Monday, December 3, 2018

I've wanted to use the 10" tall bottom right drawer in my toolbox to store drills and impact wrenches.  Snap-on makes these drawer organizers, but there are a few things I don't like.  With full size 18v batteries, the rack will only hold 7 tools, not 8 as shown here. Also, they were out of stock, so I couldn't buy one even if I wanted to spend the extra cash.


As I do, I decided to make my own!

I started with two 12" x 48" sheets of 20ga #4b brushed 304 stainless steel from onlinemetals.com and some 1098APA03 and 1098APA02 holsters from Snap-on (replacement parts for their organizer).




After some holes and rivet nuts, I got the holsters squeezed in place.  Four 3-1/2" wide holsters fit perfectly in the 14-3/8" drawer after I installed the stainless steel walls.

I drilled holes every 1" to make it flexible for the future.  The hole patterns in each holster are 1/2", so this gives me quite a bit of flexibility.

I cut some bars of 1" T-slot framing, made a few brackets (keeping the grain direction of course), and bolted it all together!



I also folded up a second panel for the back side of the center rib. This will allow me to add organizers without drilling through the main holster panel.

Here is a close-up shot of the hemmed edges, I'm trying to keep all the sharp edges away from my reach.


I started with this little organizer to hold my most used bits: two 1/8" drills, a 1/2" x 90º 6 flute countersink, a magnet bit holder with #2 Phillips bit, a combination drill/countersink for wood, another #2 Phillips, and a No. 4 60º center drill.


And here it is all filled up!  I still have my old 18v NiCd stuff in the back row, so this will move out as I continue to expand.



Thursday, November 15, 2018

I finally finished up my tool cart project!

After some minor bodywork, I sprayed it with some PPG DP50LF epoxy primer






Scuffed and masked for paint.  I decided not to re-paint the entire drawer, only the front and first 6" or so.

I had planned to spray this outside, but winter suddenly happened.  I ended up trading some work with Fort Pitt Classic Cars and they sprayed it for me!


Done!  It's not perfect, but certainly good enough for the bottom drawer on a Craigslist cart.

It's slightly too shiny to match the faded original paint

Done!   The paint isn't a 100% perfect color match, and actually all 3 sections of toolbox are slightly different from each other too, but close enough for this project.


I also whipped up this tray from the remains of the 4" drawer I cut up.


This wasn't ready in time to get painted, I'll spray it in the spring.

I filled it up, here are the contents.  In the really deep bottom drawer, I have my paint guns, cleaning solvents, and large boxes of abrasives.

Sanding rolls and masking tapes

Tools.  It seems silly keeping duplicates right next to my main box, but the point of this cart is to be mobile.  I have everything I need to change air fittings, adjust air hose plumbing, open paint cans, cut wire for hanging racks, pick masking tape, or any other random things.

This drawer is a bit of a mess, but I'll organize it soon.

I also spent some time mounting Bondhus t-handle racks to the side of my machinist box.  I previously had these sitting on the side shelf, but now that they're mounted I can fold up the shelf.

Monday, November 5, 2018

The toolbox project continues.

After welding, I checked the drawer front and it was visibly warped.

I decided to try a new technique.  This is a test piece using 20ga steel with really tight fits (zero gap), TIG fusion welded (no filler) with pulse.  The intention is to keep the heat to a minimum and therefore reduce welding.

I ended up forming a new drawer pull section, I had to sacrifice the one I had cut from the Snap-on drawer.

Fixtured up with better chill plates

... and I didn't take a picture, but it still warped!  I cut it off and tried again.

This time I decided to try a lap joint with MIG plug welds. I cut the front off of another drawer (I wanted to save one 4" drawer, but decided to use it).

This is the whole reason for all of this.  I can't form this tight bend in the brakes I have access to, but this channel is critical for the Snap-on Lock'N'Roll mechanism that keeps the drawers latched.


Success!! This kept it much more straight.  It's still not perfect (about 0.050" over 28") but close enough for this project.

After all of the plug welding, I ground the welds smooth and laid out some putty.  I wish I had taken a picture before, I probably could get away without putty and just sanding the primer layer.  These ground down really nice.  It also helped that I skipped weld-through primer, which I typically use when plug welding car projects.  Since this will live indoors and never get wet, I left bare steel in all of the lap joints.


Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Last weekend I happened to be in Philadelphia, so I had the opportunity to attend Radwood!  It's an 80s/90s theme car show, which was awesome.  Here are some of my favorites:

MK2 Rallye Golf!

Ferrari <3

Lots of period-correct gems came out to attend!

Clean E36 M3.  These are my favorite cars from the era, although I prefer the 4 door Sedan model.

ATTN: BILLY

And of course you can't hold an 80s/90s car show without several DeLoreans


Some vintage Audi, Lotus

ATTN: NEEL

Lancia!

This van looked mean.

Oh look, a junky old BMW 5-series...

...with an enormous turbo LSx!!

Acura NSX might be my next project once the Jetta is done.



leaky Alfa Romeo GTV6, Joe Elliot spec.

'Murica

Very clean big body BMW on air

Seats were rad on this one!



TURBO MINIVAN!

Split Ronal Bears!!!!!!  The owner brought a jack so he could clock the wheels properly and all 4 bears were upright.  I like the detail and dedication.

MK3 Harlequin!

ATTN: JIMMY

This wasn't in the show, and isn't exactly period correct, but I spotted it in the parking lot.


New tool! Just one, but an important one.  There were 3 different versions of this hammer produced - two Snap-on branded and one Blue Point branded. I had two of the versions, and just found the 3rd and most rare version on eBay!


1963 date code

Hammer drawer is filling up!

I also whipped up this backsplash for my lathe.  I made it from a scrap shelf I pulled from the dumpster at work and some rusty angle iron from my grandpap's basement!


I added a $2 rubber isolation mount to reduce rattling noises since the machine vibrates quite a bit.


Done!