and think a lot of shallow drawers is also the way to go for storing precision and electronics stuff, just like with wrenches and long flat tools, so you can pull a drawer and what you need is right there on one layer, rather than digging through a deeper drawer of tools, and with precision tools you defintiely don’t want tools just in a drawer bumping around and making contact.
The bottom-mount slide are good for kitchen cabinets and the like, but seems unnecessary for precision stuff, unless you’re planning on putting super heavy stuff in there. The side-mounted slides for tool cabinets can easily hold hundreds of pounds, but just the cheapos can hold the 50-100lbs you’d need for most tools, especially the lighter stuff. When it comes to drawers, I like firm, heavy duty slides too, but I’ve found the drawer performance when pulling it out and rolling it back in – as in, not having to jerk the drawer out to get it open, or shove it fully closed, has a lot to do with how much I like the slides, and how much hassle they create by messing up the tools within.
It’d be really nice if someone made precision tool storage like a chest or cabinet with 1 inch drawers, or even a storage cabinet with varied sizes of drawers you could buy for it, but I guess there isn’t much of a consumer market for stuff like that.
Stuart
Right no they’re being used for bulk get-things-off-bench-tops storage.
Once they’re finished… yea, I’ll probably still keep my smaller tools elsewhere.
I don’t know, the thinking aloud for this post has me changing my plans around, but I do appreciate the words of caution!
And if it makes a difference, I plan on finishing the drawers with 1-2 coats of dewaxed shellac, and then polyurethane. That’ll be insides too, to avoid potential for warping.
The ApplyPly sides I want to try for all faces – but the bottom – are pre-finished and veneered.
Maybe I’ll order some prefinished 1/4″ ply for the bottoms, but I think I’ve only seen 1/2″ prefinished plywood, not 1/4″. Either way, the 1/4″ bottoms should be easy to finish, before or after drawer assembly.
I had done so much planning, and was convinced I had things right. Even with some mistakes and a big blunder of a miscalculation, it was only with this post that I realized how inefficient undermount slides are for what I aimed for at least half the drawers of this cabinet to be used for.
I guess there’s a reason these slides are mainly used with face frames and mainly taller drawers.
I just wanted to get rid of the usual 4-6 drawers in cabinets of this height.
But I’m not terribly disappointed, and am happy I realized this before working on the second half of the workbench system.
It’s not too late for me to repurpose the Blum slides and get some nice side-mounted slides, but I don’t think I need to go that far.
Industrial solutions would have just what I need, but I doubt the floor could support it, if I could even get it up the stairs.
Toolfreak
In terms of getting clutter off the workbench, just about anything that works is good.
Overall I think it looks good now, probably even better when finished, and if nothing else, will work for your general storage needs to keep the workbench surface free for – working.
It also gives ideas for your readers, I certainly hadn’t thought of using an aluminum frame and wood drawers for a tool cabinet, or even for a workbench. Definitely a worthwhile project and post even if you decide you’d do things differently knowing what you know now.
Stuart
True. I sometimes find inspirations in projects that have nothing to do with my interests or needs.
In this case, I wished I had read about drawer vertical height utilization efficiency before I committed to using the undermount slides.
An aluminum frame is not something I would recommend to those with light budgets, but I could have cut costs dramatically with different approaches for 80/20 connectivity.
I started the project when my metalworking tools were still offsite or unpacked, and it was really nice to be able to order pre-cut lengths that don’t cut much more per inch than if they were taken from an 8-foot extrusion.
The downside is that there’s more wasted space than I’d like in an 18″ cabinet housing 15″ drawer slides.
Sometimes cutting it oneself is unavoidable. But if you order from 80/20, they offer custom cutting and machining services.
I’ve been dragging my feet on getting a Sortimo rack built. I might just order the exact lengths I need, and counterbored at both ends for anchors rather than brackets or joining plates.
I don’t have a lot of money, but I’m even shorter with time.
I’ve been toying with getting Sortimo portable racks – Workmo’s – but it’s hard to spend that much money on something that looks to be made of sheet metal and plastic, at least without seeing it in person first.
Ed
If you need cheap modular storage I would check Jeremy Schmidt’s cabinet design on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSJEy35J5vg). I like the design because it will allow you to add, remove, or swap-out drawers/shelves easily depending on your evolving needs.
firefly
That is just too awesome. One of the best modular drawer system that I have seen. Drawers reconfiguration on the fly, easy to build out of cheap material. That guy is a genius… Thanks for the link.
I don’t have any need for drawer reconfiguration on the fly. So I am going to settle with a few tool chest out of the big box store.
I like the concrete workbench idea too. I also like my workbench to be heavy. Really heavy. I have already score a very heavy top. I just haven’t got enough time to build the bottom yet.
Stuart
That bench is very awesome, and the video is great too, but it’s not really for me. I’m not a big fan of wood-on-wood slides.
I think my build was already underway when his video came out.
justin
All that money in materials and free tools and your joints still look like shite. What a woodworking sin! true diyer. how your website is so successful boggles my mind.
Stuart
“Free tools”? Some of them. Free materials? No. I wish! Well, not really.
But thanks for the polite and friendly comment! I guess ToolGuyd has become successful. My first troll!
The joints are actually decent, as in straight and square.
The glue-up wasn’t rushed, but I was pulled away and couldn’t get to the squeeze-out before it hardened. It was a weekend afternoon, and the kids come first. I spent a few minutes with a chisel to get what I could, but was left wondering what to do next. Spend a lot of time sanding it out, or deal with it? Since the drawers will be covered with a hardwood front, and the plywood wasn’t responding too well to the scraping, I moved on.
All side pieces are flush to maybe 1/32″ or better. Close enough that I’m not going to pour unnecessary energy towards perfection.
These are utility drawers, and I’m not even sure they will be the permanent ones. Maybe I’ll build new ones and use these somewhere else.
They were never designed to look pretty, they were designed for utility. In some respects they do look a little unrefined, but within my levels of acceptance for what they were made for.
If you’re talking about the joints looking uneven, that’s an illusion due to the camera angle. You’re seeing the tops of the drawer fronts. The sides are not perfectly flush with the front or back, but the tops are all perfectly flush. I can feel a hair’s difference in some drawers, but that requires a finger pass. Visually, they’re perfectly flush.
firefly
Stuart,
The 80/20 aluminum framing look really nice… I just look them up, they do seem to offer a plethora interconnecting options. How expensive are they compare to something like unistrut?
Stuart
It’s fairly expensive.
If I had a smaller tool budget, I would have went with 10-series extrusions and accessories, and would have spend more time scouting overstock and blemish deals from the 80/20 ebay store.
You can find their stuff a lot of places, but I mainly shop at their ebay store. http://stores.ebay.com/8020-Inc-Garage-Sale
I buy 8′ extrusions from industrial suppliers, and pre-cut stuff from their ebay store.
Unistrut wouldn’t have been appropriate for this project. When everything is said and done, most of the framing components will have attachments on at least 3/4 of their sides.
There are ways I could have cut corners, such as going with 1515 (1.5″ x 1.5″) legs, as opposed to 1530 (1.5″ x 3″). Then, I could have went with 5/16″-18 leveling feet, rather than leveling foot brackets and 1/2″-13 feet.
I also used angle brackets and joining plates, because they’re easier to adjust than other internal fasteners. I bought anchors for a small part of the assembly, but my drill press is still off-site and waiting to counterbore for the anchors would have delayed the project too long. I’ll use them for a later project.
ktash
I, too, had reservations about the plan to make drawers with 1/2″ plywood and dovetails, using the PC jig. Not easy nor as strong as solid wood. I’ve used poplar or a good grade of pine and have had really good luck. These woods cut like butter with a good router bit. Once you get the hang of it they turn out very nice. If you have a decent lumberyard around you might be able to get 1/2″ thick poplar or pine. Plywood bottoms are desirable, as you probably know. Many people, for most drawers run the ply grain on the plywood bottom from side to side rather front to back.
Having read the comment about wood and electronics being a problem, I wonder if a good finish would be the way to go. I wouldn’t use a DIY product (not minwax or anything similar), but rather something from Rockler or Woodcraft. I’ve used General Finishes and like their products.
If you use a “water-based” poly product it could seal the wood very well. You need several coats to really seal the wood well, but the water-based finishes dry very quickly, so you aren’t spending days on it. Also safer with little ones around. Also, use good quality foam brushes rather than the cheapies that come in a pack with many. I get mine from my local Ace store and they are way better than the multipcak ones (even from rockler and woodcraft). The good ones are still quite inexpensive compared to other brushes, anyhow. I tried foam rollers but did not like the bubbles they create.
Maybe others on your site would know if this type of finish would work to protect electronics, or whether it would be a problem. Just some feedback.
I usually don’t finish drawers but have sometimes put shellac on them. But then that’s for furniture drawers (desks or clothes drawers). In a shop it’s different.
The only other thing I thought of was you might want to build a pull-out shelf on the top. I have put these in shop furniture and use them a lot. Very handy to have that extra surface. I also may store printouts from Sketchup there as I’m working on a project. Then I always know where they are and can pull them out to refer to them.
The 80-20 with the drawers looks great and also very functional.
fred
No longer having access to a commercial shop and spray booths – I can no longer use the catalyzed varnish finish that I really like. For home-shop built furniture I still like to spray lacquer – but if you are a brush-on sort of guy – then repetitive coats of polyurethane with intermediate sanding may be best for you. You need to take your time with most varnish – allow it to dry between coats. There are some furniture purists who still prefer shellac with “French Polishing” – but this is a tool cabinet after all not a piece of furniture.
Stuart
There’s the idea of a portable sprayer, which I wanted to buy during that Acme 20% sale, but I left my computer and didn’t get back until the next day and kicked myself that I missed it.
I have enough projects planned where it’d be useful, but it’s not like I would use a sprayer indoors these days. I hope to find time during the winter to apply by brush.
Stuart
I’ll keep that in mind!
I wouldn’t be opposed to maple or poplar, but it would certainly add to the construction process.
Yep, my plywood bottoms are side to side, but that’s also because of how the baltic birch was cut for shipping. It just seemed logical to make the longer span side to side, rather than the other way around.
I’m disappointed in how many patches there are on the 1/4″ BB, but eh, it’s not a showpiece.
Yep – I have some satin poly just waiting to be used. Dewaxed shellac is for initial sealing, the poly is for the final finish. I went with water-based because it should be easier for me to work with, and as you mentioned it’s a safe finish. My tops will get a food-safe finish.
I have some crappy foam brushes – what would you recommend as a good brush?
I used a Wooster Shortcut (https://toolguyd.com/wooster-shortcut-brush/) for the shellac, and don’t seem a reason not to use another for the water-based poly. The foam brushes I bought would then go towards a painting project with my son.
Once I realized I couldn’t fit all 8 drawers, I did consider making a pull-out shelf, and there are some cheap brackets that allow for this. (The drawer slides typically require a rear side for proper installation.) This was before I realized I had just enough space for the smallest of drawer-to-drawer clearances.
But then I considered 2 things. First, it would take quite a bit of height. Second, I had/have a rolling Ikea cart that I used before we moved. It’s got 4 drawers on the right, a small door on the left, and a pull-out shelf above.
I thought I’d use that pull-out shelf for all sorts of things.
This was a 4-foot long Besta cart, which can be configured any number of ways, and so I planned for it to have that pull-out shelf.
I never ever used it. Well, not as intended. I dumped all sorts of things on top of it.
If I really want or need a pull-out shelf, I can mount one to the underside of my workbench. Or, when the 2 cabinets are connected, maybe I’ll use side mounts to put a pull out shelf there. That’d be nice, and I could use leftover butcher block material from the top.
Alex
The Wooster shortcut is a great value brush, though I prefer the Wooster pro DuPont chinex. That’s what I would recommend normally, however… since you are working with shellac, you will hardly see any difference in the finish if you switch to a higher quality brush.
Stuart
I’ll keep that brush in mind, thanks! What about for water-based poly?
Sergey
You can use a foam brush or that same Wooster brush for water based poly. It’s self-leveling, so as long as you don’t brush it on too thin, it will spread and eliminate any brush marks.
I highly recommend General Finishes Enduro Var (https://www.amazon.com/General-Finishes-Enduro-Var-Gloss-Quart/dp/B003KZWVTK), it’s absolutely amazing.
It dries extremely fast, is very tough and has almost no smell. I have a 2 year old son and generally apply wood finishes in my basement, so I’m sticking to water-based products with low or zero VOC.
I used Enduro Var for the learning tower I’ve built for my son and so far it came out unscathed from all sorts of abuse my son puts it through. He bangs his toys against the tower, hits it with his spoons and forks, spills all sorts of liquids and soft foods on it — so far not a scratch. Ketchup spills or juice spills that sit for hours on top of it can be wiped off without a trace. The tower is made of cherry with 3 layers of clear coat Enduro Var, so any lasting stains would be highly visible.
One note regarding the compatibility of shellac and this poly — GF doesn’t recommend the use of shellac, but dewaxed shellac is ok to use.
Your cabinet looks great btw! The use of 80/20 is an overkill in my opinion, but it makes a hell of a cabinet that should survive you throw at it.
Stuart
Is Enduro the spray-friendly one?
I have General Finishes High Performance Water Based, satin, waiting for me.
Yes, the shellac is de-waxed. Both for color, and as a sealer.
ktash
I’ve used regular brushes for the general finishes poly and they work fine for many projects. I’ve also used the Wooster short handled brush and like it.
I just found the good foam brushes to work better on a furniture project using figured cherry and maple. It involved a lot of coats and wanting to get a silky-smooth finish. The foam brush seemed much easier. But for shop drawers it probably would not make a difference. But after that I’ve only used the foam brushes because they cost under $2 each and the good ones last for the whole project. Sorry, I don’t have a brand name, but will add it if I find out, probably next time I go to Ace Hardware.
Also, I have used wood dyes on poplar to mimic cherry and find the foam brushes (always used with a light touch) don’t seem to interfere with the wood dyes like brushes do. The dyes can be very finicky, at least the way I’ve used them. I’m about to start a similar project, so this was on my mind, fwiw.
ktash
P.S., I normally use dewaxed shellac cut to 50% as a first coat/undercoat. I’ve never had trouble with it with any of the poly finishes.
Sergey
Stuart,
Enduro can be sprayed on as well. It’s more damage and UV resistant than GF’s High Performance Water Based.
Stuart
Thank you Sergey!
I think I remember reading that the High Performance was designed for brush or spray, but the Enduro was more designed for spray application.
I’ll keep in mind the Enduro for one of my next projects.
ktash
Also, for cleaning up glue you can use a stationary ocillating belt sander and it’s pretty quick. For example the Ridgid oscillating belt and spindle sander is an example of what I mean.
The yeti
Don’t worry about the one negative comment Stuart u guys r doing a good job . Nice work
fred
I am reminded about the criticisms heaped upon Norm Abrams and his New Yankee Workshop TV show. Many furniture purists decried his techniques and reliance on power tools and gimmicks – but I don’t recall that he purported to be trying to teach traditional woodworking techniques. I’m guessing that he was a bit like Bob Ross and painting – neither one a Duncan Phyfe or Leonardo – but doing a lot of modern-day encouragement of people to get into their respective hobbies. You’ve called your website “ToolGuyd” after all – not “Fine Woodworking and Design” – probably appealing more to the carpenters and plumbers among us – and hopefully encouraging yourself and others to learn by doing. Critiques of work (yours and ours) are better if they offer solid suggestions for improvement and/or alternative tools and techniques for consideration. A solid-wood drawer – with hand-planed and scraped primary (nicely figured) wood faces, hand-planed secondary wood sides and bottoms hand-cut or chopped dovetail joints with hide-glue, stopped-dados, hand-made brasses and traditional drawer runners – would be appropriate for colonial furniture reproduction. Learning how to do all this and to deal with seasonal wood movements, figured-wood finishing etc. would improve our work – but we still might end-up wanting to use some modern additions like Blum hardware, plywood drawer bottoms, sandpaper and power tools.
Stuart
I was talking to Joe Hurst from Woodcraft, and he said something about how the aluminum framing would be blasphemous to many woodworkers.
fred
If we want to be defined by the “wood” in “woodworker” then we might not want to use metallic fasteners or glue (no plywood then) – stick with natural wood with friction-fit and pegged assembly techniques. Brass hinges would give way to wooden ones and so on. It’s nice to learn the skills to do things as our distant forebears did them – but sometimes mixing the new in with the old can also be interesting.
JMG
I had an architect require that I produce full extension wood slides on a piece of furniture once. While it was an interesting change to the design (midstream of course) that took eighteen hours to implement without changing existing drawer dimensions, it is not something that I would ever prefer to do again. It wasn’t the most efficient use of time and cost versus the final result.
fred
@JMG
I built a table from plans that used fruitwood sourced from Italy as the primary wood. Oak, Hornbeam and Lignum Vitae in combination for the nested extension rails to take advantage of the characteristics of each wood. The oak rails for strength, surfaced with hornbeam as a bearing surface to ride on lignum vitae ways. 50 years on – the table still slides open and closed flawlessly – and the 3 (36 inch) drop-in leaves are well supported. The only parts I demurred at making were the legs that I sent out to a specialist to shape and carve. I also had the table professionally finished to match some other factory-made pieces. It took me over a year of on and off work to complete – and the forbearance of my wife waiting on its being put into use.
RC WARD
Wow, I thought that I over thought things, you take the cake on that dude. Space between drawer looks good to me. Sounds like a fun time though, so have fun and keep at it and you will be happy with it.
Stuart
You should see my thought train when it comes to other things!
Regarding the spacing, I’m more referring to the gap between each drawer side and the metal slide bracket above it.
Look at the top drawer to see what I mean. That’s how close the sides are to the slides of above drawers, except for the top.
I *might* swap in the 2.25″ drawer for one of the 2.75″ drawers, but an extra 1/2″ divided among 7 drawers doesn’t amount to much. An extra 1/14″ spacing? I’m likely to sand at least that much off from all the drawer tops during finishing.
Neil
I would have loved to see how the slides are connected to the 80/20. Also where did you source your 80/20? Locally or delivered and was the delivery expensive?
Stuart
That’s a story for another time. =) But here’s the gist of it.
Basically, #10-32 button head socket screws with T-nuts for the front, and at the rear I went through several ideas and prototypes before I settled on slotted angle brackets.
I’ve got slotted angle brackets to mount the table top, and while not inexpensive it proved to be a good solution for the rear brackets.
The cheaper version would have been to cut the side supports a little short to yield slightly shorter depth, but 1) that would not allow for much adjustment – any imperfection could throw things off, and 2) I didn’t want to decrease support past 18″. A narrower stand could prove to be too unstable.
I wasn’t happy about the aluminum costs, but the solution allows me to change things later on, and reuse everything.
The 80/20 was sourced via their ebay store, which sells new, overstocked, and factory seconds.
Delivery is not too bad. It can be pricey, but reasonable and not like how some retailers charge $20 to ship a small box via ground.
They pack everything quite well, too.
I had a problem with their recommended fasteners not fitting their brackets, and they don’t seem to have any answer for that. *shrug*
Matt
I like the combination of the aluminum frame and the wood drawers. I haven’t completely read all of the other comments so apologies in advance if any of this is redundant.
Next time you need to build a lot of drawers you might want to look into using pre-finished plywood. This is slightly more expensive but saves a huge amount of time. One small downside is that glue doesn’t stick to the finish very well, it is a good idea to use a chisel to quickly scrape off some finish along the joints. You can either leave the top edges bare, quickly put on some clear finish, or use iron-on banding to hide the grain.
Drawer height is an interesting question. Personally I like to have fairly dense tool storage so that there are fewer drawers to remember where I put things. This means putting tools like pliers in racks so they are stored nearly vertical. I also like to use cheap plastic drawer dividers from Ikea for drawers that store lots of small items. An inside depth of 3-3.5″ seems to work well for this.
When using full extension sliders I usually make the drawers almost exactly the length of the slider, this way I can easily access the far back part of the drawer. To keep costs down I’ve used cheap $5 sliders (ex https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Line-Products-7210-Drawer-Tracks/dp/B00E8AF0P8) before. They aren’t full extension and are not rated for a lot of weight, but my main work station has used these for 15+ years with zero issues. They aren’t fancy, but they get the job done.
I don’t know what you use for small part storage, but one option would be to build a Sortimo style parts rack into your cabinet.
Best of luck with the project, please post some more pictures as things progress.
jsbson
If you have more money than time.
http://www.dewofficefurniture.com/smi-2436-5db-sdg-5-drawer-unfinished-birch-flat-file-with-metal-drawer-glides-for-24×36-media
or similar have 2″ deep drawers.
nate
I used the same drawer slides and loved them.
When I remodeled my kitchen, I built my own cabinets, but I didn’t feel like purchasing the tools and taking the time that my perfectionist self requires to build doors and drawers.
I found this online company called “barker door”. They ship unfinished doors, drawer fronts and drawers for really cheap. It was about the same cost to purchase the doors from them as it was going to cost me to purchase the lumber and tools I needed. (I have a lot of tools, but not as many for woodworking.)
If i remember right the drawers were around $15 each for the baltic plywood. I believe it is more expensive for larger drawers. I only had to have 3 drawers, so it was a no brainer. Only caveat is that you have to glue and clamp the drawers as they would be cost prohibitive to ship in one piece. It only takes a couple minutes anyways.
Not sure how you plan to install your drawer fronts, but you might check out the “blind nail kit” by fastcap.
fred
We outsourced sometimes to a company called Maplecraft in St. Catherines Ontario.
We thought that they did good work to our specs.
Koko the Talking Ape
Fantastic project. Nice to hear your thinking as you go through it. Sorry if these thoughts are not new to this conversation.
“Originally, I had planned on 8 drawers. Somehow I miscalculated, and my shallow 2.25″ drawer can’t fit. Actually, there’s barely room for the 7 other drawers.”
Because I have made too many mistakes just like that, I always draw everything to scale. I haven’t graduated to SketchUp or whatever. I just use graph paper. Sometimes I draw things full size. I draw freehand because the lines don’t have to be perfectly straight. What matters is that I am accounting for all the space I need for hardware, etc. It takes time, but making avoidable mistakes at a later stage wastes more time, and money, and makes me feel dumb.
Alternatively, I know some people make mockups out of cardboard. They don’t need to be complete models. They can just show one dimension, if you want.
“80/20 aluminum framing is very pricey, and there are other ways I could have went about this. Instead of 15-series (1.5″ width) components, I could have went with 10-series (1″ width). Or I could have went with a much simpler plywood frame.”
Could an intermediate approach be to use slotted steel angle? I built a desk in a day using that stuff. It would have been even faster if I had a nice way to cut it (I used a hacksaw, which was slow, and a jigsaw, which was a screechy, vibrate-y annoyance.) I used flat L-shaped corner braces on the front where a diagonal brace would have blocked access. It is rock-solid.
Re drawers, I have seen people use shallow plastic bins. They may need some reinforcement, especially where you screw them to the slides. But they are quick and cheap. If you don’t need full extension, you can just set them on shelves mounted inside the frame, and add drawer stops. That would eliminate the need for slides, which are expensive. And if the bins are removable, they can be used for carrying around tools.
Hope those are interesting ideas.
ChrisP
Seems Rockler will soon be selling this dado stack for draw making
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S074ke-EJ6U
Would be interested to see a review and how this compares to other methods of draw construction considering time, cost, strength etc.
Stuart
I learned about that blade recently, but I’m not sure I’m sold on it yet, at least for drawers. For boxes, definitely looks good.