Drill Press Cabinet from scrap

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I’ve been wanting to make this cabinet for quite some time now. I’ve been on a shop-organizing kick lately and thought this would be a good way to use up some spalted, wormy, punky lumber that I didn’t want to turn into firewood, and also get all my drilling-related tools and accessories in one place.

I got the idea from Woodsmith Vol.22/No.127 way back in February 2000. I made it deeper (both front and back sections) and added doors to close in the back shelves, added more drawers to accommodate the various accessories, drill bits, etc., and used my own measurements to fit my needs. The full-extension drawer slides were the only expense. I had purchased the casters for a storage cart for plywood cut-offs which is still on my to-do list. The other hardware is recycled from other projects, and all the wood is reclaimed, discards, or leftovers.

Here are two build pictures.

Now I just need to get the drawers filled and organized, and make a decent drill press table to go with it!

Questions and comments are always welcome.

L/W

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Benjamin Franklin

18 Comments

Great job, I like the style & design !!
This will be very handy.
I build as much I can from scrap & salvaged parts.

Jaybird

Very, very nice!
Thanks for sharing, beauty and function, it doesn’t get any better than that!

Steve Tow

What a good idea. I have a floor model drill press and all my drill related stuff is piled on the seldom used shaper that is stored beside it. I really should make something like this.
……. maybe a little marquetry on the drawer fronts ……….
…… hmmmm ……
Yep, good idea all right!

The early bird gets the worm but its the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Jay, Steve, and Paul, thanks for the encouragement!

Paul, we’ll expect yours to be a work-of-art, not a utilitarian cabinet. Maybe you can make use of all those little scraps of sawn veneer. Yes, ebony seems like just how a really nice drill press cabinet should be trimmed! Can’t wait to see yours.

L/W

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Benjamin Franklin

very cool i built one very similar. i be very proud to have that one in my shop.

Jeff Vandenberg aka "Woodsconsin"

Great job Lady! The fact you used scraps is a bonus, it’s a great tool on its own. Well done!

CHRIS, Charlottetown PEI Canada. Anytime you can repurpose, reuse, or recycle, everyone wins!

I really like this a lot and I should be building one for my own floor model DP. Your scrap wood is definitely better than mine! Wonderful work on this very attractive and useful tool storage unit.

Mike, an American living in Norway

Jeff, Bruce, Thorreain, and Mike,

Thanks! It is amazing how good the scraps can look in a picture, but a close-up shows how many worm holes/knot holes/punky spots there really are! I cut away a lot of material (which kept us warm in the wood stove). Some pieces ended up pretty small so there was no chance of any grain matching, etc.

L/W

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Benjamin Franklin

that’s good idea good work

jim

Much better than the one I built (also Woodsmith).

You did a fantastic job on it. It looks great.

Abbas, Castro Valley, CA

Nice work and very useful

woodworking classes, custom furniture maker

Jim (x2) and Ianwater,

Thanks for your input. I have some ideas for configuring the insides of the drawers that I’ll post when I get them done.

L/W

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Benjamin Franklin

Love how many drawers you put in that… all your bits and accessories will be easily visible and accessible. Great job!

Might As Well Dance : http://barbsid.blogspot.com/

Barb,

I really hate having to remove layers of things to get to what I want so I measured all my drilling supplies before I built the drawers in hopes of getting them to fit in a single layer in each drawer. Not everything is reorganized into this cabinet yet so I’m not certain how successful I was. The two deeper bottom drawers hold five of our hand drills. Maybe one deeper drawer with a racking system would have been better. ??

L/W

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Benjamin Franklin

It seems as long as all users ‘put things away’ after use, and you memorize where everything is, that storage will work wonderfully. I may have shown mine here before, don’t remember, but it has tended to get overloaded since building it. Tell me of a storage unit that doesn’t!

Might As Well Dance : http://barbsid.blogspot.com/

Barb,

That’s a really nice set-up. . . storage for the drill bits, etc. and the roller stand to balance longer items! Good thinking!

I figure that if I keep all the similar things together, it at least minimizes going through drawers (of which I have well over 100). Only drilling/screwing items will be kept in these drawers and on the shelves in the back of the unit. I’m hoping that it will fit virtually all my items in those categories so I won’t have multiple places to look for them. I just need to spend as much time in the shop as I do in the kitchen and I’ll get to know where everything is!!

L/W

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Benjamin Franklin

LOL, I’m completely lost in my kitchen, since it was taken over years ago by my significant other, bless his heart. But my shop..I Usually know where every single item is, though now that I’ve said that, guess what. Individual work stations are the best way to go, and your unit with shallow drawers will be a godsend when you need a particular thing. and..I cannot imagine having over 100 drawers. I think I’d have labels all over everywhere!

Might As Well Dance : http://barbsid.blogspot.com/