# Poor Retired Plumbers Take on Router Bit Storage



## Coleve (Oct 31, 2012)

Hi there fraternity,

Now as you know if you checked out my poor plumber’s router table I had a small drawer under the table for my bits, but it’s far too small for purpose.

So why is that. Well I decided when I bought my routers I would buy cheap, no surprise there, but soon realised that was false economy, not right away as I initially thought the acrid burning smoke and the tears flooding down my face was part and parcel of good quality routing, not to mention everything I routed turned out like black ebony. 

So, decided to split my purchases. Cheap ones for cutting through nails etc and the Trend ones for show. Solved.

So, did a google to see what’s out there, and I couldn’t find anywhere a poor retired plumbers take on a router storage facility. Couldn’t believe it, you would think there would be thousands of examples based purely on how poor retired plumbers are. 

However most of them were open fronted and dust attracters, furthermore you need somewhere to hang said cabinet. Now I have one wall cabinet I could have converted but it was on the other side of the workshop. So, I spent some time just looking around the shop and my eyes alighted on the back of my workbench. The little 20-watt bulb lit up in my plumbers’ brain and a storage cabinet was born. 

Now if you have read any of my previous builds, you will realise I don’t think like a normally adjusted human being, apart from being fit for purpose it has to be the first of its kind in the North East of Scotland. 

So where to go from there. I only had one remit in this build from my good wife, it must cost nowt. That made the build somewhat problematic, and my 20-watt bulb wasn’t helping. 

Eventually went out to my store and came back with a load of worktop and ply cut off’s. ideally a sheet of 18mm ply would have been the answer. Two problems there. My new car didn’t have a tow bar fitted, so couldn’t hitch up my trailer. So, you might ask why not fit a tow bar. Yes, my sentiment exactly. Up to date I have always fitted my own tow bars, but this car is different. Why, well the lighting harness is 1.5volts not 12volts, because the lights are all led and the wires are the thickness of a human hair, you can’t splice them. I went to the Merc main dealer and they quoted me £3600. So, no ply. And no tow bar.

I did have some 18mm sterling board and half a sheet of 6mm ply so glued them together to make the rear panel. 

Now I’m not doing a blow by blow account of the build process. But I will mention some of the details. I wanted the door to be thick enough to accept the bits so after cutting out the front access panel I glued it to a cutting of white worktop and trimmed it with Formica banding. 

Next problem was how to keep it horizontal when I opened it. I didn’t want hangers so I went for 3 hinges. Now as you know most butt hinges can rotate 360 degrees, but some only three quarters turn. I reversed them, re countersunk the holes and reverse flush fitted them. Seems to work. I used 3 due to the weight of the shelf. There is also an adjustable stop in the form of a pan head bolt to stop the shelf falling inside.

Next, I knew I would end up with bits and pieces that wouldn’t fit into predrilled holes. So, kept the bottom well of the opening down about 3 inches for spanner storage etc.

Last problem was the holes themselves. The fostner bits I had gave a neat hole but were loose and I knew when the door closed they would spill out into the well. So, I ground them down until I had an interference fit. 

I drilled as many holes as I could squeeze in just in case I need more in the future.

After I finished I gave myself a dilemma, should I picture frame it to jazz it up and give it cleaner lines, but in the end I decided this is not fine furniture, and its in the workshop, don’t over engineer it, and I didn’t. 

So that’s its lads. Didn’t need any wall space. It doesn’t intrude into the floor space. Importantly it cost £4.53 which is the price of the door catch, which is important as any money saved is going towards the tow bar fund. 

As you guys know pottering about in your man cave can be a lonely affair and there is a lot of self-satisfaction involved, however I dragged my wife out to witness the results of my labour. She was over the moon when she found out there was only £4.53 involved and as for the completed project. Yes, you have guessed it. That’s nice dear, and left.



Hope you enjoyed my experience in alternative router storage

Colin
Scotland.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

" She was over the moon when she found out there was only £4.53 involved..."
-Colin

Betcha she doesn't know what the bits cost.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

DaninVan said:


> " She was over the moon when she found out there was only £4.53 involved..."
> -Colin
> 
> Betcha she doesn't know what the bits cost.


When I saw this, my first thought was, Colin. >


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> Betcha she doesn't know what the bits cost.


got that covered....


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

but never ever go this route...

.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

My wife keeps mentioning that she wants me to put reasonable selling prices on all my tools in case I assume room temperature. I keep putting her off because I really don't want to think about how much money I've spent and how little I'd ever be able to get back. Of course, she's the one who'll collect the loot after I'm up (or down) there. 

I still have most of my bits in their original containers, packed away in neatly stacked and labeled plastic tubs. The main reason for this is that for some reason, I can't really seem to visualize what kind of cut many of the bits will make, so I like the little drawings on the packages. Quite inefficient use of space in one way, but practical as heck in another. My door sets all live in the original Sommerfeld wooden cases--If I ever separated them, I'd probably never figure out which bits go with each set. 

That is a really clever solution for storing what I'd estimate at least is $150 (225 Pounds Sterling) per linear foot of bits.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I have a spreadsheet in my computer. But I'm not telling her where to find it yet.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

It's in the Will, Charles...with the password?


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

DesertRatTom said:


> My wife keeps mentioning that she wants me to put reasonable selling prices on all my tools in case I assume room temperature.


With me it is books. Every once in awhile I tell my sons to check prices, and not just let my books for $1 or 2 each. Most of them I got used for around $4-7 each. Last I checked, several years ago, one or two were in the $300 range, a few more in the $200 range, and a batch in the $100 range . Probably most of the rest haven't gone up much, but they are all worth something. These are mostly old, out of print, a limited edition or 2, or the author is deceased. Funny how sometimes your work is only valuable after you are dead.


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

Tom, your money exchange calculator needs a bit of updating :grin:

$150 is currently worth £114. 
Or, 
£225 is worth $294 :nerd:
but either way, he's paid more than that for those, trust me. :surprise::wink


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## sreilly (May 22, 2018)

Stick486 said:


> got that covered....


Wish I had known about this before.....He'll make a fortune!


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## sreilly (May 22, 2018)

Seems we all have passions that make little financial sense. For me it's woodworking and astrophotography. To my credit I've kept cost down by bartering some with the astronomy but either way the professional grade optical tubes (telescopes) and computerized mounts aren't cheap. Then there's the camera, filter wheel, flattener (if you have a large chip CCD camera) , not to mention observatory for permanent setup and automated runs. Lets not forget software and so on. There's a nice new car sitting in that observatory acquired a bit at a time.......it's easier to hide that way, the cost that is. But this was years in the making as well. Bought our current homesite based on night sky conditions (away from light polluted skies) but close enough for comfort. I remember our first trip to Maryland to look at telescopes and I picked out a Celestron Ultima 8 fork mounted telescope and a few eyepieces. I told the wife it would last me a lifetime. She knew of my background in film photography but probably never saw the path this would take. And even I believed it when I said it. Then came the C-11 on a Losmandy mount, then the Astro Physics computerized mount, then the OGS 10" research grade 10" RC, followed by the 12.5" rg RC. Ok I did sell my other equipment as I moved up and the same for the cameras, an ST-7 to a ST-8E, to a ST-10XME, and finally a STL-11000, all with their respective filter wheels and adaptive optics units. I swear I never saw this coming.......

Then I got back into woodworking and set up the new shop. Not nearly as bad but ............the tools are slowly coming along with the needed accessories. When will it all end? I guess with the auction at then end of the road. In my defence I do have someone capable and willing to handle the astronomy sales for my wife if/when the time comes. I'm not stupid after all. The woodworking tools will be inherited by my son if he doesn't mess up and get on my wrong side......

Now I need to start planning that pantry rebuild I promised in the beginning. I did make a promise but I didn't put a time and date on it. But.....


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

" I did make a promise but I didn't put a time and date on it."
-Steve


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

When my brother in law passed I did a spread sheet inventory of the major items, compared those to the new list prices and came up with over 6,000$. Note, he was single at the time. The shop went into a a 3 day garage sale and brought in just over 4k$ when all the miscellaneous tools, lumber etc were added in. The dollars were a poor replacement.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

sreilly said:


> Now I need to start planning that pantry rebuild I promised in the beginning. I did make a promise but I didn't put a time and date on it. But.....


No need to worry about that, your wife will likely be more than happy to help you with that part. 

I figure my entire shop, including the shop itself, has less than $1500 in it. I may have overspent on a few things.


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

Nice job, Colin. I was wondering what keeps the door at 90 degrees. The hinges?


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Colin; I may have missed something along the way...did you already describe the purpose of the two-level top? I admit to being very curious; is this a large router table, in progress?


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## CAD-Man (Apr 28, 2013)

I have 2 of the most expensive hobbies around, Wood Working and Ham Radio. I also collect older Shortwave radios, eBay loves me.

CAD-Man


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## Coleve (Oct 31, 2012)

Hi
I built a new router table at the end of my table saw. And did a post on the construction a couple of months ago. 

Colin.


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## Coleve (Oct 31, 2012)

Yes it’s the hinges. I deliberately didn’t get the 360 degree ones. These ones only rotate 3/4’s of the way around. I reversed them to get the effect

Colin


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

sunnybob said:


> Tom, your money exchange calculator needs a bit of updating :grin:
> 
> $150 is currently worth £114.
> Or,
> ...


I confess, I just guessed. Unlikely to get over the pond again, so don't pay much attention. I still have a few pound notes and Gilders sitting around. Much more interesting than Euros.


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

Tom, the pound note was withdrawn in 1984, replaced with a coin.
It really has been a while since you visited.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

I have agreed with myself, no more out of this country anymore, except maybe Canada. Too much I have not seen here to go traipsing over the rest of the world. Been awhile alright, still have some MPC from Nam. Military Payment Currency, for those of you who do not know.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

sunnybob said:


> Tom, the pound note was withdrawn in 1984, replaced with a coin.
> It really has been a while since you visited.


Last time I was there was in the 90s. I just checked and it's all coin. The Gilders, however are paper. To be honest, I enjoyed Holland more than England. Somewhere I have a couple of Euros, which were just 86 cents to the dollar way back then. First trip ever was in 77 to Holland, Germany, Belgium. Not sure I can handle the flight anymore. Wonder if the apparatchiks will overcome the vote and cancel Brexit?


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