Shop Cabinets .. question on contruction


bushwacked

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Was thinking about this and trying to find ways to save a little money since I will be needing quite a few.

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from Jay Bates miter station build ... no backs on them. I was curious if this is an acceptable way of building shop cabinets ... or even adding like a 1/4 backer on the to just keep the dust down to a minimum if needed.

Or should all 3 sides have 3/4 pieces? (sides and back) 

If you just put the cross supports like he does that should help give them enough stability not to rack or collapse right?

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I've built kitchen cabinets that were solid on sides and bottom. They were sturdy with cross bracing like bates did. They were very sturdy for the 3 months i used them before i sold.

This is what my miter saw station looks like. A lot less material and it's by far sturdy enough. Wood i used here was free.

1015171935_HDR.thumb.jpg.6dc06432beac75e3db79026551229869.jpg

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9 minutes ago, bushwacked said:

Was thinking about this and trying to find ways to save a little money since I will be needing quite a few.

from Jay Bates miter station build ... no backs on them. I was curious if this is an acceptable way of building shop cabinets ... or even adding like a 1/4 backer on the to just keep the dust down to a minimum if needed.

Or should all 3 sides have 3/4 pieces? (sides and back) 

If you just put the cross supports like he does that should help give them enough stability not to rack or collapse right?

I built this from his plans. There is no racking or dust issue. It takes up a ton of room and wall space, though. For my space (about 2/3 of a three car garage), losing that footprint to cabinets and a miter saw was a killer. I am slowly breaking it down to build more mobile work surfaces.

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hah! Ya I am not planning on going as crazy as he did with her miter station ... I will most likely just stick with the bottom section and no upper cabs. More of a setup like Kevin has with his miter saw setup and have moveable stuff on the top. I will just need the storage though. So I am planning to load up on the sliding drawers in about an 8' section ...

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3 hours ago, bushwacked said:

This is really speaking to me as I will be building them on the side and have to contend with the garage slope ...

This is actually could be a good way to go.  Garage floors are sloped for drainage.  When I built my station one end was near a side man door and ended about 8 feet from the garage door, so I had to shim the cabinets in two different directions.

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4 hours ago, Chet said:

This is actually could be a good way to go.  Garage floors are sloped for drainage.  When I built my station one end was near a side man door and ended about 8 feet from the garage door, so I had to shim the cabinets in two different directions.

Oh wow that is a lot shimming/leveling haha. My only concern would be uneven drywall making a cabinet stick out more than the others throwing off the top piece. 

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2 minutes ago, bushwacked said:

Oh wow that is a lot shimming/leveling haha. My only concern would be uneven drywall making a cabinet stick out more than the others throwing off the top piece. 

Could you attach the top and base cabinets together first then slide them up against the wall and shim where needed.

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27 minutes ago, mat60 said:

Could you attach the top and base cabinets together first then slide them up against the wall and shim where needed.

Well if I’m hanging them like the pic a few posts up that may make it harder?? I have no idea though 

 

if I did the standard way like you are mentioning ... would it make it harder to shun and level with a top on it? Or no? 

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I was looking at your first pic at the start of this thread.  Sorry.  If your talking about hanging the base cabinets off the floor as pick above I would screw a cleat to the wall for the cabinets to sit on. Make shore the cleat is level and the top be close. 

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I don't see a reason to leave quite so much space underneath, but yeah it's a beeter way to go than just pure shimming. I recently built cabinet boxes,  just the box part, unlike the store bought cabinets. Then I used 2x4s that I coped/shimmed to match the slope of the floor and lift the boxes off the ground anywhere from 2-3.5" depending on where they were in the garage.

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3 hours ago, JosephThomas said:

I don't see a reason to leave quite so much space underneath, but yeah it's a beeter way to go than just pure shimming. I recently built cabinet boxes,  just the box part, unlike the store bought cabinets. Then I used 2x4s that I coped/shimmed to match the slope of the floor and lift the boxes off the ground anywhere from 2-3.5" depending on where they were in the garage.

 

I think he left so much for the ladder and making it easier to clean under there?? I would assume you make it small it gets hard to clean it out. 

Yes. What you described is what I am trying to avoid lol

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3 hours ago, bushwacked said:

 

I think he left so much for the ladder and making it easier to clean under there?? I would assume you make it small it gets hard to clean it out. 

Yes. What you described is what I am trying to avoid lol

Ha. It was quite simple. You just lay down the 2x4, shim under one end until it's level, then draw a line across the face by laying the pencil on a small piece of wood on the ground, cut to the line on the bandsaw, done. Just pay attention to how thick/thing you want the 2x4 to end up being, and size the thickness of the small block of wood accordingly (or just glue another piece to it when done to get the correct overall height. It took  me 5 minutes and I'm not very good.

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13 hours ago, Alan G said:

I have used these before on a project with good success.

https://www.wwhardware.com/blum-leg-leveler-components-blum-leg-levelers

 

5 hours ago, wdwerker said:

I have been using leveling legs for over 20 years ! They work great ! I got a deal on a huge quantity a few years ago but here is a link to something similar.

https://www.cabinethardware.com/Plastic-Leg-Levelers-p/1329.htm

Oh perfect!! Thanks for the links guys. Those should be plenty good for the job

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I built million dollar houses, and never used anything but wooden wedges, made by eyeball on RAS or Miter Saw, to level up cabinets (made nice, even opposing ones with a sled for setting house door jambs).   If the cabinets are going to be permanent, just put some glue on, and tap to straight, and level.

Use a cheap, made in England, Japanese pull saw to cut off protruding parts where it matters.

If the floor is really out of level a lot, I'd build the base first, so that it's level on top, and then set the cabinet on it.

If it will be reused again somewhere else, the levelers can't be beat.

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10 hours ago, Tom King said:

I built million dollar houses, and never used anything but wooden wedges, made by eyeball on RAS or Miter Saw, to level up cabinets (made nice, even opposing ones with a sled for setting house door jambs).   If the cabinets are going to be permanent, just put some glue on, and tap to straight, and level.

Use a cheap, made in England, Japanese pull saw to cut off protruding parts where it matters.

If the floor is really out of level a lot, I'd build the base first, so that it's level on top, and then set the cabinet on it.

If it will be reused again somewhere else, the levelers can't be beat.

These will definitely be permenant. As for the floor it’s got the standard garage slope so I’m not sure how far over the 10’ area it will be out of level. I would assume maybe 1” or so? I have not figured that out yet. Got tons of crap in the way I need to move around first. 

8 hours ago, wdwerker said:

If there is a chance the floor will get wet plastic legs don't care. If you need to run wires or spray for bugs the toekick pops off. 

I’m not planning on the floor getting wet outside of bug spray . If it is the last thing in my mind will be these cabinets haha. Spraying for bugs and hiding wires may happen though. 

26 minutes ago, Alan G said:

That is the perfect reason to use the leveling legs in a garage application.

They are winning me over... 

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