Workshop Storage

I don't know how many of you also struggle to find, make, beg, borrow or Steal storage and organization items for their workshop, but I do. Much of the storage in my shop is home built.

I don't recall where I found these storage bin plans, but it looked interesting. I liked the clear fronts so I can look across the shop and see if I had the parts I needed. It also allows me to see what is in each bin without needing to dump out a coffee can or similar to hunt for hardware.

But buying all new material for a STORAGE project is just not in my nature.. I've got all kinds of scrap around the shop from other projects and I'd like to use it up. AND, this design with the 1/2 thick dividers and all bins the same size was not working for me..  I cannot justify putting time into building works of art or fine furniture for my workshop.. I have too many other things I want and NEED to do.. And, IF I turned out a blemish free cabinet like this, my wife or kids would steal it to store their spices or scrap booking stuff in. (In my workshop UGLY in a very odd way. is GOOD. It means I get to KEEP it in the shop..)

I wanted thinner dividers and I also planned to use this to store bolts.. Which brings up the point about what types of hardware do you need in 'mobile' storage and which types of hardware do you almost never take out of the shop?  I have ALL of my wood screws, drywall screws, and nails in portable organizers. I tried putting bolts in the 5 gallon pail with the lift out tray system and it turned into a mess. I never took it out of the shop and the size I was looking for was always in the bottom tray, etc. etc.  So, for ME, bolts are pretty much ONLY used in the shop, so therefore lend themselves to a wall mounted storage unit.

Since bolts come in a variety of diameters and varying lengths from 3/4 inch long to 6, 8, 10 inches long kind of thing. 'On the one end of the length scale' A 4 inch wide bin is overkill.. On the other end of the scale, I'd really like a 6 inch wide bin for those really long bolts.  

Also storing Nuts, washers, and lock washers in bins, would have meant that I needed 2 to three times the number of bins in this design to handle everything  What I came up with looks like this:

I had 1/8 inch hardboard scraps and some 1/2 MDF scraps and Plexiglas scraps laying about that I reused? Salvaged? for this project.  In this design the first two bins are 3 inches wide.  The center 3 bins are 4 inches wide and the last bin is 6 inches wide.  I have this stocked with 1/4 inch diameter bolts in the bottom row, then 5/16, 3/8, 7/16 and 1/2 inch diameter bolts in the top row.  ALL of the nuts, washers, locks, etc are hanging on "pole barn" nails.  I looked for peg board hooks, but I would have gone broke, in this area at least, attempting to buy 2 dozen 6 to 8 inch long pegboard hooks for this project.  If you've got them, use them. In my case I put 24 'hooks' on this panel for a few bucks and they all fit in a 2 inch high by 24 inch wide area..

The 'hooks' actually work better for storing nuts, and washers than I thought.  When I need nuts or washers I can cup my hand around and under a hook and pull off 2, 4, 5 or any number of nuts and washers at one go. I do not have to dig around in a bin where the nuts might be mixed in with others. Sorting hardware back onto the hooks is just about as fast. With 5 different bolt diameters and 24 'hooks' I can put fender washer on their own hook. Or star type lock washer on one hook and spring type lock washers on another.

How is this different from the plans in the link above?  Well, the back plate is 1/2 inch thick MDF that is 24 inches x 24 inches. The dividers are 1/8 'tempted' hardboard. Therefore the grooves that the dividers fit into are 1/8 inch wide and 1/8 inch deep. I used one blade from my stacking dado head kit to make the grooves.  Depending on what saw blades you might have or router bits, its up to you.

I also changed the dimensions of the bin 'bottoms' so that the Plexiglas sits on top - front edge of the bin 'bottoms'. This design traps the lower front edge of the Plexiglas between the front lower edge of the dividers and the bottom. The way to make that work, is to make the length of the lower edge of the divider match the 'bottom' width. Then when the dividers are slipped into the grooves in the back plate the dividers are 1/8 inch short of the front edge of the bottom.

To save material and be able to do this with the scraps I had, I split the scraps I used for the bottom strips on a 45 degree angle so that on the 'top side' they are longer.. This ACTUALLY worked to my advantage.. Because with a miter on the front edge, I can get my hands onto the bins easier. The miter on the front of the bin 'bottoms' leaves more room to get your hand into the bins.

This photo of the parts should allow you to zoom in and look things over.. I'm not calling out specific dimensions here because I can only assume the scrap you have hanging around will lead to different final dimensions. Or what you want to store will lead you to different bin sizes.  For me the 3 inch wide bins are about as narrow as I could go and make this work for bolts. I can get my fingers into them. But it takes a 4 inch wide bin to be able to reach in with my whole hand.  Really narrow bins less than 3 inches would be difficult to get bolts out of.. They might work great for rolls of tape or sticks of some kind, if that's what you want to store.. Just something to keep in mind..

You will notice the top corners of the dividers are also cut back. Those could be left on if you are pressed for time. I cut them back to make things a little neater looking and easier to reach from bin to bin..

Some of you are straining to figure out what is holding that Plexiglas on. ...
...
...
Its clear SILICONE CAULK.

lets go through the assembly.  I used wood glue in the grooves of the back plate. And, installed 5 dividers in the slots in the back. Then slide a 'bottom' in place so it butts to the back plate. Wood glue there for the joint.  The bottoms must also have 1/8 x 1/8 grooves in them. That makes sure the dividers are held securely on 2 edges by the cabinet itself.  I threw a couple of finish nails into each bottom strip to hold them in place while the glue set. (For the rookies out there.. A good wood glue joint is stronger than the wood itself. So that 1/2 MDF bottom to 1/2 MDF back plate joint, just made you a wooden angle iron.. Once the glue sets up) .. Check your measurements as you go to keep things straight and even.

If you want the nails on the bottom of the assembly for hooks.. BEFORE you start gluing up is a good time to drill the holes. its just easier.. you can use a drill press to drill for the nail shanks and then counter bore for the nail heads. The fact that this is screwed flat to a wall is what holds the nails in place..

Once you have 5 rows of dividers and bottoms in place, I did not mention a top.. That's completely up to you whether its open or not. I added a top before I started so I had something to shove everything up against as I was building down the backing plate.

Now cut 2 sides that are going to be attached to the outside edges of the base plate. These help straighten and stiffen the back and also since they are outside the base, the Plexiglas strips can be 24 inches long, and fit in between so they don't need to be trimmed to length. Yes I try to work TO sheet goods dimensions, 16, 24, 32, 48 etc. There is less waste and more storage bins that way.

Attach the sides and then rip Plexiglas to fit the fronts of the dividers.  I used a thin pocket scale to check the dimension or height for the Plexiglas.

Cut the nozzle of the silicone caulk tube REALLY small. we are attempting to place a 1/8 diameter bead on the front EDGE of each one of those dividers. The assembly will go easier, and my descriptions will make more sense, if the entire unit is laying on its back on a bench or saw horses and you are standing at the 'top' of it.

Once the 5 dividers in the top row are covered with caulk, lower the Plexiglas straight down (the Plexiglas will start out at 90 degrees to the back) Lower the Plexiglas straight down into the space between the bin bottom and the front edge of the dividers. Once you have the Plexiglas pushed into that 'slot' hinge it into its final position. The caulk will squeeze out on both side of the dividers and form Fillets of caulk in addition to gluing the Plexiglas to the face of the hardboard. One caution, make sure those hardboard edges are clean and free of DUST.  I trimmed a couple of the dividers in place and left sawdust behind. the Caulk did not hold. Actually it held to the dust.  I removed the caulk from inside the bin and re-caulked and it works fine.

Many of you are wondering how this can actually work. Just caulk, holding all of those bolts in?

The unit in the first picture has been on my wall loaded up like that for 9 months with no problems.  Check out the 3rd row up, the 3/8 bolt row. The center bins in that row are stuffed and there are no failures..  I think its a combination of the fact that silicone caulk REALLY sticks - adheres well to plexiglass. And, being that the front is slanted, at least 1/2 of the weight against it is pushing down and not out.

Could you use other adhesives?  Probably.. I have NOT tried any others.. I do not know whether an epoxy or hot melt glue would work.. I based my choice on the fact that Silicone Caulk sticks very tenaciously to Plexiglas.

Once the Plexiglas is in place on the 5 dividers, the very ends of the Plexiglas should be inside and up against those straight sides we added.  Now add a bead of caulk on the OUTSIDE of the Plexiglas so that you are building a fillet between the front of the Plexiglas and the side panel.

The only other construction items to keep in mind are that IF you wall mount your unit like mine, its the clamping pressure to the studs that hold this thing up.. NOT the number of screws attaching it to the wall, especially if you try to mount this with bugle head drywall screws. They are more likely to pull through the MDF.

I put 4 cabinet mounting screws into the studs to hold this up.  Cabinet mounting screws have about a 3/4 diameter head on them so they spread and put LOTS of pressure on the cabinet holding it to the wall.. I also sized my unit at 24 x 24 in part so I knew I could attach it to at least 2 studs.

Here is final picture that might help 'splain' some more of this:

here you can see the holes drilled for the nails and how they are staggered so there is more room. these are about 2 inches a part.  Also you can see the outside side panel and how the fillets on the  end of the Plexiglas is done.  The C clamp is holding one piece of Plexiglas forward because it wanted to bend backward. And yes, masking tape makes great clamps, especially when you run it up the front of the Plexiglas over the top of the divider and then pinch the tape down on the side of the dividers, that pulls the tape tight.

Knock yourself out.. Other possibilities are to build differing height bins, in addition or instead of different widths.  Its possible to also change the bottom width as well as lengthening the dividers and have deeper bins.  Much of the light construction of this and its functionality DEPENDS on the GLUED joints. For example those 1/8 thick outside, side panels are glued to the back along with being glued to the bottoms for each row.  If you were to go for deeper bins, those sides would have to be deeper and the glue joints would be more critical.