dsz123 - Rolling Tool Cabinet

In October, as I was getting more settled in to my workshop, it became clear I needed a better way/place to store tools. Right around the same time, a buddy texted and asked if I wanted to go check out UW Surplus. (If you live in Seattle, like random junk, and haven't yet been, you should check it out. Lots of reasonably priced normal things, some expensive amazing things, and some total deals, plus it's fun to wander through and see what UW doesn't want anymore.) I picked up this rolling cabinet (was clearly an A/V cabinet) for $10.

There were two sheet metal shelves permanently attached in the cabinet, but I had bigger things in mind. I used some wood to shim out drawer slides so that drawers would clear the lip around the door.

The drawers themselves are simple plywood boxes with a profile routed on the front for easy opening. You can also see the storage on the inside of the door I made for a couple of handsaws, a long ruler and some winding sticks. The latches for the saws are attached to the door using PSA (double-sided tape), and the ruler and winding sticks are on hooks that are magnetic.

Rather than just throwing tools in the drawers haphazardly, I wanted to have a home for each tool, which meant fitted liners. I divided up tools by use (and size), and layed them out on pieces of paper sized to each drawer.

I traced the tools, scanned in the drawings, and then used Inkscape to digitize the layouts.

I'm lucky enough to have friends with a laser cutter, and cut the tool caddies from some 1/4" acrylic. (There are some online options for those without direct access to a laser cutter.)

Here are the layout tools:

Drills and some shaping tools:

The third drawer has an extra caddy for chisels:

Definitely convenient to be able to move these around and have easy access to the chisels:

More shaping tools, smaller saws, and sharpening accessories here:

The fourth (and largest) drawer is a bit of a catch-all for tools that don't fit elsewhere:

I've really enjoyed having the rolling storage — it's nice to be able to move tools to where I'm working, be it the table saw, drill press, or the workbench.