Modified Woodsmith Plan for Drill Press Cabinet
In my 3-car garage woodshop I am getting everything that I can on mobile bases. I place my Grizzly floor drill press on a wide mobile. I did that so it would not be tippy. I know that in some shops the owners drill their drill presses to the floor. I settled for a large mobile base. It has been working well.
What I wanted to go with it is a cabinet so I could store everything related to drilling near the drill press. I had noticed early on Woodsmith's drill press upgrade woodworking plans. I have been considering making one for my shop for many years. This summer I started by inventorying my sheet goods. Other than metal drawer slides and drawer handles I had everything I needed in my inventory to build my drill press storage cabinet. I was going to keep on my existing base instead of making Woodsmith's smaller base. For me that meant the rollover cabinet I would be making would be very large. To clear the base's measurements and screw tabs that anchor the base to the floor, my the inside of my cabinet had to be no less than 29 inches wide. The depth I measured at 34 inches to cover the back of the base.
Oh yeah, I ordered four 3 inch diameter polyurethane wheels from Grizzly. I already had metal rods in my shop. I believe the wheels took my 5/16 inch rods. My metal rods are 36 inches long but each wheel only needed 2 inches. I cut mine with a new hacksaw blade. Filed the burrs to prepare them for installation.
I do not cut rabbets often in my shop. For this project with the 3/4 inch plywood used in this cabinet it was kind of fun setting my Saw Stop with it wide brake. I use a Diablo 8 inch DADO set. For 3/4 inch DADO to set my plywood into a pressure fit it only takes the inner and outer blades, the three chippers and two of the three thick spacers. i document what I use in my woodshop notebook for references later on, but I am memorizing at the 3/4 inch requirements. I use Whitesides brass measuring bars to set my blade heights. To set the fence for the width of the 3/4 inch plywood rabbets I simply use a piece of the plywood I am using to set the fence's location. If I want it very flush I feel with my fingers and finger nail that the blade's teeth is very flush with the plywood, Sometimes I want the rabbet to be a bit proud of the plywood piece I will be setting into it. Thus, I set the fence where I can feel that my fingernail can "catch" on the blade's tooth. It is a great way to set the table saw for cutting rabbets.
An important part of building the cabinet's frame was to cut the notch in the cabinet's base so that the cabinet could fit around the 4-inch drill press metal pipe. I made the notch slightly larger than the pipe it was going to fit around. I believe I set the compass to 5 1/2 inches in diameter. With another scrap piece of 3/4" plywood I determined the measurement the 10 inch saw blade made between the top surface and the block's bottom surface. I did that because I cut the two straight cuts on the table saw but stopped short so I could finish the half circle cut with my Bosch Jigsaw. The plywood base part was too big to cut this curve on my bandsaw. I used a large disk sanding bit in my drill to sand smooth the half-circle curve. I did this for the base as well as the cabinet's top part.
Two cubbies are placed behind the front cabinet. The straddle the drill press' pipe. The cubbies have a shelf so things like drill bits stored in plastic containers can be stored on these shelves. I place these types of drill bits and other items that i want quick and easy access.
After I had the cabinet and the two cubbies made I began work on making the drawers. My next blog entry explains how I made my drawer for this cabinet.
In my 3-car garage woodshop I am getting everything that I can on mobile bases. I place my Grizzly floor drill press on a wide mobile. I did that so it would not be tippy. I know that in some shops the owners drill their drill presses to the floor. I settled for a large mobile base. It has been working well.
What I wanted to go with it is a cabinet so I could store everything related to drilling near the drill press. I had noticed early on Woodsmith's drill press upgrade woodworking plans. I have been considering making one for my shop for many years. This summer I started by inventorying my sheet goods. Other than metal drawer slides and drawer handles I had everything I needed in my inventory to build my drill press storage cabinet. I was going to keep on my existing base instead of making Woodsmith's smaller base. For me that meant the rollover cabinet I would be making would be very large. To clear the base's measurements and screw tabs that anchor the base to the floor, my the inside of my cabinet had to be no less than 29 inches wide. The depth I measured at 34 inches to cover the back of the base.
Oh yeah, I ordered four 3 inch diameter polyurethane wheels from Grizzly. I already had metal rods in my shop. I believe the wheels took my 5/16 inch rods. My metal rods are 36 inches long but each wheel only needed 2 inches. I cut mine with a new hacksaw blade. Filed the burrs to prepare them for installation.
I do not cut rabbets often in my shop. For this project with the 3/4 inch plywood used in this cabinet it was kind of fun setting my Saw Stop with it wide brake. I use a Diablo 8 inch DADO set. For 3/4 inch DADO to set my plywood into a pressure fit it only takes the inner and outer blades, the three chippers and two of the three thick spacers. i document what I use in my woodshop notebook for references later on, but I am memorizing at the 3/4 inch requirements. I use Whitesides brass measuring bars to set my blade heights. To set the fence for the width of the 3/4 inch plywood rabbets I simply use a piece of the plywood I am using to set the fence's location. If I want it very flush I feel with my fingers and finger nail that the blade's teeth is very flush with the plywood, Sometimes I want the rabbet to be a bit proud of the plywood piece I will be setting into it. Thus, I set the fence where I can feel that my fingernail can "catch" on the blade's tooth. It is a great way to set the table saw for cutting rabbets.
An important part of building the cabinet's frame was to cut the notch in the cabinet's base so that the cabinet could fit around the 4-inch drill press metal pipe. I made the notch slightly larger than the pipe it was going to fit around. I believe I set the compass to 5 1/2 inches in diameter. With another scrap piece of 3/4" plywood I determined the measurement the 10 inch saw blade made between the top surface and the block's bottom surface. I did that because I cut the two straight cuts on the table saw but stopped short so I could finish the half circle cut with my Bosch Jigsaw. The plywood base part was too big to cut this curve on my bandsaw. I used a large disk sanding bit in my drill to sand smooth the half-circle curve. I did this for the base as well as the cabinet's top part.
Two cubbies are placed behind the front cabinet. The straddle the drill press' pipe. The cubbies have a shelf so things like drill bits stored in plastic containers can be stored on these shelves. I place these types of drill bits and other items that i want quick and easy access.
After I had the cabinet and the two cubbies made I began work on making the drawers. My next blog entry explains how I made my drawer for this cabinet.