Another update, this one moving away from the lathe. Ran into an issue with workspace. I currently have a 8x2 bench, a 3x4 welding/assembly cart and setup a 2x6 table for some extra space. The Table and welding cart are full of parts (amazing how much space something can take when disassembled) and the 8x2 is filled up with the lathe, a top chest, a grinder and piles of hand tools. The chest is so full that the top drawer no longer close. It's clear that I will also be adding more when you start with cutting tools, measuring tools, etc.
Now I just got engaged last month and have wedding planning going on. Needless to say the budget is tight, so I would like to keep it around $100-150. I also wanted lots of little drawers. With the growing numbers of end mills, bits, dial calipers, etc having deep drawers leaves tons of wasted space. Now I know that these two don't go together real well, but that is what craigslist is good for.
After a couple of days I found one. Well, not a toolbox, but instead a blueprint cabinet. Guy was asking $80 for it and it has about 25 drawers, around 1.25" high. Perfect for storing tons of small stuff. Grabbed the truck and headed to meet him. I was extremely glad I had the tommy gate, this thing weighs a couple hundred pounds, and the seller had a torn rotator cuff. Brought it home and took all the drawers out, picked up some paint and removed all the handles. Next step was to throw some casters under it so it would be movable.
Now this is a ton of drawers, so I started with 4. Cleaned the cabinet up, but the weather was not cooperating, so I ended up building a makeshift paint booth:
I am told that it looks somewhat shady, I think people just watch too many horror films.
In order to protect the tools and give it a professional look I picked up some grey felt and spray adhesive to line the drawers. Got 4 of them completed (forgot to take pictures of the inside, will get some). Shined the handles up on a buffing wheel, only takes about 30 seconds per. Now I need to find a cheaper source for the felt, 1 yard only gets me 2 drawers. The craftsman top box should give you an idea of how big this is.
A few of the drawers have dented bottoms. I figure when I have some time I will cut the fronts off and weld to another drawer to create a couple double height. Just those 4 drawers sucked up every tool on the bench and a couple still in boxes.
Now I just got engaged last month and have wedding planning going on. Needless to say the budget is tight, so I would like to keep it around $100-150. I also wanted lots of little drawers. With the growing numbers of end mills, bits, dial calipers, etc having deep drawers leaves tons of wasted space. Now I know that these two don't go together real well, but that is what craigslist is good for.
After a couple of days I found one. Well, not a toolbox, but instead a blueprint cabinet. Guy was asking $80 for it and it has about 25 drawers, around 1.25" high. Perfect for storing tons of small stuff. Grabbed the truck and headed to meet him. I was extremely glad I had the tommy gate, this thing weighs a couple hundred pounds, and the seller had a torn rotator cuff. Brought it home and took all the drawers out, picked up some paint and removed all the handles. Next step was to throw some casters under it so it would be movable.
Now this is a ton of drawers, so I started with 4. Cleaned the cabinet up, but the weather was not cooperating, so I ended up building a makeshift paint booth:
I am told that it looks somewhat shady, I think people just watch too many horror films.
In order to protect the tools and give it a professional look I picked up some grey felt and spray adhesive to line the drawers. Got 4 of them completed (forgot to take pictures of the inside, will get some). Shined the handles up on a buffing wheel, only takes about 30 seconds per. Now I need to find a cheaper source for the felt, 1 yard only gets me 2 drawers. The craftsman top box should give you an idea of how big this is.
A few of the drawers have dented bottoms. I figure when I have some time I will cut the fronts off and weld to another drawer to create a couple double height. Just those 4 drawers sucked up every tool on the bench and a couple still in boxes.