So I wanted to share my latest shop build with you guys. I have been going further and further down the woodworking rabbit hole for the last 4-5 years and have slowly been collecting tools and building the things I need. Well, this year I told myself, "Self, we need to get a new workbench/cabinet built". All of the measurements were pulled from my head and the panel designs came from several youtube videos.
First thing we had to do was clean up the area a little bit. This drywall is going on 40 years old and soaked up paint like it was going out of style. This transformation took a whole gallon of exterior white paint 4 coats thick.
Before Paint:
After Paint:
The upper cabinets are made of four 24"x24"x15" (WxHxD) individual boxes placed side by side. These were put together with Kreg screws and butt joints. I also used the Kreg shelf pin jig for the pin holes. (I made some similar to these for my grandpa’s garage)
First Box done:
All of them hung up:
The base cabinets were a bit trickier as I have never made anything like these before. The base is made of up 2 carcasses. Carcass #1 is 36”Dx46”Wx32”H. This was is a bit bigger than the other as eventually it will house my X-carve CNC by Inventables. Inventables sent me the dimensions needed for their machines and I went from there. Carcass #2 is a little bit thinner as it will be my general worktop. This carcass came in at 20”Dx56”Wx32”H. Instead of making individual boxes for these I tried to use single panels with stretchers between to save on plywood (and I believe this is how they are supposed to be done?)
Carcass #1
Carcass #2
Test fit
Once we got all of that put together we stained it with a water based white stain. It was a major pain in the butt cause we had to keep stopping and stirring it up and the white would settle pretty quickly. However the white came out nice and resembled “Birch” plywood once it was dry. Since the floor of my garage is not flat I used leveling feet to make sure I could get my cabinets level without to much hassle. Once we got it leveled and installed we secured them to the wall.
The tops of the cabinets are 2 layers of ¾ plywood using “Birch” plywood as the top layer. We screwed them together and then secured the tops to the stretchers on the carcasses. We also left the tops with a 3” overhang on the front of the cabinets. The doors to the cabinets are made using the same “Birch” plywood.
Carcass #1 top
Carcass #2 top
Installed on base cabinets
Set of upper doors
I still have a lot of work to do and am still working on the doors for the uppers. I still need to finish the edge banding, put a finish on the doors and I need to put some form of edging on the top of the base too. I did start playing with the hinges and I must say I like they way it is coming along. I will be doing another build when I get to making the drawers for the base cabinet so I will let y’all know when I get that started (may be a while).
All in all I have used:
4 sheets of “Sanded” plywood
2 sheets of “Birch” plywood
12 6’ 1x4s
16 European style soft close hinges
12 Heavy duty leveling feet
8 Door handles
And a big bucket of screws.
This build took my dad and I 8 straight days of starting and crack of 10am and working till about 5pm (ish). I learned a lot about the tools I have and the once I now want. And most importantly I had a blast working with my dad.
Thank you for sticking with me as I ramble 😊
Drew
First thing we had to do was clean up the area a little bit. This drywall is going on 40 years old and soaked up paint like it was going out of style. This transformation took a whole gallon of exterior white paint 4 coats thick.
Before Paint:
After Paint:
The upper cabinets are made of four 24"x24"x15" (WxHxD) individual boxes placed side by side. These were put together with Kreg screws and butt joints. I also used the Kreg shelf pin jig for the pin holes. (I made some similar to these for my grandpa’s garage)
First Box done:
All of them hung up:
The base cabinets were a bit trickier as I have never made anything like these before. The base is made of up 2 carcasses. Carcass #1 is 36”Dx46”Wx32”H. This was is a bit bigger than the other as eventually it will house my X-carve CNC by Inventables. Inventables sent me the dimensions needed for their machines and I went from there. Carcass #2 is a little bit thinner as it will be my general worktop. This carcass came in at 20”Dx56”Wx32”H. Instead of making individual boxes for these I tried to use single panels with stretchers between to save on plywood (and I believe this is how they are supposed to be done?)
Carcass #1
Carcass #2
Test fit
Once we got all of that put together we stained it with a water based white stain. It was a major pain in the butt cause we had to keep stopping and stirring it up and the white would settle pretty quickly. However the white came out nice and resembled “Birch” plywood once it was dry. Since the floor of my garage is not flat I used leveling feet to make sure I could get my cabinets level without to much hassle. Once we got it leveled and installed we secured them to the wall.
The tops of the cabinets are 2 layers of ¾ plywood using “Birch” plywood as the top layer. We screwed them together and then secured the tops to the stretchers on the carcasses. We also left the tops with a 3” overhang on the front of the cabinets. The doors to the cabinets are made using the same “Birch” plywood.
Carcass #1 top
Carcass #2 top
Installed on base cabinets
Set of upper doors
I still have a lot of work to do and am still working on the doors for the uppers. I still need to finish the edge banding, put a finish on the doors and I need to put some form of edging on the top of the base too. I did start playing with the hinges and I must say I like they way it is coming along. I will be doing another build when I get to making the drawers for the base cabinet so I will let y’all know when I get that started (may be a while).
All in all I have used:
4 sheets of “Sanded” plywood
2 sheets of “Birch” plywood
12 6’ 1x4s
16 European style soft close hinges
12 Heavy duty leveling feet
8 Door handles
And a big bucket of screws.
This build took my dad and I 8 straight days of starting and crack of 10am and working till about 5pm (ish). I learned a lot about the tools I have and the once I now want. And most importantly I had a blast working with my dad.
Thank you for sticking with me as I ramble 😊
Drew
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