El Cheapo Snap-On'oooo

[Hounddog]

So this is first contributing thread...be easy.
I do a yard sale circle around town nearly every Saturday. This is my latest find...actually got two of them. Cabinet is 3ft x 5ft. Drawers have roller guides and pull out all the way for easy access. I believe I'm going to enjoy organizing a bunch of my tools in them. Had some rust issues, thought about doing them all up nicey nice but that'll take me some time... Time that I don't have right now (going to be expanding my shop 1000sq ft very soon) So I got rid of the rust and shot some rattle can primer to "hold it over" till I do em up right.

I'm going to lay it out with some foam and arrange some tools...hopefully this will force me to keep my shop neater.
The also have a dust tambor that closes up the entire front. When I do them up I'm thinking a Texaco color theme of red and white...mabey a few Fire Chief stickers and typical gas station(esk) lettering and such. Oh, got em both for 45 bucks. will make for 6ft x 5ft ORGANIZED storage.

 

[katotter]

In for updates.

Wish We had sales like these around where I live.

 

[zkling]

Awesome cabinet(s). $45 for both? YOU **** Can you post a pic of the roll down door? I'm a sucker for drop front storage boxes. I wonder what the intended use was? The frontless drawers is kinda different.

 

[Hounddog]

Will do today, going to get on the next one this morning. I believe the units are typical to those in a medical setting. BUT.....then again, I'm guessing. There are some plastic trays that fit those long drawers. I'm going to use one of the spray paints for plastics on those. Within those trays I'll store shop supplies, hardware, and such. So at this point I thinking one will be for supplies and the other for tools.
Here's the trays....I believe I'll paint them today before I start using them....I don't want to have to clean them again like i did last night....Scrubbed them down with a 3m pad and Comet... Three hours of my life I'll never get back..

 

[Hounddog]

Zkling...I believe you wanted to see the tambor doors pulled down. Here you go.

Was happy with the proportions...18 inches from the wall...together the units are 6ft wide and 5 ft tall.

And the drawers on one unit offer an opening heigth of around 10in while the other cabinet offers 5in heigth between doors...believe that'll be handy.

So this is where it may get a little more interesting. A year back my wife comes home from an auction with one of those carts that you move folding metal chairs with. She got it for 5 bucks...I told her she was crazy..and told her I'd never have bought it. WELL, I was looking at those cabinets standing tall in their new spot...and I thought, damn wouldn't it be nice to have those on a cart with wheels. The more I thought...and inspected the seat cart... I saw that it would be an easy project.
Before: (Sorry I forgot to take a totally unmolested pic..here I just cut the first end free)

After: (The mock-up)

First I cut it apart. I ended op having to flip the ends due to the inside clearence I needed. The rails were luckly the right length (6ft). The middle got cut out and will be shortend and replaced in its new spot nearer the bottom (to keep it out of the way of the cabinet)
I even saved the cups that hold the handle that was used to push the chairs around. Those will be refitted on the cart...the width of the handle will get shortened and welded.

Now...I got something I have to gloat about. Last week, another yard sale...I found this IR extended shaft grinder. Was brand new...out of the box...but never ever used. back in the shop I found that it didn't work. I added oil to it...nothing. So I messed with it abit. Ended up looking it up on the computer that night to try to get a little smarter on it. AND, lo and behold...that there was an $1800 "non-working" grinder I had there!!!!!!
So I had to make something happen. I've never had a tool that expensive EVER! Long story short...A buddy and I managed to tear the entire unit down to find that the rubbers of the (turben) sp? needed some mystery oil...back together and BAM...working like a champ. Today was its first project. After I cut the cart apart..the old welds needed ground down...This grinder was perfect for that job!
My last pick of the cart was only mocked-up....ran out of time to weld it. When complete the unit will have full swivel castors on it. Waddya think so far?

Post Script.....The grinder was $10 DOLLARS! I did choose the name HOUNDDOG for a reason.

 

[Steevo]

A lot of great finds there.
Great deal on the grinder, too!
I believe the cabinets are media storage cabinets for computer tapes.

 

[zkling]

Zkling...I believe you wanted to see the tambor doors pulled down. Here you go.

Awesome, thanks for the pics. I'm a sucker for pull down tambor doors. Snap on made a box like that back in the day. Then a while back someone posted their fastener storage with huge roll down doors. IDK, I just think they are neat.

My last pick of the cart was only mocked-up....ran out of time to weld it. When complete the unit will have full swivel castors on it. Waddya think so far?

LOL @ the chair cart. The only thing I would bring up is you may want to split it into two carts. I'm not sure how that long cart would take the bend stress at the middle between the two cabinets fully loaded. I know the chairs get pretty heavy, but I don't know if it will support those cabinets full of tools. Just something to think about.

 

[Hounddog]

Zkling.....your question about what the cabinets were for. There's a "Data Storage Mfgr." tag on the front....So I now believe they were used to store the old school disketts...reels..."sand stone tablets" " papyrus" and the like.

Steevo beat me by 13 mins on that observation... Good game Steevo!

Yep on the center stress....maybe a middle castor? dead center, underneath. I've got an idea for the center of the cart...where the two units meet. I'd like to get a buddy to plasme cut a small Texaco Fire Chief helmet.....The cart and cabinats will be sporting the Fire Chief colors and logos one day.

And...I believe I will be connecting the two together eventually.