Tooling (Re)Organization

[lilscorpion]

Hey Matt, I just noticed in the pictures above of your Jeep that you are running the Nitto Ridge Grappler, I'm assuming in a 35" flavor?

How do you like them? How do they ride on pavement and how do they handle off-road?

I'm asking because I just ordered a set of five on a Black Friday sale in 37" and I am anxious to get them on the Jeep.

Thanks.

Yes, mine slightly stronger though - 37's (exactly where you're headed). They ride on pavement well. Not noisy at all though, to be honest, I don't have a great frame of reference on the JK. They seem to be wearing well and they did ok on the trail. There's a little wiggle in the side-walls given how tall they are on 17" wheels. I'm used to it by my wife feels the slop when she drives.

 

[zmotorsports]

Yes, mine slightly stronger though - 37's (exactly where you're headed). They ride on pavement well. Not noisy at all though, to be honest, I don't have a great frame of reference on the JK. They seem to be wearing well and they did ok on the trail. There's a little wiggle in the side-walls given how tall they are on 17" wheels. I'm used to it by my wife feels the slop when she drives.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm getting excited to put my Jeep up on 37's finally and especially excited to be able to have the power to actually turn them.

Do you get yours off road much? Have you done anything to your steering? Hydraulic or bigger gearbox? Any issues with steering them off-road?

Thanks again, just trying to get a feel for mine when I get to put my 37's on.

 

[lilscorpion]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm getting excited to put mine on 37's finally and especially excited to be able to have the power to actually turn them.



Do you get yours off road much? Have you done anything to your steering? Hydraulic or bigger gearbox? Any issues with steering them off-road?



Thanks again, just trying to get a feel for mine when I get to put my 37's on.

Yeah I’m jealous of up coming swap. After reading along thus far, I’ll admit I didn’t realize it was as complicated as it sounds like it is from a programming perspective. It’s on my list but its down the road a bit.

We went wheeling maybe half dozen times this past summer. It does just fine except in the fender flare area. Given the height that I chose mixed with the wheel size, the tires rub the flares easily and frequently. I can’t disco the sway bars as a result. Ill solve that this spring.

As for the steering - not had any issues yet however haven’t really gotten it bound up. No steering mods at all yet. I had planned on switching to a PSC setup in the spring as well (before I do end up in a situation). Driving on the road it does feel like the box has some play in it but when I test it parked, there’s no slip in anything other than the sidewalks of the tires. Will be interesting to see if you have it too after the tire size upgrade.

 

[zmotorsports]

Yeah I’m jealous of up coming swap. After reading along thus far, I’ll admit I didn’t realize it was as complicated as it sounds like it is from a programming perspective. It’s on my list but its down the road a bit.

We went wheeling maybe half dozen times this past summer. It does just fine except in the fender flare area. Given the height that I chose mixed with the wheel size, the tires rub the flares easily and frequently. I can’t disco the sway bars as a result. Ill solve that this spring.

As for the steering - not had any issues yet however haven’t really gotten it bound up. No steering mods at all yet. I had planned on switching to a PSC setup in the spring as well (before I do end up in a situation). Driving on the road it does feel like the box has some play in it but when I test it parked, there’s no slip in anything other than the sidewalks of the tires. Will be interesting to see if you have it too after the tire size upgrade.

Thanks for the feedback Matt.

I just added hydraulic assist last week when I put my front axle back under it from regearing but haven't been able to test it yet as I've only driven to my buddies shop last night to evacuate the A/C system then I tore the rear axle apart. Don't know if I will get many or any miles on it before tearing it down for the motor swap but feel it will be needed with the 37's as I had my hands full turning even my 35's when playing in the rocks. I'm doing it more for preventative as I definitely don't want a broken gearbox or sector shaft while off-roading.

Thanks again. Glad to hear you have been happy with your Ridge Grapplers. I've been a BFG fan for the past 30~ish or so years and never had anything bad to say about their tires and absolutely nothing bad to say about my 35" KO2's but in the next set I just wanted to try something different and had heard many good things about the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. I hope I don't regret my decision.

 

[lilscorpion]

Thanks for the feedback Matt.



I just added hydraulic assist last week when I put my front axle back under it from regearing but haven't been able to test it yet as I've only driven to my buddies shop last night to evacuate the A/C system then I tore the rear axle apart. Don't know if I will get many or any miles on it before tearing it down for the motor swap but feel it will be needed with the 37's as I had my hands full turning even my 35's when playing in the rocks. I'm doing it more for preventative as I definitely don't want a broken gearbox or sector shaft while off-roading.



Thanks again. Glad to hear you have been happy with your Ridge Grapplers. I've been a BFG fan for the past 30~ish or so years and never had anything bad to say about their tires and absolutely nothing bad to say about my 35" KO2's but in the next set I just wanted to try something different and had heard many good things about the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. I hope I don't regret my decision.

I know, been following along on your thread. Makes me want you to go through my Dynatracs to make sure they were set up correctly. I’ve set up gears a few times but don’t have the confidence to do it so casually like you so. You’re skills are impressive.

Grapplers will be cool as long as burnouts don’t become you’re thing. [emoji6]

 

[zmotorsports]

I know, been following along on your thread. Makes me want you to go through my Dynatracs to make sure they were set up correctly. I’ve set up gears a few times but don’t have the confidence to do it so casually like you so. You’re skills are impressive.

Grapplers will be cool as long as burnouts don’t become you’re thing. [emoji6]

Thanks for the comments Matt.

As for burnouts, I can't make any promises as this Jeep has never had that capability before, even on snow and ice it struggled to break 'em loose. Who knows now.

 

[lilscorpion]

A little more progress. A little more drawer face work. Same process just much smaller pieces. This time it occurred to me that I could use the top overhang to start off the spacing. So much easier. Immediately I was wishing I’d done the lowers this way.





Since I had not cut these to size, each one needed to be cut to length and width before installing. This made the process go a little slower but still not bad.



And the reveal



Been doing a little drawer Organization as well. Here’s the layout tools on the bench. Finding that the rulers and smaller measuring utilities are nice in the Kaizen foam.



For years I’ve used the steel Durham boxes to store my hardware, consumable, and small parts. They worked okay but very quickly I grew unhappy with the fixed bin design and that a single drawer typically comes with only same sized



Their carcasses are all steel which makes them very industrial durability-wise but they’re also assembled in a way that makes the edges easily scratch surfaces they’re set on like countertops, wood floors, etc.



As much metal as they’re made out of. They’re no tight and the thinness of the wire handle makes carrying a heavy one uncomfortable. You will never carry more than one per hand either. I suspect they were never designed to be mobile.



After using the Systainer hardware boxes for a little while now, I’ve become to favor them because they’re everything the Durham boxes are, and are not in one format. They also happen to be expensive too at about $92 per. Transferring between is just work.

 

[Strouty]

The drawers look fantastic, I don't know if I would have the patience you have. The foam drawer looks great too, you have me thinking that I need to order some of the Kaizen foam, do you have that funky long skinny marker that fast cap sells? It was a great asset when I was tracing things out.

Have you looked at schaller bins? I use them in my Lista cabinets, but they would be fine for any drawer, of course they probably would not fit the nice systainer boxes. My only gripe with them is that they rarely have any color other than red, when I find them, I buy other colors, got a bunch of blue and white ones a few months back. Milwaukee also offers some nice storage boxes, I have a few, but have not decided if they are staying. I like the idea of them, but I am not sure they are flexible enough for my likes. I do like that they have clear lids I am a visual person.

 

[lilscorpion]

The drawers look fantastic, I don't know if I would have the patience you have. The foam drawer looks great too, you have me thinking that I need to order some of the Kaizen foam, do you have that funky long skinny marker that fast cap sells? It was a great asset when I was tracing things out.

Yeah, I did get a couple of those marking pens, they work very well. Fastcap isn’t stupid, to do the Kaizen foam right, you need all of the accessories they sell (pen, razor with mini-blades, hot knife kit, etc).

Have you looked at schaller bins? I use them in my Lista cabinets, but they would be fine for any drawer, of course they probably would not fit the nice systainer boxes.

Yeah, I did happen across them but only after I bought all of the Festool ones. Had I found the Schaller ones before I designed the cabinets I would have made the drawer sizes specific to them. Hell, even the Festool bins don’t fit perfectly.

What I like about the Schaller ones is you can get them in various depths. My setup is working but not ideal. Prepping for the next (Re)(Re)Organization thread I suppose.

 

[slodat]

It’s easy to have a lot of cash invested in Schaller bins. They are great.

Your stuff is looking amazing!

 

[jeffmoss26]

I chopped the plastic divider down from a smaller Durham box and put it in the bottom drawer of my Kennedy box. Works OK for various lock parts.

 

[lilscorpion]

I chopped the plastic divider down from a smaller Durham box and put it in the bottom drawer of my Kennedy box. Works OK for various lock parts.

Interesting idea. I’ll pull the tape and see where I can use the inserts only. Would be awesome to recycle some of the parts. I was going to throw them away. Thanks!

 

[Strouty]

At a minimum you could unload them on Craigslist, bet you would get more than $10 a piece. More money to buy what you really want. I had a few stacks of those, bought most of them new, couldn’t stand the lids, hated that I had to open the drawer all the way to open the lid, I gave up on them, they all went to the auction.

 

[zmotorsports]

Those new drawers are awesome Matt. I've had some Lawson ones that I got from our old rep many years ago and then purchased some Durham drawers for the new shop last year and have been happy with them thus far but you are right, the configurations need some help. I ordered mine in a variety of configurations so it isn't as bad but having the option to change on the go would be nice.

 

[Strouty]

They make adjustable Durham inserts. I don’t think they were too expensive either.

 

[lilscorpion]

They make adjustable Durham inserts. I don’t think they were too expensive either.

bigger picture, something like what they offer would have been far more adjustable and easier to put in all my drawers. I've already found the some of the stuff I want to put in the drawers is too long for my longest container...

 

[Strouty]

Have a Merry Christmas!

 

[lilscorpion]

Have a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you too!!

 

[cederholm]

Whoa! What an amazing shop.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Tooling around the GJ today, just reconnected here.. As usual.. some thoughtful solutions.. Will keep an eye on this going forward..

 

[slodat]

Matt- thought you might dig this.. Milwaukee charger rack.

 

[lilscorpion]

Matt- thought you might dig this.. Milwaukee charger rack.

That’s sweet. That’s a serious number of chargers!!

 

[slodat]

That’s sweet. That’s a serious number of chargers!!

I buy the compact drill kits at Home Depot when they drop down around $70. I often have 4-6 of them going. I’ve dedicated a few to tasks.

 

[lilscorpion]

I buy the compact drill kits at Home Depot when they drop down around $70. I often have 4-6 of them going. I’ve dedicated a few to tasks.

I ain’t judging, I do the same thing. Peeps who don’t get the efficiency multiple drills and impact drivers can bring are seriously missing out. For example: I like having 3 when I’m assembling cabinets - one with a countersink, one with a Philips, and one with a vix bit. Any other way causes me to switch bits constantly and that’s a fools game.

 

[RonRock]

In case anyone else is interested in bin labels I found this,

https://www.ablelabel.com/printed/fastener-bin-labels

Looks pretty promising. Min order of $50.00 might be a deal breaker. I'll have to see if I need that many.

I found that from a Google search that led me to a GJ thread a couple years ago,

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=243524&page=2

Small world.

 

[slodat]

Another one I made a while back and forgot to post. Obviously many ways to make something like this. I usually make a test piece in 1/4 mdf on the laser to check layout. Decided to keep going with 1/4 and 1/8 mdf layers.



Glued up and mounted:



This one really helped with this area.

 

[Mecha]

Lilscorpion, have you ever done a step by step of how you do your big base cabinets? I've seen your drawer assembly in this thread and appreciate that greatly but just looking through picture here don't understand some of the assembly I've seen. Thanks for this thread greatly, it's inspiring.

 

[lilscorpion]

Another one I made a while back and forgot to post. Obviously many ways to make something like this. I usually make a test piece in 1/4 mdf on the laser to check layout. Decided to keep going with 1/4 and 1/8 mdf layers.



Glued up and mounted:



This one really helped with this area.

That’s freakin sweet. Man I need a CNC router. The CNC mill works but the travel is limited so it’s usually more trouble than its worth. Making organizers like that really do optimize operations.

Noticing your racks of shaper and router bits. Hot damn...what kind of stuff are you making? You may just have every one.

 

[slodat]

A few tooling trays I’ve made. They are the same format as a supplier I have bought from uses. I adopted the idea so they all look right next to each other.

ER32 collets:


Miscellaneous CNC router bits:




Straight router bit tray:


I make custom car interiors. It’s a mix of cnc and hand work. Wouldn’t want to do it with just one or the other. I have a logic trace digitizing table that helps translate between the two domains.

From this evening:


To this:


To this:

 

[lilscorpion]

Lilscorpion, have you ever done a step by step of how you do your big base cabinets? I've seen your drawer assembly in this thread and appreciate that greatly but just looking through picture here don't understand some of the assembly I've seen. Thanks for this thread greatly, it's inspiring.

I don’t think I have but I looked back and I should have enough pictures that you can get a really good idea of how they go together.

Finished first to help you get context -



The way I design them I’m attempting to eliminate as much guess work and special cuts as possible.

Basic dimension rules -

(1) I typically use ~5” for to kick height and I use uni-strut to make the bases. Let me know if you e not seen that post and I’ll dig them up.

(2) I like my counter top to be at 36” (I’m 6’ 1” and shrinking says my wife)

(3) I always make the tops and the bottoms of the bases the full length of the cabinet. All vertical panels are screwed in from the top and the bottom so no screws are in shear. Instead the actual panels are supporting all weight.

(4) I’ve learned that the 3/4-inch Baltic birch I use has a typical thickness of 11/16

(4) side measurements are: total height - toe kick - thickness of the top and the bottom together.

36 - 5 - 1 3/8 = 29 5/8

If you plan to put drawers in the base, you need to add a few “spreaders” to keep weight if the drawers from splaying out the sides. If you don’t, the slides may end up having problems opening and closing.

To make the spreaders, I use the same math. In the above pic, I have 3 verticals so I need to subtract 3 * 11/16 from the overall width of the cabinet and then I can decide how wide each of the sides of the cabinet should be. In the above case I made them equal so, divide by 2.

After getting the length right I then rip the spreaders to 5 1/2-inches wide. Each spreader will be anchored with 2 screws through the side panel on either side. I use pocket screws if access isn’t possible.



Spreaders aren’t really necessary in the rear of the cabinet if you screw the back on. I use a few floating back so I add in rear spreaders too. Here’s a pick to better illustrate how they go in.



Free floating 1/4-inch ply back rides in a 1/4-inch dado 1/2-inch in from the rear of the panels.



I inset it 1/2-inch so I can add a “nailer” to the top and the bottom of the cabinet.



The nailers serve three functions -

(1) they give the cabinet meat to attach to the studs in the wall.

(2) they pull the cabinet square when attached like I do with pocket holes.



(3) pocket holes naturally cause material to push away from the screw. As luck would have it. The nailers also push the floating panel into the dado taking up any slip the panel may have in the groove. This makes the insides look beautiful.

** Using this design, the back panel and the nailers do need to be taken into account when determining the depth of the cabinet. If you want to run 24-inch deep drawers, you’ll need to make the cabinet 24 5/8-inches deep.

I use no glue for one good reason - I can take any cabinet apart and modify it down the road (or an hour later when I realized I screwed something up).

Note: if you wish to have a permanent shelf in your cabinet, use a full depth board in place of the 5-inch spreaders.

I use the same steps to build all of my cabinets I just change the dimensions as needed. The pictures shown above were actually of a built-in I made for my daughter. The cabinet itself was the bottom right piece in the built-in below which received 8 drawers.



Hopefully this helps.

 

[lilscorpion]

A few tooling trays I’ve made. They are the same format as a supplier I have bought from uses. I adopted the idea so they all look right next to each other.

ER32 collets:


Miscellaneous CNC router bits:




Straight router bit tray:


I make custom car interiors. It’s a mix of cnc and hand work. Wouldn’t want to do it with just one or the other. I have a logic trace digitizing table that helps translate between the two domains.

From this evening:


To this:


To this:

That’s bad ***. Those lexan organizers are awesome!

Logic trace “digitizing table”?! Is it like a huge tablet? How does it work? I bet I’ll want one as soon as you tell me...

 

[Strouty]

You will want one, I watched some videos, now I want one. I don't even hardly know how to use my equipment yet, but I still want one!

 

[Mecha]

I use no glue for one good reason - I can take any cabinet apart and modify it down the road (or an hour later when I realized I screwed something up).

Note: if you wish to have a permanent shelf in your cabinet, use a full depth board in place of the 5-inch spreaders.

I use the same steps to build all of my cabinets I just change the dimensions as needed. The pictures shown above were actually of a built-in I made for my daughter. The cabinet itself was the bottom right piece in the built-in below which received 8 drawers.



Hopefully this helps.

This helps greatly, thanks! The big detail I kept missing was how you were installing your spreaders or shelves into the divider in the middle of a larger base. Looks like you are using pocket screws offset to mount to the center. This is extremely helpful, thank you very much, I'm moving to a new house and want to build my own cabinetry in the garage and have been trying to figure out a good way to do it.

I love baltic birch, I worked as a plant manager for a furniture company for a short while this year (I found a better job back in sheet metal manufacturing later), we used it in a lot of cool ways for tables, but not necessarily cabinets. It finishes beautifully. We did a lot of died epoxy pours over it to get some pretty cool effects. You have a good source for this somewhere?



Also notice you use the high end wood screws to put together, what do you use? Also are you a cordless drill guy or nutrunner with the torsion bit kind of guy?

Sorry for all the questions, just I learned a lot in a very little amount of time while I was there and am now super interested in everyone's techniques now a days. Again appreciate your thread and responses greatly.

 

[slodat]

That’s bad ***. Those lexan organizers are awesome!

Logic trace “digitizing table”?! Is it like a huge tablet? How does it work? I bet I’ll want one as soon as you tell me...

I engrave the tooling tray lettering on the backside of the clear 1/8 acrylic. A layer of black under that and the lettering shows up white. Works well and keeps relevant info with each tool.

This is the digitizing tablet. I put whatever shape I want on it, use a pen shaped transducer and it turns it into a .dxf file. It works really well. It’s crazy.

 

[cojeeper]

lilscorpion, Just spent the day reading your whole thread as the Colorado snow fell.

Outstanding job!! I am now in the early process of getting my two new shops setup and will be duplicating some of your efforts. Hope you don't mind. Original plan was not to get to involved with projects till I had things moved in and setup. that didn't quite work out as planned.

 

[lilscorpion]

This helps greatly, thanks! The big detail I kept missing was how you were installing your spreaders or shelves into the divider in the middle of a larger base. Looks like you are using pocket screws offset to mount to the center. This is extremely helpful, thank you very much, I'm moving to a new house and want to build my own cabinetry in the garage and have been trying to figure out a good way to do it.

My go to choice for joinery is the (Festool) domino and I always use them to get boards aligned because they let me get the boards exactly where I want them as opposed to just nailing/screwing which, in some cases, the board can walk a little as the fastener goes in or, most likely, I move my dang hand the moment I set the faster. With the domino you set the board and then the screws lock everything in place without worrying about the board moving.

Someone who's patient or content with less accuracy (I'm too **** for my own good most times) could easily build exactly the same bench in 1/3rd the time using a narrow crown stapler and screws.

If you build your shop cabinets, make sure you post up. I'd like to see some of those tricks you learned while working at the shop and what little tweaks you come up with along the way.

I love baltic birch, I worked as a plant manager for a furniture company for a short while this year (I found a better job back in sheet metal manufacturing later), we used it in a lot of cool ways for tables, but not necessarily cabinets. It finishes beautifully.

Agreed. I like its consistency and density between plies. I almost never split the plywood when I drive screws into the end (though I do pre-drill which helps a lot). Since I stopped using box store ply I've had almost no separation which makes the additional cost and pain of sourcing it worth the cost and effort.

We did a lot of died epoxy pours over it to get some pretty cool effects. You have a good source for this somewhere?

I've not yet gotten into epoxy yet but I'm dying to give it a shot. My wife really likes the river-style tables and I'm thinking I'd like to build one that has inset LED's to add some zip. I'll likely start sourcing materials in March/April and will post up once I find a source. Some of the YouTubers have left links to places they sourced their stuff but I didn't write any of them down so I'll need go find them again.

Also notice you use the high end wood screws to put together, what do you use? Also are you a cordless drill guy or nutrunner with the torsion bit kind of guy?

About a year ago I switched to using Grip-Rite construction screws that have the self drilling tips. I've found that even when I pre-drill a hole, sometimes the non-pre-drilling tips can get jammed up and not seat all the way. I also really like the Grip-Right head which has a shallower taper to the head which prevents the ply from blowing out as much.

Sorry for all the questions, just I learned a lot in a very little amount of time while I was there and am now super interested in everyone's techniques now a days. Again appreciate your thread and responses greatly.

I don't mind at all. I like others who share their tips and tricks as that's how I've learned over the years. Don't hesitate to ask away.

 

[topcok88]

Where is everyone finding pre-finished plywood? Not only would I like pre-finished birch but I want to find a source for high-pressure laminate plywood. The finishing is the most daunting task of building things haha!


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[lilscorpion]

I engrave the tooling tray lettering on the backside of the clear 1/8 acrylic. A layer of black under that and the lettering shows up white. Works well and keeps relevant info with each tool.

This is the digitizing tablet. I put whatever shape I want on it, use a pen shaped transducer and it turns it into a .dxf file. It works really well. It’s crazy.

Details like engraving the details of the tool are almost too cool, so pro.

Having the ability to trace a part right into CAD would be way too cool. Sweet tech dude.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[lilscorpion]

Where is everyone finding pre-finished plywood? Not only would I like pre-finished birch but I want to find a source for high-pressure laminate plywood. The finishing is the most daunting task of building things haha!

I’ve heard you can special order pre-finished ply at Home Depot but haven’t tried to personally. I get mine at a local lumber supply who stocks it in Denver - Austin Hardwoods. There’s another called Paxton who sells it as well but they have to special order it.

I’d google wood supplier in your area and call around. Usually if one can’t get you something you need they’ll refer you to someone who may be able to. That’s how I ended up finding the two in Denver I know of.

 

[Mecha]

Ok now that I've read your reply, you set your shelves or spreaders at the location with dominos to hold the location square and then pocket screwed into place. But no glue with the dominos? If so that's interesting.

As for epoxys it's messy as all get out, so put tarps down when do it. A lot of the dies we used in the epoxy we're called casting dies, and you can get it at hobby lobby.