Anybody using file cabintes or lateral files?

[SV1000]

I don't have a lot of wall space for overhead cabinets in my little single car garage but I do have a continous bench on one wall with room for lateral files. I was curious if anyone is using file cabinets, especially lateral files for storage.

 

[ezover]

sure do they work great. another thing that works well are the little square lockers you find in a gym.

 

[JB740i]

Yep, I picked up a three drawer lateral file at the Habitat store one day for $25 bucks. They had it priced the same as a little two drawer regular one. They did have a 2 drawer lateral one for the same price but I could only fit one in the vehicle.

Also have two sets of lockers with 16 or 20 in there but my wife won't let me have one to put in the garage. She painted one and put it in our sons room and I guess will be doing the same with the other locker at some point.

The lockers definitely need to be fastened to the wall as the legs aren't the sturdiest things in the world.

 

[elmo_4_vt]

I used them under pretty much my entire bench. We have a few surplus stores where DuPont and all the banks sell their old furniture, so I got these for about $10 each. One cool side benefit, is that all the DuPont ones come with a piece of 1" thick, 12"x18" steel that they used as rear weights, so I put them all on one corner of the bench to use and a beating surface. Works really nice all in all.

The lateral file cabinets weren't all that deep, so I only used on set on the edge. You can just see them on the second pic.

Don

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[bushhawg73]

I just picked up 2 cabinets with small drawers. They are about f ett tall with 16 inch or so deep drawers. One has 4 inch tall drawers and one has 5 inch tall drawers. They are great for bolts and small parts like oil filters or spark plugs. The biggest deal was they were FREE. I do not have any pics at this time.

 

[Auzivision]

I have a variety of different lateral file cabinets in my garage and love them. The price was right; I got them all for free with some office closings.

One trick I did was mount cheap HF moving dollies to the bottom of each cabinet. That keeps them off the ground and easy to move around.

Also, planning on painting them all the same color someday.

 

[SV1000]

Cool...

I found a place an hour or so away from town that appears to have a variety of office furniture at a decent price too. I need to take some measurements and go look at what they have.

I hope to pick up a few lateral files and a two door upright cabinet for paints and lubricant storage. Currently I have those items in one of the wire racks that is bolted to the back of garage door and it is a pain.

 

[Cameronl]

Cool...

I found a place an hour or so away from town that appears to have a variety of office furniture at a decent price too. I need to take some measurements and go look at what they have.

I hope to pick up a few lateral files and a two door upright cabinet for paints and lubricant storage. Currently I have those items in one of the wire racks that is bolted to the back of garage door and it is a pain.

Keep on eye on the free section of Craig's List, and join Freecycle (freecycle.org). File cabinets come up free for the taking all the time. I picked up a set of six 2-drawers with a custom-fit laminate top. Set em up in my basement, left out a middle set for my legs, and got a great, huge electronics workbench.

 

[byrd]

hanging on the wall in the background of this pic are two that my dad got me for free when he was renovating a dentist office. that is also how i got 4 free 4' four bulb t-12 florescent light fixtures. as you can see they hold a ****-ton of stuff.

 

[slowmo5o]

My dad just got me this one for christmas. I am going to use it for nuts and bolts and washer. Its a 33 drawer unit. 30"1/2W x 17"D x 37"1/2H.

 

[smedly]

I have a few that aren't in this photo. Under $100 for all of them. +1 on adding wheels to the bottom- makes a huge difference. Since space is an issue for me I also have a 2-drawer that I mounted my grinder and drill press to. I wheel it out and spin it around for whatever I need.

The small drawer one was mentioned in another thread a while ago. Its called a card file I believe. I searched craigslist for 10 drawer file to find it.

 

[NotEnough]

Auzivision/Smedly, how stable are those lateral file cabinets with HF moving dollies under them? I want to put casters on the two I have. I was going to put it on its back and see how to mount casters, but your idea is much simpler. Did you bolt/screw the dollies to the cabinet. Just curious on how they do when you move them around. I'd hate to push one over if the wheels ever get hung up on something and shifted the cabinet on the dolly.

 

[Auzivision]

They are remarkable stable. I used two little ones for the bigger cabinets and one large one for the smaller one. Also, I make ure to put heaver stuff in lower drawers.

I just drilled holes in the metal where it looked strong and used short/fat wood screws to keep them in place. I messed with putting caster to vise/grinder stand and it was PIA.

 

[tjanson]

I have a drafting/ blueprint file cabinet that I use for my hand tools. 5 drawers, each one is about 3" deep. The whole thing is 3' wide, 2.5' deep, 18" tall about. It's great, especially since I got it for free from my high school about 10 years ago...it pays to be friends with the drafting and shop teacher.

 

[NotEnough]

Thanks. Not looking forward to unloading them and putting them on their back to put casters/dollies under them. The big ones are freaking heavy.

 

[smedly]

I'd say mine are more stable than the craftsman set in the middle. That one does have more weight in it, and the file cabinets do have all the heavy stuff in the lower drawers. I have one set of fixed casters and one swivel. I have one small two drawer file with 4 swivel casters and that is a bit wobbly.