David Sparkes Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 I have acquired a Drilling and Milling machine, complete with a substantial stand, the one in the picture. (Anything 'interesting' you might see in the background belongs to the vendor, not me!) I want to enhance the storage facility afforded by the stand by inserting 'shallow' drawers, say 2" or 3" in height (50 or 75mm). The idea is that these would hold the drill chuck, collets for milling cutters, the cutters themselves, and standard twist drills. The front to back depth of both spaces is 24" (600mm) as both the front and rear of the stand are vertical, it's only the sides that taper. Looking at the upper of the two spaces, the vertical height is 11" (280mm) and 12" (300mm) wide at the narrow upper edge. The lower space has a vertical height of 15" (380mm) and is 16" (400mm) wide at the narrow upper edge. All dimensions have been rounded, whether imperial or metric are used, any container to the appropriate numbers will fit in the access holes. I am prepared to compromise the 'ideal' and have a drawer cabinet with vertical sides, thus losing some storage space 🙂 I'm looking for suggestions please on where might stock suitable drawers, or a relatively simple design for making my own. Thankyou. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Really Useful boxes? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Other option would be to mount it onto a solid cabinet of some sort instead. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 1 hour ago, landroversforever said: Other option would be to mount it onto a solid cabinet of some sort instead. Great idea ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Sparkes Posted June 4, 2019 Author Share Posted June 4, 2019 Although I had forgotten about them, when revisited, as ever, the Really Useful Boxes site contains a bewildering multitude of ideas - well, I can never decide what will be most useful to me!! That stand is made of 3mm steel plate; bolted together it is seriously heavy, designed for the job, and I am not sure I want to reinvent that wheel. Having said that, I have realised that when the traversing table is taken into account, the width required in the workshop is more than it first appears. When I come to finally install it I may fit a wide worktop between the base and the stand. This will be wide enough the 'reserve' the space required for the traversing table. Add some sides to suit, then shelves under the worktop, (between the new sides and the stand), and I will have regained some of my storage space. Despite the angled sides of the metal stand, it will be better organised and utilised than the 'stuff piled on stuff on the floor' that exists at the moment. What I have found is some older examples of the 5 drawer Leitz Post Set. I had saved these when another office was re-equiping some years ago. They were initially re-purposed to store phone, electricity, and gas bills, but being more than 5 years old I've now placed those into recycling. The cages of these post sets are just too tall to go straight in the upper section, but as the opening is smaller than the internal dimensions, because of the flange on the top plate, simply removing 4 of the 6 bolts enables me to flex the shelf down slightly, insert the post set, then re-insert the bolts. I know they don't use the full depth of the stand, but there is enough tray storage to be going on with. Due to the internal design of the cage, the 2" high drawers can be stacked directly above one another, (but not resting on each other). Removing one drawer and re-arranging the others gets my two 2" high drawers and two 3" high drawers. I reckon it's pretty difficult to find something better, especially from my redundant stock. Sometimes harbouring 'stuff' pays off (fortunately)!! Thanks for the ideas and suggestions, although not used directly they have promoted thought, producing beneficial ideas. What's that slogan 'Shared ideas, independent minds'? Whatever happened to those promotional stickers? Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 That looks very similar to my Warco mill, only mine is mounted on a square cabinet with a chip tray. Â Â The cupboard under is not especially well fitted out with shelves, but you can get a fair amount in there, just not so well organised. Â Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 (edited) You can get tote boxes in all sort of sizes, the metal ones are very sturdy so all you would need would be some angle iron runners. They also stack so you could even just stack them on the shelf. Mine has an open stand a bit like yours and I put big stuff like oil, cutting fluid, lumps of metal I use as parallels or sacrificial supports etc there and bought a cheap roller tool box for everything else. Top draw has all the tools needed, second draw the cutters, next draw the collet sets, bigger fly cutters, drawbars etc etc. It's suprising how much stuff you accumulate, I haven't filled the roller tool box bit there it isn't empty either. Things like the clamp set, vice, rotary table etc sit on the top or its a handy place to put drawings / sketches etc when your working... and you mug of tea! Edited June 5, 2019 by Cynic-al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Sparkes Posted June 5, 2019 Author Share Posted June 5, 2019 Thanks for your interest; mine is definately the begineers version, but probably ideally suited to this begineer !! Even at this early stage I can see a large amount of related equipment, including static items like fabricated support pieces, will arrive. How much equipment will probably be related to how much work I find to do. Regards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 Good luck with your new mill. I had one similar to that in the past and had a lot of fun. Biggest headache is the lack of height adjustment of the head without losing your centre.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 5 hours ago, bishbosh said: Biggest headache is the lack of height adjustment of the head without losing your centre.... Exactly this ^^^ Must get my Bridgeport moved in. Only had it six or seven years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 The newer version of mine are square instead of round for this reason. You could always put a ground bar at the back with liner bearings to lock it straight I guess. Pull the bar out if you want to tilt or turn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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