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Cabinet for mill tooling?
- Thread starter Lucas E
- Start date
That's a good idea, although it might clash with my current habit of rearranging the shop every 3 months to fit something new or improve the layout.
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2016
- Messages
- 12,905
Just throwing this out there . Years ago I bought a couple shelf units from Homey Repo . They looked to be light duty compared to what we have in at work . Surprisingly , they've held everything I've thrown at them , and they haven't failed me yet . Chucks , vises , fixtures etc . No doors , but they were quite cheap around $200 or so .
- Joined
- May 3, 2017
- Messages
- 2,027
Here's mine that I made a few years ago. 5' wide; 2-1/2' deep; 8' tall. Frame is 1-1/2" x 1/8" square tubing; shelves are 10 gauge sheet metal.
It holds four chucks, two rotary tables, a heavy surface plate, angle plates, motors, etc., etc., etc. I left the bottom high enough to slip 5 gallon buckets under it.
Not too difficult to build if you know how to weld, and you can custom fit it to maximize capacity. Hundreds of pounds of weight, and I've never had a problem with it.
Regards,
Terry
It holds four chucks, two rotary tables, a heavy surface plate, angle plates, motors, etc., etc., etc. I left the bottom high enough to slip 5 gallon buckets under it.
Not too difficult to build if you know how to weld, and you can custom fit it to maximize capacity. Hundreds of pounds of weight, and I've never had a problem with it.
Regards,
Terry
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2014
- Messages
- 2,634
+1 on the Vidmars, Listas, etc. Our Tool Rooms at work use them along with some extremely sturdy shelving. FaceBook MarketPlace has a number of them in my area for $800 - $2500 each.
My shop is no model for efficient use of limited space, but it works for me. I have my stuff in multiple places using different storage schemes. My two manual mills are a Bridgeport (though it is a CNC mill, usually run it as a manual) and a Jet JVM-830. Very commonly used stuff is right at the mill; collets, draw bar wrench and drill chucks.
There's a HF 26" top/bottom box behind the mills. Commonly used stuff and smaller stuff is there; I do a 180 turn and am at the boxes. This is where the parallels, drill bits, end mills (used), countersinks, mics, calipers, 1/2/3 blocks, center finders, etc. set.
I also have an 18" x 36" x 6' storage rack from Menards. It's "rated" at 500 lbs. per shelf. My suspicion is someone did the math of the shear load on the rivets holding the shelf supports to the vertical supports, not the deflection of a 500 lbs. load dead center on the 3/8" thick particle board shelving. Mine were reinforced with 3/4" plywood. I've got at least 200 lbs. on a couple of the shelves and they're still flat. The 3/8" particle board on the top shelf started flexing under less than 30 lbs. of clutter. Regardless, for $75 plus a sheet of 3/4" plywood for better shelving, I've been happy with mine.
I also have a 15" x 30" roll-around cart for some of my Tormach 1100 tooling. I cut off the verticals to lower the cart so it fits under the chip pan.
I built a poor-man's Vidmar set of cabinets for general shop storage and tooling. They set about 8' from the three mills and lathes. They are 4' wide x 2' deep x 4' tall. The two cabinets have a divider down the middle; four banks of drawers 22" wide x 23" deep x varying height. Everything was made from 1/2" AC plywood. The drawer bottoms are 1/2" ply instead of 1/4" for stiffness. Doubling the thickness of the bottom stiffens the "sag" by a factor of 8. The drawer glides are full-extensions rated at 100 lbs.; heavy drawers are doubled up.
Bruce
The Bridgeport and Jet mills have collets, drill chucks and wrenches stored at the machines
$75 Menards storage rack with 3/4" plywood shelving. This has a right angle head for the BP, 4" mill vise, couple of dividing heads, rotary table, angle plates, measuring tools, bead roller, lantern lathe tooling, Quillmaster, etc. It's been my set up for at least 5 years; 3/4" shelving is holding up well.
HF 26" chest just behind the mills
Stubby drill set, over/under reamers, DTI on an Indicol, reference material
Used end mills, new ones are in the wooden cabinet
End mill holders, jacks, 1/2/3 blocks, V-blocks, extra drill chucks, boring head, etc.
Specialty end mills, center/spotting drills, center-finding tooling
Micrometers, squares, scales
Storage cart under the Tormach with some tool holders, 4th axis, tilt table, and chucks.
HF cart with tooling storage for the Tormach
Tooling storage in the wooden "Vidmars". The containers are from Menards; there's a bent piece of sheet metal in the front card slot to close off the front for piling more stuff in and a label up top. Unused tooling is stored here. Once pulled from here, it goes to the 26" HF tool box.
My shop is no model for efficient use of limited space, but it works for me. I have my stuff in multiple places using different storage schemes. My two manual mills are a Bridgeport (though it is a CNC mill, usually run it as a manual) and a Jet JVM-830. Very commonly used stuff is right at the mill; collets, draw bar wrench and drill chucks.
There's a HF 26" top/bottom box behind the mills. Commonly used stuff and smaller stuff is there; I do a 180 turn and am at the boxes. This is where the parallels, drill bits, end mills (used), countersinks, mics, calipers, 1/2/3 blocks, center finders, etc. set.
I also have an 18" x 36" x 6' storage rack from Menards. It's "rated" at 500 lbs. per shelf. My suspicion is someone did the math of the shear load on the rivets holding the shelf supports to the vertical supports, not the deflection of a 500 lbs. load dead center on the 3/8" thick particle board shelving. Mine were reinforced with 3/4" plywood. I've got at least 200 lbs. on a couple of the shelves and they're still flat. The 3/8" particle board on the top shelf started flexing under less than 30 lbs. of clutter. Regardless, for $75 plus a sheet of 3/4" plywood for better shelving, I've been happy with mine.
I also have a 15" x 30" roll-around cart for some of my Tormach 1100 tooling. I cut off the verticals to lower the cart so it fits under the chip pan.
I built a poor-man's Vidmar set of cabinets for general shop storage and tooling. They set about 8' from the three mills and lathes. They are 4' wide x 2' deep x 4' tall. The two cabinets have a divider down the middle; four banks of drawers 22" wide x 23" deep x varying height. Everything was made from 1/2" AC plywood. The drawer bottoms are 1/2" ply instead of 1/4" for stiffness. Doubling the thickness of the bottom stiffens the "sag" by a factor of 8. The drawer glides are full-extensions rated at 100 lbs.; heavy drawers are doubled up.
Bruce
The Bridgeport and Jet mills have collets, drill chucks and wrenches stored at the machines
$75 Menards storage rack with 3/4" plywood shelving. This has a right angle head for the BP, 4" mill vise, couple of dividing heads, rotary table, angle plates, measuring tools, bead roller, lantern lathe tooling, Quillmaster, etc. It's been my set up for at least 5 years; 3/4" shelving is holding up well.
HF 26" chest just behind the mills
Stubby drill set, over/under reamers, DTI on an Indicol, reference material
Used end mills, new ones are in the wooden cabinet
End mill holders, jacks, 1/2/3 blocks, V-blocks, extra drill chucks, boring head, etc.
Specialty end mills, center/spotting drills, center-finding tooling
Micrometers, squares, scales
Storage cart under the Tormach with some tool holders, 4th axis, tilt table, and chucks.
HF cart with tooling storage for the Tormach
Tooling storage in the wooden "Vidmars". The containers are from Menards; there's a bent piece of sheet metal in the front card slot to close off the front for piling more stuff in and a label up top. Unused tooling is stored here. Once pulled from here, it goes to the 26" HF tool box.
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I appreciate all the ideas and pictures. I'm trying to get a closed style cabinet as I occasionally do woodworking in my shop and don't want sawdust to cover all the oily tooling.
While I am planning on getting a lista/Vidmar I still need recommendations for a heavy duty cabinet as I have a number of other items that need to go in there. Maybe I asked the wrong question. Let me try again.
I'm considering buying a storage device and need some ideas and opinions. Currently I'm looking at Listas, Vidmars, Lidmars, Vistas, buying welding equipment and steel, cheap office cabinets, a nuclear safe house, and selling all my tools and taking up sewing.
What I'm ABSOLUTELY NOT considering...
A good quality cabinet with 4 or 5 shelves roughly 36"-48" wide x 72" tall x 18" deep.
Have any ideas?
Kidding of course. I appreciate all the good ideas and info.
While I am planning on getting a lista/Vidmar I still need recommendations for a heavy duty cabinet as I have a number of other items that need to go in there. Maybe I asked the wrong question. Let me try again.
I'm considering buying a storage device and need some ideas and opinions. Currently I'm looking at Listas, Vidmars, Lidmars, Vistas, buying welding equipment and steel, cheap office cabinets, a nuclear safe house, and selling all my tools and taking up sewing.
What I'm ABSOLUTELY NOT considering...
A good quality cabinet with 4 or 5 shelves roughly 36"-48" wide x 72" tall x 18" deep.
Have any ideas?
Kidding of course. I appreciate all the good ideas and info.
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2019
- Messages
- 746
As far as anything nice that I could show , I have none lol but here’s a company that has many options as far as almost everything you could come up with. Not saying there’s is the best but take a look you might get some ideas from their site that you might find usable in your shop https://www.equipto.com/shelving-and-racks/
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2016
- Messages
- 12,905
Global Industrial Steel Storage Cabinet, Recessed Handle, 36"W x 18"D x 72"H, Gry, Unassembled
Global Industrial Steel Storage Cabinet, Recessed Handle, 36"W x 18"D x 72"H, Gry, Unassembled. Ships in One Business Day. Buy it and Save at GlobalIndustrial.com
Cheap price . Most likely a bit flimsy also .
