Anyone Using Drafting Cabinets?
- Thread starter nolimits76
- Start date
blacksporty
Well-known member
Yes, I removed the metal plate, just took up space.
rsieracki
Well-known member
i have a few sets under a bench in my wood shop, i use it for small material storage ( i drawer oak, one pine, one 2x etc) i have one thats ball bearing and the other 3 are not... if i were buying them over again ball bearing all the way. i sold a few that were ball bearing as i had the other ones cleaned pained and drawer lined already and 2 years later Im still kicking myself
metalhead140
Well-known member
This.
onewaydave
Well-known member
I have 4 stacked. Mine are from a library, I think, and were used as map storage. What with iphones, google and gps, who needs maps? Right?
They are limited in drawer height, but they will hold a lot of weight, they are very wide and deep. I ligned mine with felt. They will be mostly machining tool use.
Dave.
They are limited in drawer height, but they will hold a lot of weight, they are very wide and deep. I ligned mine with felt. They will be mostly machining tool use.
Dave.
ptgb
Well-known member
Posted on another thread about my setup:
1. Buy blueprint cabinet.... they are all over Craigslist.
2. Paint said cabinet whatever color you want... I went with black.
3. Place cabinet in convenient location.
4. Skip a house payment and buy a ton of bins from Shaller Corp.
5. Put all you nuts and bolts in the bins.... hell, you can fit your grandfather's, neighbor's, and local pastor's hardware with all the room you have for stuff!
1. Buy blueprint cabinet.... they are all over Craigslist.
2. Paint said cabinet whatever color you want... I went with black.
3. Place cabinet in convenient location.
4. Skip a house payment and buy a ton of bins from Shaller Corp.
5. Put all you nuts and bolts in the bins.... hell, you can fit your grandfather's, neighbor's, and local pastor's hardware with all the room you have for stuff!
willy (traer)
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2014
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volleyball
Well-known member
How much for the red bins? what sizes did you get?
jpcjguy
Well-known member
So, how important is ball bearing slides? I am looking at some and they are not ball bearing. guy states "$200 today". Not sure how much lower he would go.
He says he has them loaded with tools and does not have an issue...
Wondering if it worth it to drive the 35 minutes to check it out.
He says he has them loaded with tools and does not have an issue...
Wondering if it worth it to drive the 35 minutes to check it out.
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Squashfest81
Well-known member
They should have some large bearing setup. They will handle the weight. $200 is a fair price in my area. Plus, those look cool.
myredracer
Well-known member
Wow. I used to use those back in the 70s & 80s when I did manual drafting and brings back memories. Actually just gave away my old monstrous drafting table a few weeks ago.
Those would be plenty strong enough as a stack of plan drawings an 1" or so tall is pretty heavy. They will be deep front-back and could be too much for some. None on our CL otherwise might think of getting some.
I wonder if it's possible to make a double height drawer by removing the bottom from one and tack welding two fronts together? Or even removing the drawers and making a cabinet door?
Those would be plenty strong enough as a stack of plan drawings an 1" or so tall is pretty heavy. They will be deep front-back and could be too much for some. None on our CL otherwise might think of getting some.
I wonder if it's possible to make a double height drawer by removing the bottom from one and tack welding two fronts together? Or even removing the drawers and making a cabinet door?
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Squashfest81
Well-known member
Gil, I've had similar double drawer thoughts. Pull a drawer and attach its front to the drawer below with brackets
ArmyVW_GuyInTX
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Lonelivepunk - your blue flat files and your shop are inspirational!
I have several sets at my work (custom art and picture framing) and more of them in storage waiting for my garage clean up.
They are indispensable in any shop, garage, etc - dirt cheap, American made and come in a variety of sizes. Heavy duty. some have removable tops others do not.
If the drawers don't "move freely" that is due to one of many minor issues that usually involve the way they were either moved, stacked, or if they are or were on a carpeted surface - most all of these issues are easily fixed.
The largest I have are 52" wide - across the front, and 42" deep (front to back) and they are all 15" to 17" tall (5 drawer models) not including the optional 4" tall base. The most common size is the 47x37x16(+/-) I have four of those and four (soon to be two) of the 41x28x15(+/-) as well.
The older ones with the riveted drawer pulls on them weigh a hell or a lot more than the later ones that used machine screws to hold the handles on.
Flat files and old card file cabinets are long gone in the business world - but make for the best work shop/ parts and tool cabinets for many.
Thanks to GJ for many great storage ideas!
I have several sets at my work (custom art and picture framing) and more of them in storage waiting for my garage clean up.
They are indispensable in any shop, garage, etc - dirt cheap, American made and come in a variety of sizes. Heavy duty. some have removable tops others do not.
If the drawers don't "move freely" that is due to one of many minor issues that usually involve the way they were either moved, stacked, or if they are or were on a carpeted surface - most all of these issues are easily fixed.
The largest I have are 52" wide - across the front, and 42" deep (front to back) and they are all 15" to 17" tall (5 drawer models) not including the optional 4" tall base. The most common size is the 47x37x16(+/-) I have four of those and four (soon to be two) of the 41x28x15(+/-) as well.
The older ones with the riveted drawer pulls on them weigh a hell or a lot more than the later ones that used machine screws to hold the handles on.
Flat files and old card file cabinets are long gone in the business world - but make for the best work shop/ parts and tool cabinets for many.
Thanks to GJ for many great storage ideas!
rick carpenter
Well-known member
Actually Fred, they can usually hold more weight than an average tool box. Reems of blueprint paper is pretty heavy. I built one into a lathe bench and the drawers hold all my lathe tooling. Pics are in my projects thread in my signature below.
Nolimits, search map or blueprint cabinet here and see all the people using them. Also, for $40 each, YOU ****!! I'd buy them all at that price...
Ah yeah, they might be pretty stout. Before we went "computer to plate" in the print shop I worked at before I retired, all our litho flats were stored in cabinets like those. Flats were sheets of commercial paper at first and later plastic with negatives taped on, sometimes with several layers of negatives and masking depending on the complexity of the final printed sheet. I don't remember the exact size, but a couple inches larger than a 19" x 25" plate all around. A filled drawer was pretty dang heavy especially when the flats were all plastic. Some of the wooden cabinets we had had friction-slide drawers ~4" deep that we didn't fill up so much but the metal cabinets had ball bearing slide drawers ~2-2.25" max and we filled them all the way up.
Spread the load for sure if you're going to store tools in them.
muibubbles
Well-known member
I've had a few. Like everything, quality can vary. The main one I use only holds pre cut carbon/Fiberglass fabrics for my composite lay ups.
The other ones I had, housed small spare car parts. Originally I was going to use them as a hardware cabinet but I was hesitant. For a moderate inventory I can see them working, but for large quantity of bolts that have much more mass, I wouldn't chance it. (Think how wide and deep the drawers are) They are definitely a thinner gauge then my lista drawers
Side note- if you are using them for a parts drawer, be mindful of the height you mount your cabinet. Some of these drawers can get DEEP. Mounting them high, might hinder your accessibility to the back of higher drawers
The other ones I had, housed small spare car parts. Originally I was going to use them as a hardware cabinet but I was hesitant. For a moderate inventory I can see them working, but for large quantity of bolts that have much more mass, I wouldn't chance it. (Think how wide and deep the drawers are) They are definitely a thinner gauge then my lista drawers
Side note- if you are using them for a parts drawer, be mindful of the height you mount your cabinet. Some of these drawers can get DEEP. Mounting them high, might hinder your accessibility to the back of higher drawers