Filing cabinet for garage storage

[scale]

I am thinking of sourcing a cheap 2 drawer filing cabinet with the larger pull out drawers to use for garage storage.

My thought is to use it for coiled up ext cords, hoses, perhaps jackstands and other odd items. IN a perfect world i would be able to get one that has the keys so i can lock it up. The drawers themselves should be able to handle quite a bit of weight considering if it was full of "files" it would be REALLY heavy.

I would also put casters on it or at the very least get some cheap moving dollys from harbor freight to put under it so i can move it easy. Doing either option here i would probably need to reinforce the bottom of it so it doesnt twist or warp but again...that should be simple with a bit of 3/4 plywood or similar.

Id like to think that i could get another unit that could sit on top of the bottom one that would have doors that open up and have a few shelves in it. I would use this to put my garage stereo in as well as all my rechargeables...drills, chargers, etc. Kind of like one of those giant tool boxes with the power built right in.

Id have to cut some holes in it to run the power cords and speaker cables etc but that is easy.

That way i would have an entirely closeable unit and potentially lockable .....and on wheels. It would keep things tidy, mobile and clean. Right now all my **** is scattered around, laying on the floor or on shelves that take up too much space.

Has anyone done anything similar?

 

[MarlynOC]

Just remember heaviest in lower drawers or the file cabinet may tip forward if 2 drawers are open at once.

 

[kylefitz]

Filling cabinets make good garage/ shop storage. I have one in my wood shop that holds sanders and sandpaper in one drawer. Nail guns in another. Works well.

I know from my recent move that you won’t fit many jack stands in a file cabinet drawer. I think I could only fit two in each drawer.

 

[scale]

yeah.....i am thinking it would be good for all my corded tools as well. Perhaps jackstands was a bad example. Those i can just leave out as is on the floor.

 

[BFBOB]

Yes, I have several filing cabinets I use for storage in the garage, mostly because they were free or close to it. I've found that legal size cabinets are much more useful. The depth of the drawers leads you to store big things in them, and the extra 3" of drawer width really helps. Keep your eyes open for businesses moving, going out of business, that kind of stuff. Legal size cabinets are seldom found in homes - except mine, of course!
You can stack two 2-drawer units if you don't find 4- or 5- drawer units easily. Just put a piece of plywood ~1" bigger than the units between the two for stability. 2-drawer units can also be put under a workbench, if it's deep enough.
Just stick with full ball bearing drawer extensions. The cheap ones really aren't adequate even for paper.

OH!! If you can, get the style with full-height drawer sides. Cut-downs work fine for file folders, not for the stuff you're storing (unless they're free, of course)

 

[Shiftless]

I have a black 2 drawer file cabinet you can have free. Ball bearings. No lock. Won’t ship though.

 

[drwheels]

I picked up a five drawer. It will only open one drawer at a time. Already have a three drawer lateral in my shop.

 

[scale]

I have a couple of the smaller older (super sturdy) standard 2 drawer units. They work well for the circular saw and other randomly sized items. I think the other drawer has 2+lb hammers and rubber mallets in it since those tend to be larger and not fit in the standard tool box well.

 

[OccupantRJ]

They work great for power tool storage.

 

[Jazz1]

File cabinets are great storage and cheap. I don’t have any in my garage but in our home office great wine storage

 

[atch]

They work great.

I have:
5 "regular" 4 drawer file cabinets
3 10 drawer file cabinets (drawers are half the height of standard cabinets)
1 lateral file cabinet
4 2 drawer file cabinets

This is in addition to 2 roll around tool stacks and one top tool cabinet mounted on a bench.

I use the 2 and 4 drawer cabinets for tool storage such as drills, sanders, circular saws, etc., etc.

I use the 10 drawer cabinets for bolts, nuts, automotive wiring supplies, etc., etc.

I use the lateral file for moving blankets, motorcycle helmets, etc., etc.

I'm planning a reorganization of the shop and will probably buy 3-4 more 4 or 5 drawer cabinets.

I have collected these from auctions and estate sales. I don't think I've given over $10 apiece for them except the 10 drawer cabinets, which tend to be slightly more spendy.

 

[scale]

awesome. I have a liking for strange repurposed storage solutions like this. I have most of my tools wired to old steel cash register drawers that i wired up off a 12v relay with a momentary switch. When pressed you get the cash register "ding" and then access to the tools in the drawer. It all runs on an old car battery not strong enough to start at car....and then "manatained" long term with a cheap HF solar 12v panel. I guess i am "that guy".

I would be curious to see your setup...especally the 10 drawer with the nuts and stuff. It sounds great.

 

[555]

I found this one free on Craigslist. I want to paint it to match my other boxes. Since this picture was taken, I made a 2x4 wooden platform and attached 6 casters for easy movement around the shop.
Regards,
John

 

[scale]

I found this one free on Craigslist. I want to paint it to match my other boxes. Since this picture was taken, I made a 2x4 wooden platform and attached 6 casters for easy movement around the shop.
Regards,
John

THats the exact thing i am looking to do with a 2 drawer. Id be curious how the casters worked out.

 

[Shiftless]

I have a few machines mounted on wooden frames with casters. For something like a storage file cabinet, I suggest using all swivel casters. For things you plan to move it some distance, I prefer swivel casters on one end and fixed ones on the other end.

 

[scale]

yup...thats what i will end up doing. I might do swivel on both ends actually. I will worry about that once i get my frame built once i aquire the cabinet i am going to use.

 

[atch]

...I would be curious to see your setup...especally the 10 drawer with the nuts and stuff. It sounds great.

I'll take some pix next time I go to the shop. We've got 18 inches of white stuff on the ground right now. Might be a while.

 

[scale]

^^ thanks. No rush on my part. This is somthing i have been thinking about forever and i spent all day in the garage today pondering my next move. That hasnt happened in years. .....sadly. Today was a good day though. I got to spent some quality time in my favorite place.

 

[intillzah]

Got two of them, one has filters and power tools, and the other is just for general storage

 

[OccupantRJ]

Here is a thread on my 10 drawer cabinet usage. Others posted theirs in the thread also.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=275108

 

[scale]

wow.....that is really nice. Now thats what i need. Card files are hard to find. I suppose there isnt much demand for them anymore other than people like us. Really nice job on this.

 

[atch]

...I would be curious to see your setup...especally the 10 drawer with the nuts and stuff. It sounds great.

Here are some pix, most of the 10 drawer card file.

The "compartments" are half gallon milk jugs cut down to the correct height. They fit perfectly.

This cabinet is the kind that has a slot in the bottom of each section. I cut up some 1/8" Masonite to fill most of the sections. The sections that have the milk jugs in them don't need the filler strips, but the rest of them do. At the auction where I got this one they had two, one with slots and one with solid bottoms. I wanted the one with solid bottoms but it went for over twice what I gave for this one. I think I gave $30 for this one about 3 years ago.

This one is wider than most file cabinets; it has 5 sections per drawer. I have two "standard width" cabinets in another part of my shop that have 3 sections per drawer. When I reorganize I'll have all three adjacent to each other.

The last pic is a drawer in the 5 drawer file cabinet in the first pic. It's what I do with all my caulking guns. The other 4 drawers in this one and the drawers in the other two 4 drawer cabinets (as well as two more file cabinets in another part of the shop) are full of "stuff"; skill saws, paint guns, drills, sanders, etc.

Well; I can only upload 7 files at a time. Six more to come in the next response.

 

[atch]

More pix:

 

[Ainsley]

Most of my consumables storage is in the two filing cabinets seen in the previous pic. These are pics of some of the more interesting drawers:

 

[racerex]

Picked up two lateral file cabinets from work, painted them red and mounted them on wooden base frames with casters. I store powers tools, extension cords, suspension tools, paint guns, paint, etc. in them.

 

[svrider]

Picked up two lateral file cabinets from work, painted them red and mounted them on wooden base frames with casters. I store powers tools, extension cords, suspension tools, paint guns, paint, etc. in them.

Looks great. What kind of paint and did you spray?

 

[racerex]

Looks great. What kind of paint and did you spray?

Rustoleum professional safety red enamel.....used a spray can to get into the tight areas and from a can using a foam roller for the flat surfaces. I would've sprayed it from the gun, but it was winter and I did not want to go through the effort of building a small paint booth in my garage. I'm OCD when it comes to getting any over-spray in the garage. If I did it in the summer, I would have sprayed outside or used my DIY pop-up paint booth.

 

[svrider]

Rustoleum professional safety red enamel.....used a spray can to get into the tight areas and from a can using a foam roller for the flat surfaces. I would've sprayed it from the gun, but it was winter and I did not want to go through the effort of building a small paint booth in my garage. I'm OCD when it comes to getting any over-spray in the garage. If I did it in the summer, I would have sprayed outside or used my DIY pop-up paint booth.

Thanks for the reply. You did a good job with the foam roller--the drawer fronts have good shine.

 

[racerex]

Thanks for the reply. You did a good job with the foam roller--the drawer fronts have good shine.

The Rustoleum Safety Red is a high gloss paint, if I'm not mistaken. It's also somewhat of a self-leveling paint, so it turns out pretty well with a foam roller. If you decide to shoot from a spray gun, you'll have to thin it. That being said, I have never shot Rustoleum paint from a gun.

 

[scale]

Most of my consumables storage is in the two filing cabinets seen in the previous pic. These are pics of some of the more interesting drawers:

That sand paper storage is next level smart. Using file folders......
I will be using this idea for sure. My sand paper just lays flat all unorganized and it drives me nuts trying to dig through it to find the grits i need. Way smart here.

 

[scale]

Picked up two lateral file cabinets from work, painted them red and mounted them on wooden base frames with casters. I store powers tools, extension cords, suspension tools, paint guns, paint, etc. in them.

These turned out great. I know some lateral cabinets....the drawers on the back dont got all the way up. They have like a strange half back to them. Do these have the full back or how did you solve that problem?

IF they have full backs what brand are they?

I figure if i find some half backed ones i can take the drawers out and find some material to fill that gap to make a full back using some pop rivits and sheet metal or something. I just hate the thought of stuff falling in behind out of the drawers. Nice job on these.

I think i want to find a 2 drawer setup like this and then maybe another metal cabinet to set on top of it of the same size with doors that open up. H have a shelf inside for the garage stereo receiver and misc chargers and junk. I guess we will see if i ever get that far. I might just do a wall mounted shelf for the stereo....but i like the idea of it being enclosed if possible. Maybe opening it every time i use it would be a hassle though.

 

[scale]

seems like now is the time to scoop up deals on file cabinets with everyone going digital. Some good deals to be had.

I would love to get wheels under mine and was thinking of just using some HF moving dollies with some angle iron as runners bolted to them and a board as a base. I dont have a welder or id make a proper base frame with angle iron.

Perhaps the HF dollies is a bad idea as i would like to get some bigger casters for easy rolling. Some 5 inchers would be nice.

IF i did a lateral 5 drawer...i think those are 5.5ft tall. I like those because they usually have that lift top slide out drawer for the top part. I can see that being really handy for all my tool chargers and garage stereo reciever. The bottom 4 drawers would hold the odd ball sizes stuff like you do. My fear is i wouldnt be able to reach the top after adding the frame and the wheels. That is pretty darn tall. I wish the make a 4 drawer one like this. In the end i wonder what they weigh? Id probably need a second hand to get it loaded up into my truck as well. I have had a look at some of the GJ setups and they look really good. A great re-purposing.

 

[Jazz1]

Got these long ago I use for fastener storage as well as a few other smaller old metal card holders around garage...one under my TV. No doubt many went to scrap yards in the past.

 

[scale]

looks like one happy dog

 

[Pathfinders]

I have them on each side of my tanker desk and spanned the filing cabinets with 2x4s and plywood to make a shelf. Also hung a led 2 tube light fixture from the shelf.

 

[racerex]

The lateral file cabinets are made by Steelcase. I got them from work and could’ve taken as many as I wanted....we closed one of our offices. I got two 3 drawers for myself and a 5 drawer for my brother in-law. A 5 drawer would be fine if you had it on the floor.....the 5 would be too top heavy on the dolly. The side drawer panel is 9” high, the back panel is 4” high and there is a later file hanger bar the runs across the top. I have not had a problem with stuff falling over the back. If you placed some light plywood or even heavy cardboard along the back, it would stop items from going over the back.

 

[YukonXL04]

I'm using 3 4-drawer laterals and a 5 drawer lateral. Also have a card cabinet like posted above however its split drawers, so has roughly 20 drawers. I use it for random hardware storage. Need to empty it and organize it one day. The lateral cabinets are loaded with tools, paint supplies, 4 wheeler parts, car parts, audio stuff. Its nice you can dedicate certain drawers for certain things and keep them separated.

 

[555]

THats the exact thing i am looking to do with a 2 drawer. Id be curious how the casters worked out.

All 6 are swivel casters and I can easily move the cabinet by myself.

 

[scale]

Which models or brands provide the best slides ...opening and closing? I picked up a cheap no name lateral 2 drawer but the drawers feel quite floppy. Perhaps i just need to get some weight in them for them to smooth out. Its took damn cold out now to mess with it.

Just wondering if someone that has used them has any recommends? I have a feeling the ones with the handles that go all the way across are better built than the ones with the handle in the middle:

This:

VS.

I should really go to a used office supply store and check out what they have and what brands/models are quality but i figured i could ask here first considering so many of you have put these in your shops.

 

[racerex]

Go used the office supply route. Mine are Steelcase and I believe we also have HON in the office. Most large companies are really going paperless, so there should be a good supply of them out there. Unfortunately, when we recently moved off one of the floors in our building, the commercial demo guy brought in a truck with a crusher and they crushed all the file cabinets on site. They also had a grinder that they tossed all the wooden office furniture into. It was pretty impressive how quickly they cleared the space and processed all the metal and wood.