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So I had two problems in my small garage workshop. I had a drill press cart that was rapidly falling apart, and I had (have) a desperate need to organize all of my miscellaneous hardware (screws, nuts, bolts, etc.) I had some leftover walnut plywood, and some walnut lumber that had been edge glued. I picked up the lumber cheap a while back, because it was poorly edge glued (regarding color matching). This was a design-on-the-fly project, for sure. First the funky cabinet. I envisioned 4 regular sized drawers on the front of the cabinet, and a bunch of smaller drawers on either side.



I had some Sapele mahogany that was less than 3/4" thick, and I had just enough to make a bunch of drawers. I had never made a box joint before, and I had not tried out my incra LS router fence set-up (with the right angle jig, Incra template, and 1/4" whiteside straight bit.



I love the incra system. Considering it was my first attempt at drawers using box joints, they turned out better than I expected. The biggest challenge I had was the Whiteside 1/4" bit was not EXACTLY 1/4". This made things tricky, because the Incra system & templates are designed for bits that are EXACTLY the dimension required on the template. So, a lot of fussing around, but still a very quick way to do a LOT of box joints.


Sapele drawers with inside dimensions of 4 1/4" wide, 5" long, and 4" deep. 20 on each side, and all with a walnut drawer face. After a LOT of sanding, everything has a coat of General Finishes seal-a-cell, and a couple coats of General Finishes Arm-rseal.


4 regular sized drawers in the front, with the bottom one deep enough to put some of my corded power tools. I have not filled up the small drawers yet, but have already identified one significant potential issue - it is HEAVY. And, it is going to get HEAVIER when I fill up the 40 drawers with stuff. It has good casters, all swivel locking casters, so i think it will be ok. Thinking of installing some sort of handles somewhere that I can grab onto while moving around the shop.



I have WAY too much time & material invested in a rolling shop cabinet. But, I am still a relative beginner, so this was a great project to work on some skill building - learning the Incra system, in particular.

Thanks for looking. Let me know what you think of this monster…..

Gallery

Comments

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651 Posts
nice cart.
As someone who has a card catalog from a library, good luck finding your screw… you'll wind up opening every drawer to find something :-( .

Seriously it happens, but the good thing is you know it's somewhere in the drawers.
 

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347 Posts
Jeez thats gorgeous! Are those rubber casters? I might be wrong, but i think I read somewhere that they don't handle heavy loads well over time, maybe some red polyurethane casters would work better?
 

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4,072 Posts
Incra LS-III & M1000 miter gauge are an unbeatable addition to any saw!

Nice work

M
 

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176 Posts
Great job, turned out great! Are you thinking of doing some kinda profile for top with router?
 

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"Thanks for looking. Let me know what you think of this monster….."

Well I think it's FANTABULOUS !

Excellent job !
 

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328 Posts
Beautiful & practical, excellent project. congrats.
 

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1,171 Posts
Allan,

That's one great-looking cart! I LOVE drawers. What a great use of the mismatched glue-ups. You did a fine job of arranging it on the drawer fronts. Walnut shop furniture is pretty classy.

L/W
 

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6,978 Posts
That is fantastic looking the wood just makes that thing pop. Oh and it looks very practical as well. Those drawers are something else.
 

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That is a whole bunch of drawers in one cart! WOW. You have invested a lot of time, but it looks like it came out great. Nice build.
 

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503 Posts
Your project looks fantastic.I like the wood combo.
 

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429 Posts
Time well spent, I'd say. Great job.
 

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You couldn't have gotten 45? Just kidding, great work, you will never be sorry for having storage
 

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3 Posts
Did you use dado's for all of the squares to accept the small drawers? Great looking cart, very nice!!
 

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23 Posts
Awesome cart! That is a lot of drawers, wow!
 

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Beautiful and functional work!
You can put it at dinner room.
 

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186 Posts
Great looking cart, but it could use more drawers. Just kidding - that is really awesome. Good job keeping the grain aligned on the drawer fronts.

Cheers,
Tom
 

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39 Posts
Wow, furniture grade in a shop fixture! Great use of materials and the design maximizes storage in a small footprint. No worries about the drill press getting top-heavy….
 

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That looks terrific! I have been looking for a new (used) floor mount drill press, but may start looking for a good bench mounted unit just so I can use your cart as inspiration for my own.
 
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