[buktotruth]

As I'm sure is the case for many of you, my workbench went from being a very useful work surface to a mess of random crap that didn't have a place in the shop. So, I decided it was time to organize.

As you can see in the "before" photo, I had an open bottom workbench (which I built a while back) and so I decided to make a simple plywood cabinet with drawers that fit right in the space. With the help of sketchup, I manage to get this all done with about 1.5 sheets of 3/4" AC ply (and 1/2 a sheet of 1/2" AC ply for the drawer bottoms). The drawers work on ball bearing slides (not quite full extension, but I got a good price on the 3/4 stuff and it seems to be okay). The total cost (including all hardware) was about $120 (the slides were the most expensive part at $8/pair).

The shop is now looking way more organized and I have my bench back! Now to make something else...

 

[smokey1945]

Good job! Looks nice! The trouble is that now you won't be able to find anything because you can't see it.:blink::laughing:
Smokey

 

[JMartel]

Now the problem is going to be that your drawers will get too full to open, and stuff will clutter the top like the right photo.

 

[buktotruth]

Now the problem is going to be that your drawers will get too full to open, and stuff will clutter the top like the right photo.

I hope not! A couple of the drawers are actually still pretty empty, so plenty of room to expand.

And now that I've built this one, I'm thinking of adding some more storage. I have a full upright drill press that I never use at full height (I never lower the table more than a few inches). So I was thinking of selling it, buying a bench top drill press and building a nice rolling cart to go under it. I figure you can never have enough storage space.

 

[frankp]

Good job. I just got a drawer cabinet from a desk that I'm going to add to my workbench in place of my current shelf or add to my router table, perhaps.

 

[JMartel]

Keep the full sized drill press. If you have to, make a cart with storage that goes underneath the table to reclaim space. The floor drill presses are far superior to the benchtops.

 

[gus1962]

Great job! We really need more space and storage in our shops!

 

[MagGeorge]

Great build, it look great and very functional. Those drawers really help with better organization and give additional storage.

 

[MT Stringer]

Keep the drill press. Search You Tube for a drill press cabinet. I have seen at least one that looks nice...and you would have more drawers available for storage.
Here is a pic of mine with the bench top model mounted on it.