Building a workbench - cross-stack plastic tubs for drawers

[Sodo]

I got a new shop. It's a 14x24foot bay of a 3-car garage. It's covered with pegboard. I'm not too thrilled about that. maybe i can learn to live with it. or maybe I'll cover it over. I blew in AttiCat insulation behind the pegboard. AttiCat doesn't seem to come out of the holes, but if it does I'll cover it over.
There will be other projects but this thread is the workbench. It uses removable heavy plastic tubs for drawers.

The idea being that I can pull a drawer out and head out for a job.

For example:

A drawer full of plumbing stuff, torch, solder, paste, elbows etc.
A drawer of all my drywall tools and supplies, tape, knife etc.
A drawer with electronics stuff, soldergun, solder, wire, crimp connectors, crimp tools
A drawer with house electrical stuff, j-boxes, clamps, wire nuts, short pieces of romex etc
A drawer under the vise with the cut-off metal ends, shapes, small sizes that I want to keep
A drawer of miscellaneous bolts, nuts, washers
A drawer of wood screws, wood fasteners

These tubs "cross-stack" so I can stack 3 or 4 of them in the back of my pickup, run a ratchetstrap over the top tub and cinch the stack down.

First of all, I hope this plan works, and if it does, hope y'all like it!

Here's what it started with. Tore this old workbench out. And that hairdresser sink. It wasn't hooked up. This house was a rental for 10 years who knows what went on in there. The drawers ALL worked, it coulda been painted and look nice, but I couldn't see moving my shop into those drawers. I had a new plan.

Built a steel structure from 2x2x.063 steel square tubing. Screwed it to the studs. I'm abandoning those outlets cuz they're centered at 40 inches, which is my benchtop height. I'll cover them over with a 'backsplash'.

Angle-iron drawer glides. Used a story-pole method to set all the drawer glides.

Closeup of the story pole.

Set some plastic tubs on the drawer glides. The tubs are 24 x 17 x 8" deep.
Can pull out the lower tubs, and the floor is clear, a broom can sweep under, to find lost sockets, nuts, and needle bearings etc.

Got one bay done. Each bay is 60 inches.
I will use smaller tubs for the next two bays, so each bay has 16 drawers.

 

[bcp]

Looks good.

I made storage arrangements a couple of times over the years for plastic tubs or boxes of a certain make and size, then later when a replacement was needed, found they were no longer made. There is probably a common size that is available from different sources for some commercial uses, but I haven't checked.

Where are your tubs from?

Bruce

 

[MossRoad]

Hey, that looks functional. :thumbsup:

Just be sure to buy some extra tubs, in case you break some or want to add on in the future. It seems that anytime we find good tubs at work (or at home even), and we decide to add on in a couple years, they don't make that size tub anymore! :mur:

 

[MossRoad]

Looks good.

I made storage arrangements a couple of times over the years for plastic tubs or boxes of a certain make and size, then later when a replacement was needed, found they were no longer made. There is probably a common size that is available from different sources for some commercial uses, but I haven't checked.

Where are your tubs from?

Bruce

HA! you beat me to it! Seems like a common problem.

 

[Sodo]

Where are your tubs from?

Yeah I hope they last. They are industrial units from Uline, called "cross-stack tubs". Not the ones you get in department stores, that are engineered to crack after 3 years. Size is 24x17x8 and they are thick. I'll get some of the 18x11x8 size too.

Ending up with 20 of the 24x17x8 ($13) and 24 of the 18x11x8($7) so 44 drawers. Good call on buying extras.

We've been buying these for business and have been unchanged for something like 5 years. Also they've lasted 5 years too, and haven't cracked, so I hope it works out. Maybe they're engineered 7 year tubs.:shocked:

 

[Big Barn]

Looking good, SODO. . I really LIKE IT!

Terry

 

[BLSXJ]

looks good

If you plan on doing a metal top to your bench I recommend using 4" c-channel rather then plate.

I'd also recommend adding a few 2" receiver tubes to the bench to accept stuff like vices, benders etc.

 

[Sodo]

Plan is to use 1-1/8" plywood with 18ga steel cover. Maybe 3/16 near the vise. I'm not going to pound on it. Good idea on the receivers!

 

[Big Barn]

Plan is to use 1-1/8" plywood with 18ga steel cover. Maybe 3/16 near the vise. I'm not going to pound on it. Good idea on the receivers!

SODO here's a pic of the bench I built in 1983. I doubled up 3/4" plywood to get a 1 1/2" top then wrapped it in 18 gauge galvanized with a 5" splash.



Oh and regarding receivers, maybe BukitCase will chime in. I used his suggestions on the last bench I built.

Terry

 

[Big Barn]

I have a dozen of these Akro bins scattered around the shop.



I like them because their contents are easily visible when the bins are stacked.



Terry

 

[BukitCase]

As requested - note the notched top lip on these receivers - the heavier the insert (and the older you are ) the more you'll appreciate just how much EASIER it is to put a device into a receiver.

Example - (no pic, sorry) I have a 6" vise mounted to a 12" piece of 10" channel, heavy wall 2" tubing running thru the center of the channel, both ends capped with 1/2" FB that I mount on the hoe bucket (pictured) for various tasks - the whole assembly weighs probably 90 pounds, but is EASILY inserted since you do NOT have to line it up perfectly with the receiver, just REST the end on it, THEN wiggle things around til it slides in. The cutaway top lets you do this.

The older you get and the heavier things you use receivers for, the smarter this easy mod becomes... Steve

 

[k0ua]

As requested - note the notched top lip on these receivers - the heavier the insert (and the older you are ) the more you'll appreciate just how much EASIER it is to put a device into a receiver.

Example - (no pic, sorry) I have a 6" vise mounted to a 12" piece of 10" channel, heavy wall 2" tubing running thru the center of the channel, both ends capped with 1/2" FB that I mount on the hoe bucket (pictured) for various tasks - the whole assembly weighs probably 90 pounds, but is EASILY inserted since you do NOT have to line it up perfectly with the receiver, just REST the end on it, THEN wiggle things around til it slides in. The cutaway top lets you do this.

The older you get and the heavier things you use receivers for, the smarter this easy mod becomes... Steve

Dang Steve, That is just too easy. I need to remember that one..

 

[dragoneggs]

Hey Sodo, you are making great progress! The old kitchen cabinets you had look eerily familiar to one of the walls in my garage/shop! I'm ready to rip them out and I love your idea of removable totes. I built benches for our greenhouse with smaller square tubing and thought that might be the ticket for a new work bench if I beefed them up a bit. Good suggestions on getting extra bins just in case. My last workbench I doubled up 3/4in plywood with the plan of skinning it with some thin stainless. Never got around to doing that though for some reason. Next time!

Once I built a custom potting bench for my sister and formed the stainless over and around the wood top and really liked how it turned out. Even cut a hole into the top to sweep the potting soil into a bucket below and wrapped the stainless sheet around the inside edges of the square hole. I even impressed myself! :laughing:

 

[handirifle]

First a question, what are all the round holes in the wall for? Outlets? I thought those would all be rectangles.

On the totes, a question, is there room for a lid? If not, expect little mouse turds to show up on a regular basis. Also, you will have to watch the amount of weight you put in the tubs, since the lips of the tub will have a limit to what they will hold. Put too much weight in the top one and it will look like the World Trade Center on 9-11. Maybe some support for the bottom?

I like the looks of the whole thing though and has my mind turning. I was thinking of a way to add drawers under my bench, but knew it would be a mouse haven with open tops.

 

[aczlan]

The round holes are from where he blew in insulation behind the pegboard.

Aaron Z

 

[handirifle]

Ahhh thanks.

 

[Sodo]

Haha yeah that would be a LOT of outlets. I hardly ever plug in a 120v tool anymore, since battery powered tools have come so far. I've been blessed by freedom from cords by DeWalt, - it's been 10 years now. Of course the chopsaw etc and the welder, have their plug-ins.

Fingers crossed no mouse turds. But you raise an interesting point I hadn't thought of. This place has been empty since mar 2016 and there was NO mouse turds in the cabinets I took out. NONE. That's really odd. You've got me wondering if someone poisoned the entire place. That's not normal, there should be some mouse turds, right? I wonder how you can find out if it's safe.

I've never had a kind thought toward rodents but like a canary in a coal mine, when they're gone you gotta wonder why. :shocked::shocked::shocked: I have plenty of years left in this world, wonderful kids, and grandkids (in my sights :thumbsup: ). I don't like being around poisons or cancer. Cancer tends to cut things short. We lost the best grandpa in the world 6 years ago. GONE. Forever. Final. And far too soon; I expected 15 more years with my father-in-law.

The tubs are thick plastic and rated for 100 lbs. You're probably thinking of these plastic tubs
which are engineered to shatter after a few short years; quicker if you ever move them around. You have to be pretty careful with these tubs, don't knock them together. Or if they fall off a shelf they shatter. Good WalMart product to take your money - then plug up the landfills. Rubbermaid (to me) means the product will time-out in a few short years.

I'm using these type, which U-Line shows holding much heavier stuff than I will ever put in my workbench. I suppose they are engineered to last longer, but not sure how much longer. If they time-out in 10 years (and if no longer available) that's a problem. Buying spares now doesn't really solve the time-out problem.

 

[BukitCase]

"That's not normal, there should be some mouse turds, right? I wonder how you can find out if it's safe."

See if your local county extension agent can point you to anyone that does this, some might even be free - then gather a few samples - dirt, sweepings, whatever, SOMEBODY in your area oughta be able to analyze 'em -

Pretty sure it isn't ricin, or you'd already be posting thru a medium (as in, DEAD) but there could be arsenic, blood thinner (used in mice baits, they bleed to death internally) -

Anyway, agreed this does NOT seem normal, good call being concerned... Steve

 

[MossRoad]

Regarding mice... was the building empty or full of stuff when you got it? Maybe there was nothing in there for them to eat, or no place to nest, so they didn't hang around. Maybe it just wasn't attractive to them as housing. Was the previous owner a neat freak? For example, I've never seen a mouse turd in my in-law's garage or yard barn in 20+ years. My father-in-law is constantly moving things around and sweeping all the time.

 

[muddstopper]

Cat????