Lateral file cabinet revamp?

[corey4x4man]

I have seen a post where someone had a 5 drawer lateral file cabinet that they repainted and added casters.
I have been using the search function but cannot find the post

any help or pointers would be great I just picked up a similar cabinet and plan on doing a make over on it to match my other tool boxes

 

[Steevo]

I don't remember the thread, it may have been one of the "garage organization" ones, but there was a guy here that had several of them, and had put plywood boards with casters under them for ease of moving them to clean.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I don't remember a thread but I did post about doing it myself in my current garage reset thread here:

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144618&highlight=gray+garage

Here's a bad cell phone in-process photo. It was a 70's ugly yellow/gold. I repainted it gray and haven't reinstalled the chrome handhold trim yet. I small Harbor Freight mover's dollies under it. I may end up permanently screwing them.

 

[corey4x4man]

the one im thinking of is the same style but was red and had polished handle strips on it. I like the setup tho

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks Corey. Funny, I considered using red but I already have quite a bit of red in my Craftsman and Harbor Freight tool boxes...plus I had too much gray paint....hence "the Gray Garage"

Please post what you do, when you do it!

 

[Krash Kadillak]

I've got a 2-drawer lateral. Old useless paperwork in one drawer, sports equipment in the other. I was gonna throw it out. May have to rethink.......

 

[corey4x4man]

i found it!

Not sure if something like this has been posted here or not, anyway...

Went looking at ready-made metal cabinets and was disappointed in the quality and price. Used kitchen cabinets seemed like an option but I couldn't find decent ones in my area.
Started looking at the file cabinets I have around my office and thought they would be perfect except for how they look. They are all metal construction, have heavy duty drawers and slides and come in a wide variety of sizes. Off to Craigslist I went.
With the economy what it is, office furniture is saturating the marketplace. I found file cabinets for pennies on the dollar that were in great shape. I found a Steelcase unit that I liked and picked it up for $30. It's a 900 series unit that measures 65"x42"x18".
It looked like this when I got it home.

I decided it needed to visually match my toolboxes as I couldn't stand looking at that tan for the next ten years. First, I mounted some casters I had from an old beat up Craftsman cart I had. Mobility is key in my garage and shop as I am constantly moving things around for the next project. The bottom of this particular file cabinet had just enough material to mount the casters. I just welded them on, didn't feel like figuring a way to bolt them on.
I used Rustoleum Safety Red for the outer box and Hammered black and silver for the drawers.
Even added the Craftsman badge from the cart to finish it off.

Yea, yea, I know, I need to paint the fridge.

 

[plung]

Don't want to sound like a safety cop, but I hope you guys have secured those tall units into the wall

Tipping hazards...

 

[billybudge]

I truely like the red paint theme you got going on here, Now Im off to a second hand office furniture store to see if I can pick up a couple of those great looking filling cabinets,
great storage ideal,
thanks

 

[bad_idea]

It would seem like a good idea to beef up the bottom of the cabinet to support the weight of the cabinet being focused in the corners by 4 wheels. I would think a piece of 1/2" plate bolted to the bottom of the cabinet would spread the load and provide a counterweight to help prevent tip overs. Of course if you have to pay good money for the plate I guess it takes away from the frugal repurposing of the cabinet..... Perhaps a wooden form filled with concrete would accomplish the same thing? It could be hidden behind a kick plate. Just throwing out ideas. Either way I would suggest keeping the kids from opening all the drawers at the same time.

 

[Steevo]

If you skip the used office supply stores, and instead watch the "office" section on C/L and the public agency auctions of surplus property, you can find the lowest prices on these cabinets.

 

[Terry454]

Some of those cabinets have a linkage that allows only one drawer to open at a time. That will not prevent tip-over, but tends to reduce the chance of it.
Terry

 

[OccupantRJ]

If you skip the used office supply stores, and instead watch the "office" section on C/L and the public agency auctions of surplus property, you can find the lowest prices on these cabinets.

Often these type of cabinets are designed to only allow you to open one drawer at a time. I have several that I use to store my handheld power tools. They are the best thing I have found yet. Mine have the drawer face that lifts and slides back into the cabinet to allow the drawers to be used as open pullout shelves, and can also be used to hide the contents of the cabinet. Here's a few pics of mine in place in my toolroom/compressor room.

 

[WQ59B]

I have a couple of the 2-drawer lateral cabinets; these have a massive piece of solid steel in the bottom to keep them from tipping (you can open both drawers at the same time). They were actually a struggle to get into the back of a pickup.

 

[smedly]

Got 3 of these for $60 on Craigslist. Fourth came from the basement.

Had 3 other vertical cabinets on casters but needed more bench space.

 

[Maexle]

I have seen a post where someone had a 5 drawer lateral file cabinet that they repainted and added casters.
I have been using the search function but cannot find the post

any help or pointers would be great I just picked up a similar cabinet and plan on doing a make over on it to match my other tool boxes

I am still working on it, today i've combined the first two bottom drawers to gain height, the drawers will be covered with diamond tread kick plate next week. You just have to be careful to weld a strong frame at the bottom and add heavy duty casters because the weight of those blueprint cabinets is very high.

 

[Maexle]

and one more very very important feature.....

 

[lady_slipper]

Hi - I have two 3-drawer files and like this idea. what tools do i need to weld the casters on? If it will be unsafe for a novice welder, what other options are there to attach wheels? Did you weld the side pockets and bottle openers on? Love the repurposing projects.

 

[customcab]

I've got some similar cabinets (to a couple post back) that origianlly went in office cubicles. Made brackets and mounted them to the wall. My garage is under the house, so I have a low overhead on one side due to the HVAC ducting. This isn't the best pic, but only one I have handy. This was taken to show a truck project I'm working on, but the cabinets are in the backround.

 

[Lakeozark]

I picked up these cabinets off craigslist for $100 total.
Painted with Rustoleum Black HAmmered and Rustoleum safety red.
Sanded, primed, painted and then put 4 casters on bottom I got from Lowes for like $3.00 a piece

Best thing I bought for my garage!!!

 

[Maexle]

Hi - I have two 3-drawer files and like this idea. what tools do i need to weld the casters on? If it will be unsafe for a novice welder, what other options are there to attach wheels? Did you weld the side pockets and bottle openers on? Love the repurposing projects.

Nope, i just fabricated and welded a durable bottom frame (rectangular frame with the same outside dimensions as the cabinets) with 4 reinforcement bars where the casters are attached (bolted to) ) and spot welded it to the bottom of the cabinet . Then i welded the back frame , which i attached with bolts to the back of the two cabinets.

Next step was, to attach the wooden back board to the back frame, and add a peg board to hang some tools and add a little shelf for the laptop.

I welded the shop towel holder to the top of the back frame (easily accessible with dirty hands).

The corner guards are attached with rivets, so are the spray can holder and the bottle opener.

The cabinets came with a nice wooden top (oak) which i covered up with Lexan (durable Polycarbonate material). At the front of the top i've added another corner guard (diamond tread).

The combining of the two bottom drawers turned very well, i have no almost double the strength of the drawer because each side has to rails now.

As it go for strength / easy sliding of the drawers, this is no problem at all, a well built blueprint cabinet has to be able to support the full weight of a paper stack of the inside dimensions of the cabinet.


I've TIG welded my frame / cabinets, and i am not a PRO-welder by any means. You just have to be very careful, the cabinets are sheet metal and easy to burn holes into them when you weld. Be careful of the distortion though.

Not a rocket science, just some fun project which turned out to be an amazing tool storage cabinet (unbelievable storage space....now i have to buy more tools to fill it up .... )

 

[corey4x4man]

Here is the one i just finished, I think i need to repaint the drawers with the hammered for better protection. I also need to find a good durable clear coat to prevent from scratches
$40 on CL
the $30 in paint primer and casters i had sitting around.

This model has the locks that prevent more than 1 drawer from opening at a time

 

[Maexle]

Here is the one i just finished, I think i need to repaint the drawers with the hammered for better protection. I also need to find a good durable clear coat to prevent from scratches
$40 on CL
the $30 in paint primer and casters i had sitting around.

This model has the locks that prevent more than 1 drawer from opening at a time

I like that a lot, that's perhaps my next project for storing my power tools / fasteners .....

 

[corey4x4man]

funny thing is I had the rubber mat from the top of my 42" hf toolbox and it perfectly fit the top of this cabinet

 

[Mmfh]

That's a nice looking cabinet, Now. I just bought some SteelCase cabinets last night. Bought a bunch of them for cheap. Going to play around with them like you did with yours.

What's with the paint all over the driveway??

 

[LutzTD]

Ive been keeping my power tools in a closet with wood shelves in the garage. I love the look of these file cabinets and just never thought of them for tool storage. I keep mine in their boxes to keep the duxt off, but with these cabinets maybe I can finally dispose of all the frayed cardboard.

 

[myamoto1]

I painted two lateral cabinets and used them as dressers in my son's Martini Racing themed room. I mounted two 1x6 boards on the bottom and some HF casters to make it a roller. I also found some cheap "Limited" auto badges from the LAPS and stuck it on for the "custom" look.

 

[Meglight]

Hi All!
I have used these lateral files before in my son's automotive themed bedroom. He can really pack them full due to the deep drawers.

I have a galley kitchen and would love to have the cast iron pans as well as other pots and pans in some lateral files.

My question for any of you that could help is this:
What is the best way to reinforce the bottom of the drawer itself? I was thinking thick plywood cut to fit but would that be enough to support my cast iron pans?

 

[Chris4x4Gill2]

I use two of the standard file cabinets and just picked up a third, now you guys have me scrounging CL for a horizontal cabinet or two!

 

[JimVonBaden]

I didn't do anything but put them in place and load them up!

Got all three for $110.

Jim

 

[MWichryk]

Hello Guys, I am in NEED of a way to put 4" Casters(2-Fixed and 2-Swivel w/Brake) on a 3 Drawer Lateral REINFORCED! We are going to be LOADING and Unloading this cabinet from a 6'x12' Enclosed Trailer, We attend State Fairs and we want to use this cabinet to carry our Supplies(256 Different Art Backgrounds, about 100 of Each) we use for our business. So need some kind of design that will Make It the MOST Stable to roll to needed location and LOCK wheels and NOT WORRYING about it possibly falling over, we have a 10'x15' canopy that it will be under and NO Solid Wall To
Anchor it to ....BIGGEST concern is it falling over! Any Great Ideas would be GREATLY Appreciated.

 

[MWichryk]

Hi Guys,

We are looking for a way to mount 6" or 8" Pneumatic Casters (2-Fixed, 2-Swivel w/Brake) on the bottom of a Hon 3 Drawer Lateral Filing Cabinet that is 42"w x 19"d. Our purpose of trying to do this is for moving this cabinet in and out of a 6' x 12' Enclosed Trailer around the U.S. . Our Biggest Concern is Stability!! Once we unload this cabinet once the Casters are installed, it will be sitting under a 10' x 15' Canopy at State Fairs, will be holding all our Art Backgrounds(257 total x 40 Pages of Each). Again, we NEED to make sure it is stable just standing idle with wheels locked and opening and closing the 3 drawers Multiple times a day. Since there is not an option to have a solid back wall to push it up against, we need someway to put these casters on where it can handle the weight as well as to being Stable. BIGGEST Concern is this Cabinet FALLING over, since it weighs over 100lb EMPTY and will be around 300lbs loaded..... We would GREATLY Appreciate any advise you guys could give us on this endeavor.

 

[69supercj]

Sounds like you need to make a frame for the unit to sit down in and have the casters placed off to the sides so to speak. Dont have a pic to show you but maybe someone else out there does. Maybe this will help. __|--. The horizontal and verticle line would be your cradle/dolly and the dotted line would be a reinforced top plate and your casters would be bolted/welded to it. The downside to this is your ground clearance will be greatly diminished so its a tradeoff.

 

[CharlestonJoe]

MWichry I imagine you would strap these to the sides of the trailer when you haul them. So the backs need to be flush to back up against the trailer wall. So maybe make a skid/platform deeper than the cabinet and let it extend forward to offset the tipping factor. With your cabinets being 19" deep, maybe try making the platform 24" deep with the extra 5" sticking out of the front. I would experiment with one and see what works. I would avoid pneumatic tires, if a front one goes flat the cabinet may tip over on its own.

This is the first time I've seen this thread and now that I see these file cabinets painted and in place I'm in awe! I read in various post about guys using the file cabinets and my first thought was, it must look like ****, boy was I wrong!
I'm adding lateral file cabinets to my want list. The thing is I saw them all over the place for cheap, now that I want them.....I won't see one!

 

[70C-10]

Hi Guys,

We are looking for a way to mount 8" Pneumatic Casters on a Hon 3 Drawer Lateral. Our Biggest Concern is Stability. QUOTE]

Use two lateral files back to back, drawers facing outward.
You would have a 38" x 42" table top work/display surface.
Attach casters to a 1" thick plywood base.
Use remaining plywood for a table top & stain, dye or paint to your liking.
Mobility & stability in 1 package.

 

[kurtboyd]

I just picked up 3 four drawer cabinets. Re-organizing and moving into them now.

 

[Jay woods]

Hello everyone. Long time lurker first time post. I have really enjoyed reading over the last couple of months and had to post. I really like the filing cabinet idea. I scored cabinets yesterday. One two drawer 36 inches wide, $8.50, 3 four drawer 30 inches wide and one 5 drawer 36 inches wide. All of the bigger ones $20 each. Really excited to get this project started. Cant start for a week or so, will be out of town.

Keep the ideas coming,

Thanks Jay