My doghouse the wife built update

Alan Bienlein

Member
Messages
2,045
Well it's been 3 years since I posted pics of my shop and much has changed since then. Here is the original thread http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?13311-My-doghouse-the-wife-built&highlight=.

I've been working in this shop since March 2007 and other than a few tool additions/upgrades has virtually remained unchanged. This weekend I removed the existing lumber rack I had 006 (800 x 600).jpg
and built a new one out of 2 x 4's and 3/4" emt. Cost about $75 and now all of my wood is in the shop and out of loml's shed. She has more room and believe it or not I also have more room. Below the original wood rack I had my lathe, bandsaw, saw horses and small air compressor that always got buried by materials.
003 (800 x 601).jpg004 (800 x 601).jpg002 (800 x 601).jpg
I made the rack by drilling 15/16" holes at a 5 degree angle 2-3/4" deep. The emt was then cut to 20" in length. I did a test with a 24" piece by hanging a 5 gallon bucket with an 80 lb back of concrete in it and the pipe only deflected 1/4".
Then I relocated my lathe to where my mechanics tool boxes have been since the shop was built.
009 (801 x 602).jpg006 (800 x 601).jpg
I decided to convert a snap on tool cart to a mechanics tool chest by ditching the shelves and attaching the wheels from it to the tool chest I built.
010 (800 x 601).jpg012 (900 x 676).jpg011 (800 x 601).jpg
I still have 7 empty drawers to allow for future growth and now I can roll my tools to where ever I need to use them.
 
Then I relocated my Hitachi air compressor and a free porter cable pocket hole machine under my out feed table.
005 (800 x 601).jpg
I replaced the 5 year old plywood top on my out feed table with a piece of 3/4" phenolic I got for free. It came from a cnc machine and does have 1/2" holes evenly spaced on it that I can use for bench dog holes.

My next task was finding space for all the drawer slides that I also acquired for free.
007 (800 x 601).jpg008 (800 x 601).jpg009 (800 x 601).jpg

Then all the scrap wood thats been sitting in my shop unused for the past three years ended up here.
001 (800 x 601).jpg
I burned a little over four 55 gallon drums worth of scrap wood.

Next I'm rebuilding the cabinets as I'm not happy with the depth and how things are arranged.
 

Attachments

  • 007.jpg
    007.jpg
    101.1 KB · Views: 164
another great end to a earlier beginning.. alan i would watch that set up for your wood rack, is the pipe heavy wall or thin wall? if its thick wall then your gonna be fine i have had that setup hold alot of wood in the past.. how far apart are your supports?
 
another great end to a earlier beginning.. alan i would watch that set up for your wood rack, is the pipe heavy wall or thin wall? if its thick wall then your gonna be fine i have had that setup hold alot of wood in the past.. how far apart are your supports?

It's not the ridgid pipe. It's emt I got at the borg. I put my heaviest pieces on the bottom but have checked it again today and all the pipes are still angle upward like they are supposed to be. I did 5" spacing on the pipes and the doubled up 2 x 4 supports are 24" apart. Norma even stood on the bottom one with 8/4 pecan boards on it and it held her with the wood she was helping me put up top.
 
Last edited:
I would be suspicious of the rack holding that amount of weight in the long run. If it fails, it will fail violently and within a millisecond! If you are bent over in front of it or a little kid is standing in front of it, it could be fatal. At the least to reduce metal fatigue if you would put a vertical 2x4 with bolts going horizontally through it to line up inside the pipes showing, that will eliminate a lot of fatigue as be a removable side to access wood. Peace of mind and safety are worth it. Maybe two at minimum uprights with bolts.
 
Hi,

"I still have 7 empty drawers to allow for future growth and now I can roll my tools to where ever I need to use them."

Empty drawers? What are those?

Then I see a pic with 2 empty drawers. I think I have died and gone to a bad place and am being tortured by visions of empty drawers.

Don't you know that "Empty drawers" is an oxymoron.

Isn't it great to get the shop somewhere near the way you want it!!!

Enjoy,

JimB
 
Alan you the man. That rolling cart takes the cake for me. Just the thing and i have a cart waiting just for this. Was going to be a grinding station now i think it just got hijacked. But maybe i make another and another. Really great idea. Can you offer some pics of the inside sides so a rookie like me can get an idea of how you mounted them. Also your draws what sort of depth did you settle on. I like that the draws are split in one row. Lots more questions check your pms please.
 
Last edited:
Alan you the man. That rolling cart takes the cake for me. Just the thing and i have a cart waiting just for this. Was going to be a grinding station now i think it just got hijacked. But maybe i make another and another. Really great idea. Can you offer some pics of the inside sides so a rookie like me can get an idea of how you mounted them. Also your draws what sort of depth did you settle on. I like that the draws are split in one row. Lots more questions check your pms please.

Here are the pics you requested.
001 (800 x 601).jpg002 (800 x 601).jpg003 (800 x 601).jpg004 (601 x 800).jpg
Nothing fancy to it. They are just glued and pin nailed on. After I sprayed the interior and let it cure I went back with some johnsons paste wax on the cabinet interior and runners and on the drawers.
 
Does anyone else see irony in the fact that Alan's got a couple hundred sets of drawer slides laying about, but he used home made wooden slides on his tool box? :D

In my defense I actually started this project before I came across the deal for the drawer slides. I thought about using full extension slides but thought it a little ridiculous using 100# rated slides on tiny 10" wide by 16" deep drawers when the wooden slides actually work better!
 
Thanks for the pics Alan I was gonna say why waste the slides for something like these small draws. :)

That kind of slide is what a set of draws i have that have neen handed down from my grandfather have. They work perfectly.:)

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
 
Well I finally got the 3/4" sheet goods (18 sheets) and some poplar for the face frames to get started on my shop cabinet rebuild. I decided that all the uppers were going to be 16" deep since most of the things I store in them are between 13" and 15" in depth.

This one on the saw goes right above the work bench in the background. I married a very good woman cause she helped me lift this cabinet in place. It measures 130" long by 33-1/2" on the left and 48-1/2" on the right by 16" deep.
005 (800 x 601).jpg
This cabinet goes above the drill press so a decreased the depth on 2/3 of the bottom shelf to just 8" deep and tall enough to put my books.
007 (800 x 601).jpg
A few pictures of them installed and things going back in place. I actually have empty shelf space now!:woohoo:
003 (800 x 601).jpg003 (800 x 601) (2).jpg
This cabinet setting on the plywood pile on the floor goes right where the existing one is in the background. Again I have more empty shelf space now!:woot:
006 (601 x 800).jpg004 (800 x 601) (2).jpg
And just a few photos of my shop while it was a mess!
004 (800 x 601).jpg005 (800 x 601) (2).jpg006 (800 x 601).jpg
 
After I got everything put back in the new upper cabinets I proceeded to build a new cabinet for the work bench. I was gonna do all drawers but changed my mind mid way thru cutting the dados and decided one half would be shelves for my hardware and the other half would be divided into 3 sets of 4 drawers.
001 (800 x 601) (2).jpg001 (800 x 601) (3).jpg
Here it is installed with the 1/4" steel plate and vise re-installed.
001 (800 x 601) (4).jpg
I'm now in the process of making new cases for all my plastic drawers for my small parts. The original ones didn't fit right and wasted too much space.
002 (800 x 601).jpg
As far as the work bench top is concerned I recycled the original 2 x 6's. I ran them thru my surface planer and then across the jointer to clean them up and ripped them to width on the table saw. I'm gonna add a piece of white oak to the front edge and let it stick up 1/4" so it's flush with the piece of 1/4" I'm going to use to protect the top with.
003 (601 x 800).jpg
Now I need to figure out what to put in the drawers. Only 3 of the twelve drawers has something in them!
 
well done Alan,, i am almost to the point of doing some catch up on my storage areas,, just delivered a small commissioned piece and got a bonus so now i can take some time for my shop organization.. where did you get the plastic bins ?they look like glad dishes you get in the super market
 
Top