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It's about 2 years since I posted a project…because it's been nearly 2 years since I've made much of anything! My wife and I unexpectedly picked up everything we owned and moved from Minnesota to Colorado about 2 years ago. We stayed with my in laws for the better part of a year, which meant all my tools stayed in storage. We finally got our new home about this time last year and I set to work finishing off half the basement to use as my shop. I got that completed a couple months back (it's amazing how slow finishing a basement goes when you have young kids and a full time job!) and am just getting back in the swing of things now. Since this is a permanent home, I decide to start making some shop "furniture" that would fit the new space. Like most of you, space is very limited for me, so have to make the most out of every inch!

The first thing I made were a couple carts for my sanders. I have had these for a few years and had always just lugged them up and put them on the work bench when I needed them. That worked ok, but at around 100lbs each, figured them having their own homes would make my back happy. The spindle sander cart holds all of the accessories for the sander in one drawers and the second drawer holds my miscellaneous sandpaper stuff. I'm really happy with how the card for the disc sander turned out. Probably like a lot of you, keeping track of all the nuts, bolts, screws, etc can be a real headache. I decide to try to get that under control and bought a few Stanley organizers to keep all my little hardware in. I'm already a huge fan of having all of this organized.

With the leftover plywood, I just made a simple hand tool till. I had the perfect spot for it between my two cabinets I keep all my glue and finishing supplies in. I honestly wish I would have made it a bit bigger, but just didn't have the room. I have another half dozen or so planes that I do not use too often that are currently relegated to a box…I'll have to figure out something else to do with those.

All in and all, it was a fun day yesterday…2 sheets of plywood and 10 hours of work in the shop. It's been a while since I got to play like this and it felt great!

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Looks like you are off to a great start. Nice equipment and a dedicated space to use them. Congratulations on the new home and family!

Hope you have decades of enjoyment in your new space.
 

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Congrats on the new shop!
I moved to a new house a few years ago and basically everything was in a pile and it took months of setting up, making a bench, cabinets etc. You're right - it feels good to get going again
 

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Congrats on getting your shop back. I'm sorry you had to go so long without it. Your projects look great and I can only imagine how awesome it felt to just "create" some stuff after a long time away.

BTW - how do you like the Stanley organizers? I have to find some (reasonably priced) way to organize my small parts.
 

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Cincy, theyre nor perfect, but I like them. I had originally went to Harbor Freight to buy the knock off ones. They were pretty flimsy and the top wasnt clear which I was not a fan of. I found the stanley ones on Amazon. They had a sale for $10 off $50 for stanley tools and they were $12.50 a piece, so I made two orders of 4 each, basically making them $10 each. For a frame of reference, the HF ones were around $6.50 each. The Stanley ones are much stiffer, but still have some flex to them, especially when loaded up with bolts. I love the clear tops, they make it easy to quickly find the hardware im after. My only real complaint is that for the hardware i have, i wish there were more of the larger bins. If I'm buying screws, I'm more apt to buy the pack of 100 vs 10, so it may not be an issue for you.
 

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Cincy, theyre nor perfect, but I like them. I had originally went to Harbor Freight to buy the knock off ones. They were pretty flimsy and the top wasnt clear which I was not a fan of. I found the stanley ones on Amazon. They had a sale for $10 off $50 for stanley tools and they were $12.50 a piece, so I made two orders of 4 each, basically making them $10 each. For a frame of reference, the HF ones were around $6.50 each. The Stanley ones are much stiffer, but still have some flex to them, especially when loaded up with bolts. I love the clear tops, they make it easy to quickly find the hardware im after. My only real complaint is that for the hardware i have, i wish there were more of the larger bins. If I m buying screws, I m more apt to buy the pack of 100 vs 10, so it may not be an issue for you.

- Marcus
That seems to be the problem with most of the containers you can buy for storing screws and bolts , they just aren't Big Enough. You would think some company would notice this and make some larger units that are easy to store and hold larger quantity's. Then we would not have to make them our selves.
 
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