Thread: Advice Needed for Upcoming Project

Good Morning All,

I need some help regarding making up some movable cabinets for a drill press and a couple of bench grinders.

I'm going to weld up some cabinets with old filing cabinets in them. I want to put castors on them to move them around if needed and threaded bolts for feet when the castors aren't being utilized.

I need some pictures or ideas of what others have done.

Thanks Ben.

Have you tried a google images search?
Terms like 'filing cabinet welding cart' or similar?
I get a lot of good ideas from image searches of various terms relating to the project.

Here's a minimum viable option.

Something to bear in mind with movable DPs and grinder carts is the gear tends to make them top heavy and liable to tip.
Some folks think they can hold something like this upright when it starts to tip but it's much harder to do this than most people realise.
The gas bottles on welding carts act as useful balance for this problem.
If nothing else is available a couple of concrete slabs in the base is better than nothing.

Morning Ben, do you want to mount the DP on to the cabinet, or to go around the column of the DP?
Have seen some where the a frame is made around the cabinet, trimming off the bottom skirt off the cabinet. I think from memory that something like 50mm square RHS with a 3mm wall, was used to give it a bit of weight.
You could put 2 of them on the same stand for extra stability, and mount a grinder on the other end of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlya4y2vrGw
HTH
Kryn

Originally Posted by bwal74

...I'm going to weld up some cabinets with old filing cabinets in them. I want to put castors on them to move them around if needed and threaded bolts for feet when the castors aren't being utilized.

Two things here - firstly (as you have probably noticed) modern-ish filing cabinets are horrible flimsy things. The old ones that weighed a ton were better in terms of rigidity, but not greatly. You really need to think of what you want to do as make up some rigid trolleys that will hold filing cabinet drawers. Relying on the filing cabinet part as a structural part is not a good approach. Just saying...

Eric (Lamestllama) uses some interesting castors that have a locking foot built into them. He will have to tell you where he gets them, but this is a US website that shows something similar
https://www.kcwcasters.com/1-57-inch...aster-stem.htm

Michael

Originally Posted by Michael G

Relying on the filing cabinet part as a structural part is not a good approach.

Agreed. Those casters look great.

Relying on the filing cabinet part as a structural part is not a good approach.

Eric (Lamestllama) uses some interesting castors that have a locking foot built into them. He will have to tell you where he gets them, but this is a US website that shows something similar
https://www.kcwcasters.com/1-57-inch...aster-stem.htm


The filing cabinets won't be loadbearing for the DP or Grinders, they'll just be used for storage. While those castors are good they are way too expensive for my short pockets. The "frames" will have a bigger footprint than the equipment that will be on top. I can always bolt to the wall if necessary. I'll google for some ideas.

Thanks Ben.

I second the older filing/office cabinets being significantly sturdier than the newer ones.
It's not aways definitive but I've found the dark grey ones are usually the sturdier while the beige and cream ones are usually flimsier.
This is why when I found a grey map/chart/plan cabinet in a skip at work, even though it was beat up and buckled I spent time resurrecting it and it sits inside my main workbench but it's still not part of the bench structure.

MapDrawers.jpg
Drswer5.jpg

Australian mail order of similar castors: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/124022348858
s-l1600.jpg
4 for $60, but they are flange mount:




Hafco has thread mounted ones for $130 each: https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/w07748

This my home made effort on those retractable wheels.
https://metalworkforums.com/f65/t202...ce-plate-bench

A lot more work, but a lot easier than winding fiddly little red wheels