I feel like this you guys are pretty savvy group so im sure you have already seen or know about this one. But I spent a bit of time and money and really turned a free filing cabinet into a "real" toolbox for my garage. No one even bats an eye at ut until I show them its actually a filing cabinet.
Filing Cabinet Toolbox
A quick rustoleum paint job and some 3m adhesive chrome and it looks pretty awesome in my opinion. I use it to store large tools, buffers, air tools, paint guns. Heck I even hide my cut 50 plasma down in the bottom!
Everyone's complaint is that it won't hold much weight but I think most will be surprised. Just think about how much weight one of those drawers would be loaded down with paper!
Anyway hopefully someone finds this idea useful!
In reply to Skervey :
Ours aren't as pretty, but this is what we use at the office for larger tools. They work well and the drawer slides are designed for a lot of weight.
I have tried a number of different types and found that they just don't hold up well. They are good for a short term solution but that's it.
YMMV
In reply to Donebrokeit :
Hmm, mine are 10+ years old and still working fine.
Yep, you have to get the old school ones - not the Target / office max "HON" ones. I have one from Boeing that I use to hold all my bolt compartment boxes:
They stand up vertically and I I can pull them out by the handle as needed. The drawer dividers leave enough room in the back to hand tools or other low use stuff.
My garage has 4 file cabinets filled with tools and supplies.
They hold up fine and having the storage vertically leaves more floor space.
when I make room in my shop I want to get a 5 drawer vertical with flip-up fronts. Perfect for paint storage.
One of these days, I'm going to take a few hours to get my tools out of the 7 or 8 various plastic buckets (and floor) and put them away. A big file cabinet would be nice.
I've wanted to buy a few of these and build a rolling cart to hold them, with a solid wood top. Tool storage and work bench in one unit......
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:
I've wanted to buy a few of these and build a rolling cart to hold them, with a solid wood top. Tool storage and work bench in one unit......
I've looked at those for tooling storage but they're really deep and stick out from the wall too far to work in my shop.
I have a couple file cabinets, but another one that works well for smaller tools is card files. You're competing with machinists for them as they've learned the joy of seriously overbuilt drawers and glides. My tallest card file you can't even move single handedly empty. I had thought about bolting it down for security, but once loaded with tools I don't even think you could move it with a dolly. As Kendall Jones says, don't get the bottom of the barrel ones. My file cabinet is a Steelcase, probably from the 60s. I'm not sure about my card files - at least one is a Steelcase, but I have a few. Another thing to look at is medical cabinets. My work bench top is sitting on top of a couple of "Conserv-a-nurse" cabinets that make great pedestals. I also have a wall mount steel cabinet that was for drugs, it has heavy steel construction and a hasp for a lock.
For my regular car repair tools, I have a regular roll around tool cabinet. But for bulk tool storage and larger tools, file cabinets are great!
I should try painting them, your red one looks good. Most of mine are in good shape but at least one could use a paint job.
