Shop Project design, hanging, rolling, spinning tool cabinet.

[CandorLush]

Soooooo...... I am early in the mental build phase but I figured I should put it down on "paper" and see if folks more experienced than myself think this is a bad/hare brained idea. I have an I beam that runs through my basement shop (see picture)and over the left/far edge of my workbench/outfeed table. When I stuck my saws up to it with multiple RE magnets, the thought of a tool cabinet there popped into my head. 

So, plan:

Take a 1/2 ton beam trolley (like the Jet picture) and replace the hanging ring with a threaded pipe tee.

Run a length of pipe down from the tee and screw a flange the end to of it. 

Build a platform on top of the flange with a lazy Susan on top. 

Build a two sided cabinet with the pipe sandwiched between them and attach it to the lazy Susan. 

Goal: have a readily available tool cabinet that I can roll out of the way of the bench if I have larger assemblies with a maximized yet balanced amount of storage.

I will try to sketch something out in the next few days as well as re-reading this in the morning to see if I can improve my description. 

Carl

[Coop]

I think that's a heck of an idea, if you have head clearance? Make the best of that piece of iron. As always with this group, pics of the co

[davestanton]

Sounds like a snazzy plan but I have my reservations.

From my days of building homes I used to choose the size of steel beams for floor loads in residential buildings from a span table supplied by the manufacturers. These tables were drawn up by structural engineers. They allowed for dead and live loads. Dead load was the actual weight of the floor members with a bit of room for furniture weight and any point load applied from the house above the floor. Live load was usually for pedestrian traffic the floor would reasonably be exposed to.

Hanging a dead weight from one position would be risky in my opinion. Houses are built to a budget and steel is not cheap.

[CandorLush]

5 hours ago, davestanton said:

Sounds like a snazzy plan but I have my reservations.

From my days of building homes I used to choose the size of steel beams for floor loads in residential buildings from a span table supplied by the manufacturers. These tables were drawn up by structural engineers. They allowed for dead and live loads. Dead load was the actual weight of the floor members with a bit of room for furniture weight and any point load applied from the house above the floor. Live load was usually for pedestrian traffic the floor would reasonably be exposed to.

Hanging a dead weight from one position would be risky in my opinion. Houses are built to a budget and steel is not cheap.

Thanks, it is a concern and it is a biggest reason I am not planning on going Studley big with it. I also have a lolly/lalley column in the middle of the shop that the bench is pushed up against(off the edge of the above picture, to the right) and that is where the cabinet would spend most of its time.

[drzaius]

It sounds like a fun, interesting project, but in the end, wouldn't casters be more practical? Their cheap, easy to install, & you can move the cart anywhere you want.

[CandorLush]

Quick and dirty sketch, grey for bench, cabinets, beam, doors and column, red for cabinet and green for movement directions. Top sketch is from above.

 

[Robby W]

It is a neat idea. One thing to watch: lazy Susan bearings are meant to be used in compression, not tension, which I think your description indicates. 

[CandorLush]

7 minutes ago, Robby W said:

It is a neat idea. One thing to watch: lazy Susan bearings are meant to be used in compression, not tension, which I think your description indicates. 

Another terrible sketch but what I mentioned about the flange and lazy susan on the bottom is fleshed out a bit here. Screw the grey flange to the grey pipe and attach the blue base to the flange. Then add the lazy susan in between the blue base and the red cabinet so that the cabinet spins freely from the pipe and the flange.

Does this make any more sense? I can just imagine myself fumbling to try to find all the little bearings after they all fell out lol

[Chet]

I am kind of with Ken on this one.  How many times will you hit your head on it before you start to re-think the idea.  

[CandorLush]

28 minutes ago, Chet K said:

I am kind of with Ken on this one.  How many times will you hit your head on it before you start to re-think the idea.  

My joists are only 7'7" above the floor so the top of the cabinet will be around 6'6" off the floor and the base will be around 3'6"-4' from the floor so I hadn't put that as an issue. I guess I could be hitting the side of my head but I don't think I would have any more chance than if it was a wall cabinet.

[CandorLush]

So I snagged a few models from the warehouse and whipped this up, most of everything is scaled.... ish but I hope this is more clear

[drzaius]

Much clearer. Now I see why casters wouldn't work

[CandorLush]

13 hours ago, drzaius said:

Much clearer. Now I see why casters wouldn't work

Yeah... I realized, after the fact, that anyone I had previously mentioned the idea too and showed the sketch, had already been in my shop so I was far too short on details and descriptions in my OP for anyone who hasn't been in there.

[Elroy Skimms]

I'm a big fan of trying creative solutions to problems. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. But even when they don't, you learn a few things. I understand the point that davestanton was trying to make about the weight of the cabinet on the beam, but honestly, unless you are planning on hanging a car on that trolley, I don't see how 200lbs of tools hanging from below is any different than 200lbs of person sitting above. I'm not an engineer, so you can't sue me if I am wrong But I doubt your house was engineered to the point where adding 200lbs to a steal beam is going to cause it all to come crashing down on you. I say go for it. Try something new, and if it turns out to be a flop, take the cabinet off and use the trolley as a zip line in the shop.

-E