Narrow Chest as Stand for Small Mill?

[Bolster]

Do any of you guys have a recommendation for a tool chest that would act as a stand for my small (400 lb) mill? The mill has a base that is 16" deep and 13" wide. So the cabinet could be a little larger than that. I would love a stand that would do double duty and hold most of my machining kit, maybe with 5 or more drawers.

It's an odd size, pretty narrow, and deeper than it is wide. Would need to be, what, 36" tall or so? I don't think I've ever seen anything this size.

It'll be holding a CHINESE mill (darn it!), so it doesn't need to be anything fancy. This is not my pride and joy. So no Snap-on or other high grade name. It would be silly to pay more for the chest than for the mill. Just needs to be sturdy enough to hold 400 lbs on top, and tooling within.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Bolster, I'd think about getting a Craftsman rollaway or something like that, and welding a frame around it with angle iron and a 1/4" steel top to hold your mill.

I don't know that any toolboxes are built to hold something that heavy...methinks there isn't!

 

[back2class]

Old hepplewhite or other quality steel office desks are superb for this.

 

[6530]

This may help you decide.

 

[Bolster]

This may help you decide.

Yes, now I need something about a half of that width. I'm not sure it exists. (That guy has the same mill that I do!)

 

[rsanter]

the idea of using a toolbox as a base is a good one.
the standard toolbox width is about 27 inches which would be good for your machine.
if you plan to wheel it around buch I might be afraid of it being tippy...beware

I have a MAC top and bottom box for sale. the bottom box would make a good base for your machine as it has the small shallow drawers on the top that would be good for tooling. plus the MAC box will handle more weight than the Cman box

bob

 

[mcdtommy23]

I made one from 4*4's and 2*6's. Worked real well until I talked to my snappy dealer and he presented me with this;

 

[Bolster]

Sigh. You guys are forcing me to quote myself:

It'll be holding a CHINESE mill (darn it!), so it doesn't need to be anything fancy. This is not my pride and joy. So no Snap-on or other high grade name. It would be silly to pay more for the chest than for the mill. Just needs to be sturdy enough to hold 400 lbs on top, and tooling within.

No Mac, No Snap-on. But I knew it's what you guys would suggest. Someone always suggests gold-plated silver, when painted steel will do, LOL! Did I mention it's a Chi-frickin-eese mill I'm settin' on this chest?

In the absence of what I'm looking for, I'm thinking the idea give of a steel frame/Cman intermediate chests might be a possibility...but that's a custom mod and I was hoping for a pre-fab in this case...

 

[vc-onthepc]

have you tried ebay in the metalworking section sometimes i see used shop equip to include equipment cabs there maybe you could find what your looking for ?

how about a 2 or 3 drawer office file cabinet most are pretty strong ? and have drawers to boot !

in our area we have lots of used affice furntitue / store display equipment places maybe you could find what you want there

 

[Bolster]

So...are you guys saying that a typical base cabinet (think Cman quality) isn't up to holding 400 lbs on top? I think my first choice would be to get a moderately sized base, with maybe 3-4 drawers... but it sure as heck needs to hold 400-500 lbs on top. I thought that would be easy for most base cabinets...

Something like this...not good enough for 400 lbs?

Cman Bottom Cabinet

EDIT: I contacted Sears "chat" and the guy on the other end said most their 26-wide-size base cabinets can hold 600 lbs of tools IN the cabinet, and 1200 lbs ON the cabinet (although the max rating is actually 1800 lbs, he says).

So one of these base units SHOULD work just fine with plenty of 'headroom' to spare...for $200 I'm tempted...but don't Cman chests typically go on sale Black Friday or Thanksgiving??

 

[mcdtommy23]

I tried my mill/drill on top of a 26" craftsman box and the metal seemed to flex EVERYWHERE!!! 2 of the drawers wouldn't open, and one caster mounting area bent upward.

I think if you decided to go this route I would make some kind of frame on the outside of the box and a frame for the top to spread the load. I'd also put some kind of plate between the casters and the box to help as the Cman box has some thin metal in this area.

I don't know how much you plan on moving it around, but you may want to consider upgrading to 4 (higher quality) swivel casters vs. 2 fixed 2 swivel.