# Drill Press Cabinet from Left-Overs



## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

I started on a project to replace the small cabinet under my drill press with two goals - give me more/better storage and use only materials lying around the shop. I finished it this afternoon and am a little disappointed; met goal #2 but fell a little short on #1 - and the ideas for improvements kept coming as I was transferring the bits and pieces from old to new cabinet.

Here is the completed cabinet, same height and depth as the old cabinet but using up the whole width of the mobile base. I kept the same number of drawers as I didn't want to buy more slides and didn't have any extra. I like the covered section at the top where I can store vises, clamps, etc. while still having a surface where I can lay stuff while I'm working at the drill.

The sliding trays in the drawers were a good idea, just poor execution - should have gone with one more drawer, made them all shallower as I'm still finding the contents are piled on top of each other - turns out I didn't enough large items to justify the 6" deep drawers. And the sliding tray should be the whole width and half the depth, particularly since the drawers aren't full extension.

At this point, I'm seriously thinking about scrapping the top two drawers and making multiple sliding shallow trays to replace them. It's too late to cut dadoes in the sides so thinking about making strips to glue to the sides to give me a slat-wall effect and have the bottoms of the trays slide in the gaps.

Now that the cabinet is complete, I can see where I messed up - a drill press cabinet is mainly going to store drills, and that doesn't need deep drawers. A bunch of 1-1/4 - 1-1/2" deep trays with dividers would be ideal.

At least I managed to use up a lot of the offcuts that were lying around the shop, may not be able to finish the redesign without buying some more material though. The cabinet wound up costing me nothing except for the handles (and I could have probably made them out of wood too) so I don't feel too bad about having to backtrack and correct the mistakes.

Tom


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Don't scrap the drawers. Just put a couple of supports - one on each side - and build a tray that you can slide back and forth or remove to gain access to the stuff underneath.
Mike


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Here are pics of my cabinet.
Hope this helps.
Mike


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

we love left overs...
you have a fine piece of craftsman ship there...


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Nice job Tom . Neat idea for the flip top


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

MT Stringer said:


> Don't scrap the drawers. Just put a couple of supports - one on each side - and build a tray that you can slide back and forth or remove to gain access to the stuff underneath.
> Mike


I messed up with the trays really, they worked fine until I put the drawer fronts on and then I found you can't take them out without (almost) removing the drawer. I think what I need to do is move the supports to the ends of the drawer and make the tray the whole length but about half the width so it can be easily removed. And I can put in dividers to break up the length so things don't all jumble together.

I like your cabinet, sure looks like you've managed to store a lot of stuff in there which is what I'm trying to accomplish.

Tom


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Thanks Tom. The difference in the two cabinets is mine is deeper because the drill press is a bench top model that is mounted on top of the cabinet.

I see what you are talking about. In a couple of my drawers I simply used a piece of 1/4 inch plywood that can be removed easily. I also used some parts bins so I can move them around or take them out.

Your cabinet looks really nice. Don't beat yourself up. Sometimes when I work my way into a corner (happens all of the time), I sleep on it and wake up the next day with a solution. Makes for a new meaning of "In your dreams"!


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Stick486 said:


> we love left overs...
> you have a fine piece of craftsman ship there...


Thanks. I've got luan plywood (kitchen countertops) for the drawer fronts, the back of the cabinet is the old subfloor from the downstairs bathroom remodeling project, the drawer bottoms and top shelf are offcuts from the underlayment under the vinyl floor in the bathroom, the sides and shelves are from an offcut from a sheet of Sande plywood I used to build a shelf unit in the shop, the sides of the sliding trays are strips ripped from 2x4 offcuts, the oak and poplar edging were ripped from scraps that were stacked on the lumber rack and the drawer backs and sides are an offcut of 1/2" Baltic birch that I used to build a hardware storage cabinet last year. I took quite a bite out of the pile, but still got a ways to go - it gets tougher to use it up as the selection gets more limited. But I need the space.................

Many years ago, I bought two mahogany conference tables - one was 20' long in three sections and the other one piece and almost 8' long. The aprons are solid mahogany, about 2" thick and almost 5" wide. They came with the built-up mahogany legs. I've moved them twice, but hope to be able to make something nice out of the pieces in the very near future, thinking about an Oriental-design sideboard as a gift for my wife. But I need to get the shop cleaned up so I have room to work first.

Tom


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

RainMan1 said:


> Nice job Tom . Neat idea for the flip top


Thanks Rick. That's actually not the way I had planned to build it, was originally going to hinge the back edge, and was trying to either come up with a hinge that would work or a way to beef up the 1/2" plywood back. It worked out pretty well, but I was pulling pieces out of the stack and "designing" on the fly based on the pieces I found. I think it turned out better this way - the top sits on the side rails and runs all the way to the outside of the back, it can't go any further as the inside face of the front hits the end of the side strips. So, depending on what I'm looking to get out, I can just pick the front up, letting the back pivot on the side strips, or just lift it off completely.

Tom


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

tomp913 said:


> Thanks. I've got luan plywood (kitchen countertops) for the drawer fronts, the back of the cabinet is the old subfloor from the downstairs bathroom remodeling project, the drawer bottoms and top shelf are offcuts from the underlayment under the vinyl floor in the bathroom, the sides and shelves are from an offcut from a sheet of Sande plywood I used to build a shelf unit in the shop, the sides of the sliding trays are strips ripped from 2x4 offcuts, the oak and poplar edging were ripped from scraps that were stacked on the lumber rack and the drawer backs and sides are an offcut of 1/2" Baltic birch that I used to build a hardware storage cabinet last year. I took quite a bite out of the pile, but still got a ways to go - it gets tougher to use it up as the selection gets more limited. But I need the space.................
> 
> Many years ago, I bought two mahogany conference tables - one was 20' long in three sections and the other one piece and almost 8' long. The aprons are solid mahogany, about 2" thick and almost 5" wide. They came with the built-up mahogany legs. I've moved them twice, but hope to be able to make something nice out of the pieces in the very near future, thinking about an Oriental-design sideboard as a gift for my wife. But I need to get the shop cleaned up so I have room to work first.
> 
> Tom


Now that's what I am talking about. Use what you have on the rack! Cut it, rip, rip it again, and on and on. It really is amazing what can be built if you have a few tools, namely the table saw, jointer and planer. Mill it your way. 

I have four or five boards in my storage shed that were part of the pews in a church that was remodeled. My dad had them stored in his garage and now I have them. They are basically 2x10x 6-8 feet in length. I have no idea what to do with them. Still thinking about it.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

MT Stringer said:


> Thanks Tom. The difference in the two cabinets is mine is deeper because the drill press is a bench top model that is mounted on top of the cabinet.
> 
> I see what you are talking about. In a couple of my drawers I simply used a piece of 1/4 inch plywood that can be removed easily. I also used some parts bins so I can move them around or take them out.
> 
> Your cabinet looks really nice. Don't beat yourself up. Sometimes when I work my way into a corner (happens all of the time), I sleep on it and wake up the next day with a solution. Makes for a new meaning of "In your dreams"!


Exactly. I'm thinking of doing something like the Tool Tray Tower, I think that the shallow trays would give me more storage flexibility, plus make it easier to find individual drill bits. I'd have to glue strips to the inside of the cabinet to give me the grooves for the plywood bottoms to slide in but that's not a big deal. I'll lay it out, maybe just replacing the center drawer and see how it works - should give me four trays about 1-1/2" deep which would be perfect.

I like the Akro bins in the drawer. I copied the design of one from way back in _Woodsmith_ but didn't make mine look like a piece of furniture, works really well for organizing hardware. I liked the bins so much that I bought a case of them and replaced the shelves of coffee cans that I'd accumulated, way more organized.

Tom


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

my dumpster dove special and reclaimed shed...
.
.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Stick,

I'd love to get my shop half as organized as that. Kind of nibbling around the edges at the moment, but projects seem to keep getting in the way. My wife keeps offering to clean the shop for me, but I'm thinking that she means clean out :crying:

Tom


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Nice cabinet Tom, congratulations.


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## old coasty (Aug 15, 2014)

Tom,

Those Akro bins in the Drawer will solve some of my problems. Thanks for the idea. I have zero wall space, but some potential drawer space.


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## mbar57 (Apr 20, 2015)

This is what shop projects are all about right? I love diving in blind, learning as I go and having even better ideas when I'm done. Without the stress of how much, and I hope they like it!! Good job Tom.


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## timbertailor (Oct 4, 2009)

Live with it for a while before you make any changes. It takes a while to sort out what you want where and whats the best way to store it.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

old coasty said:


> Tom,
> 
> Those Akro bins in the Drawer will solve some of my problems. Thanks for the idea. I have zero wall space, but some potential drawer space.


The idea for the Hardware Cabinet was in the July 2002 edition of _ShopNotes_, so I've had that basic concept in the back of my head for a while, just not as a piece of furniture. Plus my shop has 1-1/2 rows of blocks coming up before the framed walls so I can't make a cabinet that sits "against the wall". The cabinet really helped me organize my hardware; I'd be working on a project, know that I had the correct size/type of fastener left over from another project, spend half the morning looking for them before going out and buying some more - only to find them when I got home. Now I'm able to sort like sizes and types together and find things a lot quicker. It also helped that I bought 1000 small zip-lock bags to put the odds and ends left overs in rather then just dumping them in a bin and sorting through them - all I have to do is look through the bags in a specific bin - e.g. #6 fl hd screws or #10-24 rh machine screws - and instantly know how many I have of a particular size.

The Akro bins really make great organizers, I keep finding ways to use them to get more storage for bits and pieces. I'm now looking at making a shelf to suspend below my wall cabinets in the space between the cabinets and the top of my bench so that I can put bins there for additional storage as I've pretty much run out of open wall space.

Tom


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

timbertailor said:


> Live with it for a while before you make any changes. It takes a while to sort out what you want where and what's the best way to store it.


Good suggestion. This replaces the old cabinet that was the same height and depth, just narrower, which had three shallower drawers and an open space at the bottom so the contents are pretty fixed - not counting new purchases of course. The replacement trays are kind of a no brainer, and pretty easy to knock out. Replacing the drawer(s) with the sliding trays is a little more involved as I'll have to mill down the thin stock and so forth - that's going to take a while as my shop time is limited. Shop time around here is like Frequent Flyer Miles - I earn x shop hours based on XXX hours on the "Honey-Do" list, and I've been hearing rumblings that tell me I'm out of Frequent Flyer Miles. :frown:

Tom


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Hi, Tom.
I like your drill press cabinet. I have been procrastinating a similar construction for my new 16" drill press. If you don´t mind, I´ll use your model and Mike´s advices for mine.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

tomp913 said:


> Exactly. I'm thinking of doing something like the Tool Tray Tower, I think that the shallow trays would give me more storage flexibility, plus make it easier to find individual drill bits. I'd have to glue strips to the inside of the cabinet to give me the grooves for the plywood bottoms to slide in but that's not a big deal. I'll lay it out, maybe just replacing the center drawer and see how it works - should give me four trays about 1-1/2" deep which would be perfect.
> 
> I like the Akro bins in the drawer. I copied the design of one from way back in _Woodsmith_ but didn't make mine look like a piece of furniture, works really well for organizing hardware. I liked the bins so much that I bought a case of them and replaced the shelves of coffee cans that I'd accumulated, way more organized.
> 
> Tom


Tom what a great setup you built there yet again . Your the king of organization ! 
The more I think about this the more I'm liking a storage unit below the drill press . It's wasted space and it gives you all kinds of storage for drill press related things . 

I'm liking those yellow bins you put in the drawers . Are they available online?


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

Tom, I like the idea of the bins in the drawer. I have a habit of buying screws. Lots of screws. Pretty well all Robertson. I have them everywhere. Can't seem to stop bringing home screws. One cupboard, drawers and bins would be just what I need. All in one place at last. Fill it up and then stop buying screws. (for a while) Good job.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

RainMan1 said:


> Tom what a great setup you built there yet again . Your the king of organization !
> The more I think about this the more I'm liking a storage unit below the drill press . It's wasted space and it gives you all kinds of storage for drill press related things .
> 
> I'm liking those yellow bins you put in the drawers . Are they available online?


Rick,

Thanks, but you need to see some shots of areas in the shop that I'm still working on organizing, looks a lot different.

They're sold a lot of places here so I'm sure that it's the same up there in Canada. I think HD and Lowes sell them, but I was buying case lots so kept looking for the best price. One place to look is an industrial supply company, a lot of them sell stuff like this to companies for warehousing items and they typically offer better prices in case lots - both of my latest orders came packed in a sealed Akro shipping carton so the seller just picked the box off the shelf and slapped a label on it. Keep looking and you can usually find a deal, just don't look only at woodworking suppliers.

Tom


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

thomas1389 said:


> Tom, I like the idea of the bins in the drawer. I have a habit of buying screws. Lots of screws. Pretty well all Robertson. I have them everywhere. Can't seem to stop bringing home screws. One cupboard, drawers and bins would be just what I need. All in one place at last. Fill it up and then stop buying screws. (for a while) Good job.


I had to get my hardware organized because I was wasting so much time looking for stuff that I knew I had - somewhere. The bin drawers are next to my work area so it's convenient to just pull the drawer open and lift out the appropriate bin. Replacing the shelves of coffee cans with the bins actually saved a lot of space as the bins took up a lot less space than a bunch of partly filled coffee cans that had to be searched through - and the one I needed was always in the second row. I still have some coffee cans that I use for some screws or nails that I buy in larger quantities, but that's not so much any more.

Tom


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

Tom...nice job...how about this option for your deep drawers...

Cut out the top half of the back of the drawer...put a slide on each side of the drawer and lay a tray on them...when you open the drawer you can access the bottom half by sliding the top tray towards the back...
You can create stops to prevent tray from falling into the back of the cabinet...

Just a thought...


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Nickp said:


> Tom...nice job...how about this option for your deep drawers...
> 
> Cut out the top half of the back of the drawer...put a slide on each side of the drawer and lay a tray on them...when you open the drawer you can access the bottom half by sliding the top tray towards the back...
> You can create stops to prevent tray from falling into the back of the cabinet...
> ...


That's a nice idea, but my drawer is a little small, inside dimensions are 17-1/8" wide x 9-7/8" deep. I'm working on making a couple of trays that run the long dimension, a little less than 1/2 of the depth and still about 1-1/4" deep. A little thought before jumping into making the cabinet would have been a good idea - but I got an OK from my wife to spend some time working on the shop (cancelled yesterday though) - and didn't think through the design process properly. Now that I've got the bits and pieces from the old cabinet stowed in the new one, it's kinda obvious that a drill press cabinet is primarily for storing drills so deep drawers aren't necessary. The tills are good, but I think that the better long-term fix is to lose one of the drawers and put in a series of shallow sliding trays, same 1-1/4" +/- depth. 

I made the pieces for the sides of the new trays yesterday. Following the theme of the build, I cut strips from pieces of 2x4 I had lying around - all had been used for something else at one time or another and had nail/screw holes which is not a big deal as they can be filled but the wood had a lot of cracks that became apparent once I started ripping the pieces and I lost a lot of material. I may rethink this part of a similar project in the future as I spent a lot of time trying to make what was basically scrap wood usable - it would have been way easier to buy a 5/4 pine stair tread and rip that into strips as I'm going to need more material when I make the sliding trays anyway. After ripping the 2x4's, running them through the planer (had to make a sled first as the thickness is close to the minimum on my little Ryobi), I wound up having to cobble something on my spindle sander to get the sides smooth enough to be usable.

As an aside, I bought the Rockler Dust Separator recently (after choking the shop vac sanding the parts for my turtle planter) and it works exactly as advertised. While I didn't wind up taking a lot of material off the strips - maybe 1/16" total - I made a lot of passes with minimal removal as I wasn't sure how the Ridgid sander would hold up (it did good, but was a little warm at the end of the day). At the end of the day, there was no noticeable amount of dust in the vac so it all stayed in the separator - and almost no loose dust around the sander, the majority of it was collected into the separator. I'm impressed with both of these purchases, just need to come up with a better set-up to actually feed the parts past the drum, although this worked OK.

Tom


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