It's been a couple years, but I finally upgraded the el-cheapo shop shelves on the south wall. They functioned well and did the job, but everything was dirty and unorganized. I will be able to recycle the 2x4's and bracketing for another project.

After many, many months of research, I decided on the Seville Ultra Heavy Duty Cabinets from Sam's Club. Measuring out at 36"W x 18"D x 72"H, two of these cabinets will fit in nicely. The extra 30" of wall space gained will be used for a special cabinet to be made later.

Made from powder coated steel with stainless doors, the Seville cabinets are quite stout with a load capacity of 150 pounds per shelf. Assembly was easy with two people and took just under an hour.

The packaging was first-rate. There were no missing parts and the panels showed no dings, dents, or blemishes. I was impressed with the bottom rubber bumpers and the additional strengthening brackets on the upper corners. The 5" casters allow easy movement of the large cabinet, even when loaded with shop supplies.

Three of the four shelves are adjustable allowing unlimited storage options.

Finally after 3 years of fighting dust and assorted creepy crawlies I can safely store my shop supplies.

After much searching in my shop, I think I found an excellent solution for my cabinet door handles. I found a 20mm Beta socket wrench buried in one of my cabinets. I was lucky to find it's twin on Amazon for only $5. When installed this should make a unique door handle.

I will epoxy a M20 x 80mm bolt to the upper part of the wrench and install using fender washers to distribute the weight across the door.

My first design for shop cabinet door handles didn't come out so well. The heat from the weld discolored the chrome handles. I tried in vain to remove the marks. No luck.

My friends at the Garage Journal forum had many ideas of how to correct the heat marks. Some suggested covering the wrench with tape, still others mentioned powder coating, re-chroming, or even simple painting. The natural look of the wrench is important for my design idea. While I like the shiny chrome, it doesn't hold up when welded.

The best idea given to me was from member CAOS who suggested:

"Instead of welding bolts to the back for attaching to the door, why not epoxy two bolts into the box ends of the wrench. Then drill holes in the door to correspond with those bolts?"

What a great idea! The handles will not be subjected to any stress so this just might work.

Recently I scored a 1978 Snap-On Roller Chest. The problem is where to put the darn thing. After restoration of the chest, I am planning to build a shop cabinet around the Roller Chest.

Here's my shop cabinet design finished just a few moments ago. The framing will be standard 2x4 lumber, with 3/4" BC Plywood for the shelves, sides, top, and bottom.

I wanted doors but I didn't want cheesy looking plywood doors, even with edge trim. Standard sized kitchen cabinet doors wouldn't be right either. Luckily my good friend Dave come up with a nifty door solution.

An interior wood door I asked? "Yes", Dave said, "think outside the box." A design concept was born.

The 28" doors will be framed within the 2x4 cabinet frame. The doors will be flush mounted and feature 17mm-19mm S-Curve chrome wrenches as door handles. Clear LED rope lighting will run fore and aft of the shelf corners and operate through a door pressure switch.

Above the roller chest will be two 12" deep bookshelves with lighting. The flat top surface of the roller chest will be covered with a handmade oak table top, sans legs.

Stay tuned, this is gonna be fun!

What better way to practice macro photography, than with Lego mini figurines? They're the ideal size and quite detailed. If memory serves me correctly these are all made with robotics.

Enjoy