Parts / Storage Drawers - Designs Suggestions

climb.on · Apr 29, 2015

I'm going to build a large cabinet ~4' wide x ~5-6' high for parts and misc stuff in my shop. I primarily do woodworking and woodworking machine restorations. But I've been doing more metal work lately too. I've always kinda thought an old card catalog would be sweet for this, but then when I had the chance to buy one, I passed after I looked at it and realized it was just too many small drawers. I'm now thinking a variety of drawer sizes would be best. Something like the picture, but not as wide.

What works for you in your shop? What would be ideal if you were going to design one?

kball · May 17, 2015

I searched and found this post. I'm interested in ideas for the small plastic parts drawer cabinets similar to this.

So what do you guys do? Line up on shelves, hang on walls, glue back to back stacked 4 high on a lazy susan??

Strouty · May 17, 2015

I have some of those small plastic ones, they are ok for little things, but would not be great for anything heavy.

Climb, I would look for vidmar and lista cabinets, you may stumble on one for a good price, they hold a ton of stuff and can be configured with dividers. I also have some rotabins and they work well, but will get dusty and dirty.

Here are some other threads to check out:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174553

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110832

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=268710

djjsr · May 17, 2015

I got some plastic trays, popped the lids off and built a cabinet to hold them.

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kball · May 17, 2015

^ Very cool!

454ragtop · May 17, 2015

kball said:
I searched and found this post. I'm interested in ideas for the small plastic parts drawer cabinets similar to this.

So what do you guys do? Line up on shelves, hang on walls, glue back to back stacked 4 high on a lazy susan??

I have some of this type with the small plastic drawers and have come to despise them. They ****. The problem is you either have to label them and waste time reading labels, or pullout drawer after drawer looking to see what is inside. A Lista/ Vidmar etc. cabinet, or the commercial trays that fit in the slide holders are so much better. Pull out 1 drawer or tray and instantly see what pulling out 20 of those little plastic drawers would show you. I don't think I'd like the wooden card files shown above for the same reason.
Jim

Steevo · May 17, 2015

I m really fond of the card files like these:

You can divide up the drawers using whatever kind of bins you like.

HubbaBubba · May 18, 2015

Steevo said:
I m really fond of the card files like these:

You can divide up the drawers using whatever kind of bins you like.

Great idea. Endless possibilities!

sdavis622 · May 18, 2015

These are what I've been working on, cleaning up and painting. Lots of storage for misc parts, nuts, bolts, plumbing, electrical, etc.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

jfleisher · Jul 6, 2015

Picked up an item I have wanted for a long time the other day, from a guy I work with who was cleaning out his garage. It has 72 dovetailed oak drawers, and is mostly oak with some veneer on the sides.

It's missing two drawers, one is gone, the other is not original. I found a replacement drawer on eBay, still looking for the second.

I'm going to refinish it in a darker walnut color and use it for parts storage.

I paid $50 for the cabinet.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=458021&stc=1&d=1436224260

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=458027&stc=1&d=1436224795

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=458028&stc=1&d=1436224795

Thumper68 · Jul 6, 2015

I picked up 2 of these last fall for $20, I don't mind labels and soon you get to know where stuff is, I'm using these for misc stuff, springs, clamps, short lengths of chain etc..

For nuts bolts etc I have 2 of these with 3 more in storage at my fathers store he is using them for now and when he gets around to cleaning them out I will bring them to the shop and add the bases with castors.

Each drawer holds 15 of the plastic bins for sorting.

bobcatdan · Jul 7, 2015

I can't get a good picture to turn out, this was I best I could get. This 8' long 12 drawer steel cabinet came with the house. The shop before it was my shop was the former owner's party shack. This was used as a kitchen cabinets with a countertop. Seeing how it was a decent hunk of metal I figured it make a good **** collector. Made a simple wooden bench for it to sit on and painted a nice shop color gray. It's not really intended to be a work bench, but it will be a nice flat spot to lay tools when working on that side of the shop.

zkling · Jul 7, 2015

Ideal for me? An industrial cabinet that has configurable dividers. About the most efficient solution. I have one each of the cabinets that Thumper shows.

astroracer · Jul 8, 2015

I have a bunch of card files also. I use Harbor Freight grey and yellow bins as "dividers". I also hot glue additional dividers inside the bins for the smaller screws and bolts.
Here is one I am slowly getting organized with bolt and screw assortments.

You can see the grey bins and some of them have extra dividers hot glued in place. The numbers written on the dividers is the length of the screw.

I have this fairly well organized all the way up to 5/8th's with plenty of room left yet.
Mark

kball · Mar 5, 2017

Bringing this one back again. I ended up getting Helmer from Ikea. $40 and holds lots of parts. Plus it's red so it matches my tool box!

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40107872/

Parts / Storage Drawers - Designs Suggestions

climb.on

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kball

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Strouty

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djjsr

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kball

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454ragtop

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Steevo

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HubbaBubba

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sdavis622

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jfleisher

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Thumper68

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bobcatdan

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zkling

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astroracer

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kball

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