What Would Jack Olsen Do?

[eyesoreracing]

Ok, so I just managed to dumpster dive a few odd bits of metal shop furniture.

This used to be some kind of heavy duty rolling cart. Casters attached to the triangular pads and it carried some emissions test equipment and bottles of some sort.

And this cabinet just happens to be metal, pretty well made, and fresh from the dumpster.

If I put the old cart on its side, its just the right height for a workbench. And yes, the cabinet does fit inside the cart in that position. So that's my basic plan, but I haven't worked out the details.

I'm just fishing for great ideas here. This really has nothing to do with Jack, but the heavy duty green steel just immediately made me think of his 12-gauge garage. So, WWJOD?

 

[BD1]

Good job ! How did you beat the scrapers ??

 

[ckadams00]

WWJOD LOL
We need rubber bracelets

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

He'd paint it green! (Sorry, Jack....I couldn't resist)

 

[RalloZ35]

WWJOD LOL
We need rubber bracelets

+1

 

[bjaspud]

Are you a member of the famous 24 Hours of Lemons Eyesore Racing team?

 

[A_Pmech]

He'd cut those cabinets down to fit the available space and graft them back together in a way ensuring nobody would be the wiser.

Then he would:

He'd paint it green! (Sorry, Jack....I couldn't resist)

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

He'd cut those cabinets down to fit the available space and graft them back together in a way ensuring nobody would be the wiser.

Then he would:

Funny! I FIRSt wrote, "He'd cut it up, then he'd paint it green" but I shortened it. I guess we have certainies when it comes to Jack's modus operandi!

 

[A_Pmech]

Funny! I FIRSt wrote, "He'd cut it up, then he'd paint it green" but I shortened it. I guess we have certainies when it comes to Jack's modus operandi!

hehehehe

 

[RVDan]

Why put the cabinet in the cart? Put the appropriate height spacer under the cabinet to make it workbench height, then you'll have two workbenches.

 

[JC23]

Jack can weld, can you?

Use the above post and weld in shelves for two pieces of shop eq.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Let's see, we have . . ..

so far. . .

Cut it apart and weld it back together again.

Make it the same height as the other work bench.

Paint it green.

I'll add. . . hang C-clamps on it.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Honestly, Jack would come up with something that we'd all be looking at while he's building and posting about it. Once he was finished, we'd all be like "damn, that's a great idea."

 

[TennesseeZ]

Yeah, I'm seeing 2 peices there, I'd probably cut the triangles off the cart, or relocate them to the (new) bottom and add casters, put a worktop on it and shelves or drawers in it, and start using it. The cabinet has many possibilities depending on what you need.

Do you have enough flat work surfaces?
Do you have enough storage?
What do you need most?

That's what I'd be looking at.

 

[slickgt1]

I'm just waiting for Jack to come in here and post something we have not mentioned already.

Something like mount it on the side, so that when you open the door it makes the bench top deeper. Yea something funky.

 

[eyesoreracing]

Yeah, I'm seeing 2 peices there, I'd probably cut the triangles off the cart, or relocate them to the (new) bottom and add casters, put a worktop on it and shelves or drawers in it, and start using it. The cabinet has many possibilities depending on what you need.

Do you have enough flat work surfaces?
Do you have enough storage?
What do you need most?

That's what I'd be looking at.

What I need the most is a bigger garage! That's why I'm thinking of nesting the two pieces. I get the sturdy workbench and I get the enclosed storage, but I only take up the space of the workbench.

The garage only has a single 110 outlet strung illegally (ie. no where near code) from the house, and the house itself is 90% knob and tube wiring, so there won't be any welding for a while.

The green beams laying on the cabinet bolt into the green frame and are quite adjustable, so making shelves is easy without power, though.

-Dave

 

[eyesoreracing]

Are you a member of the famous 24 Hours of Lemons Eyesore Racing team?

Yup, that's me.

-Dave

 

[RalloZ35]

Make the cabinet a roll around workbench make the cart a shelf.

 

[Jack Olsen]

How'd I miss this thread?

That's a great free score.

I like the nesting idea, assuming the cabinet isn't strong enough to function as a bench the way it is. One benefit would be that you'd be isolating the contents of the cabinet from impacts on the bench top.

If the cabinet is strong enough to support a top, I'd cut the old cart into straight steel sections and store them for something down the line.

But ckadams00, A_Pmech and Dan in Pasadena are correct about my basic M.O. Pick it up cheap, cut it and re-weld it into a size that works better. Paint it green. Take a lot of pictures. And then choose to focus on the low purchase price more than the many hours spent re-shaping a square peg to fit into a round hole.

 

[rslaback]

How about making it separate and nestable?

I was thinking that you could take the framework and assemble the base in a U shape with a removable 4th rail. I was thinking a couple of vertical pins that the 4th crossmember could drop down onto. Then you could throw some casters on the cabinet and roll it under the framework workbench. If you do it right you could even move the both of them together if you ever wanted to.

 

[tcianci]

Jack forgot to mention that he would then proceed to use the scraps to craft up a perfect, peroid correct dining room set (but it would still be green)

 

[eyesoreracing]

How about making it separate and nestable?

I was thinking that you could take the framework and assemble the base in a U shape with a removable 4th rail. I was thinking a couple of vertical pins that the 4th crossmember could drop down onto. Then you could throw some casters on the cabinet and roll it under the framework workbench. If you do it right you could even move the both of them together if you ever wanted to.

oOOh, that's pretty clever. Basically turn the box into a more conventional table shape. I would only have to cut off one rail (bottom front) to make that work. I like the flexibility of that idea...

 

[eyesoreracing]

I finally noticed Jack's website and I'm thinking this will end up very much like his Swiss Army Table (http://12-gaugegarage.com/blog-8/index.html). It has room for a decent size top, its easy to make a beefy shelf to rotate big heavy tools down to when I need room on top, and some casters will make it easy to roll outside when doing messy work. Now, time to scrounge a good benchtop...