Need help designing shop storage wall.

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  • chopnhack
    Veteran Member
    • Oct 2006
    • 3779
    • Florida
    • Ryobi BT3100

    Need help designing shop storage wall.

    I need as much storage as possible, but I also need the ability to nestle tools under work surfaces and pretty much where ever they can be stowed. I have need to have at least one vehicle in the garage...

    Thoughts and ideas are welcome, I have three quick sketches and in general I am just kicking around ideas. First are just overhead cabs, second has the center cabinet made into a 4' box with sliding doors and the last seemed to offer a good amount of storage with a tool chest... I am thinking of putting that TS onto a mobile base and stowing it under that counter, with the tool chest I will not have enough length to stow a workbench under the same counter... decisions decisions...



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    Last edited by chopnhack; 01-22-2012, 05:36 PM.
    I think in straight lines, but dream in curves
  • Eric
    Senior Member
    • Jun 2003
    • 653
    • Cocolalla, ID
    • Grizzly G0691 & BT3100

    #2
    Personally I like the looks of the tool chest. It might give you more versatility of the things that you want to store, and allow you to better see what you've got stored.

    Comment

    • mpc
      Senior Member
      • Feb 2005
      • 979
      • Cypress, CA, USA.
      • BT3000 orig 13amp model

      #3
      Some ideas to consider:
      The worktop in the 3rd pic is limited in size by the cabinet on the right. Coming from a small shop (garage) myself, experience has taught me the bench often needs to be open on the ends - need clearance for long boards. I'm right handed so the right end of the bench needed to be open on mine for hand sawing & whatnot... and my bench was mashed into the corner of the garage so the right side was blocked. I often used the washer & dryer as a surrogate bench especially for hand sawing.

      Rather than sliding bypass doors on the upper cabinets, consider normal hinged doors made from simple 1x2 frames supporting pegboard. That way your "daily" small tools (e.g. chisels, marking knives, etc.) are within easy/convenient reach yet off the working area so they don't get knocked on the floor or accidentally get shoved into an expensive bit of wood.

      The tool chest cabinet idea makes a lot of sense. Some suggestions on it:
      Make it on locking casters (the kind that lock both the wheel and the castering part; Rockler and Woodcraft both sell this style) with a flat top so it can serve as a second workbench or a place to set tools from what in your diagrams appear to be vertical tool stacks on the wall. If you make the height of this chest just a tad lower than the table saw it'll also serve as an outfeed support for cutting big stuff.

      No tool should ever stand on the factory stock simple metal legs. Replace such space wasters with small cabinets on locking casters whenever possible. Just a couple drawers underneath the table saw makes a huge difference in usability (nice having the blades, wrenches, etc.) with the saw rather than 10 feet away in a wall cabinet) and overall space. I built a drawer cabinet for my BT3000 that literally fits inside the original straight-leg supports (the BT3000 had a box-shaped support; the BT3100s have splayed-legs like the saw in your diagrams) giving me 3 large drawers and two end pockets for blades. The drawers are double-ended: there are drawer pulls on the front and back. They just sit on their runners; I didn't use typical drawer glides. That way I can open them from either end - makes swapping blades, tools, the blade guard, etc. easy because I can stuff each end of the drawer with whatever items are appropriate for that side of the saw.

      Some handy things to have are the Rigid "Flip Top" support stands at Home Depot. They're like sawhorses but they can be adjusted for height. The tops are flat but can pivot slightly making them great as infeed & outfeed supports: the pivot allows them to gently guide/lift long workpieces that might be sagging a bit - instead of having such workpieces slam into the edges of the stands. They raise pretty high too. Early on I used two of them to support my router table top - just set them side by side and clamp the router table to them. Worked fine; they're amazingly stable. And they fold quite flat - the tops pivot (after you slip out a locking pin) 90 degrees to lay flat against the rest of the stand.

      I don't know what you're thinking of as an actual workbench top. Some things to consider:
      * provisions for dog holes or some other mechanism to hold your workpieces secure.
      * for small shops there is often no room for "assembly tables" - dedicated areas to clamp & glue stuff together for final assembly. So the workbench has to do that job too. Make sure the edges allow clamps all the way around. A few larger holes or slots that F-style clamps or other long/skinny clamps can fit into helps a lot.
      * I'll bet your one worktable will also have to serve as a paint booth/table right? So while designing your wall & cabinets around the bench, consider some mechanism for hanging plastic wrap, shower curtains, whatever, as a spray shield.

      mpc

      Comment

      • chopnhack
        Veteran Member
        • Oct 2006
        • 3779
        • Florida
        • Ryobi BT3100

        #4
        First, thanks for your detailed response MPC, I really appreciate the time you took to flesh out those ideas!

        To clarify, my intent is to take that table saw and put it on a mobile stand with an integrated router table and storage cabs underneath. I also wanted a separate workbench with the goal of being able to move both it and the t.s. against the wall when not in use - the top you see in the drawing was just a countertop for light duty use under which both the ts and the workbench would be housed.

        I am going to ponder and draw some more but keep the ideas coming!
        I think in straight lines, but dream in curves

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