Any woodworkers/carpenters in the house?

[Eli]

So.. my plan is to build a smallish storage cabinet/shelf for my garage. Probably say, 4'Lx4'Wx6'H. Will have it on casters.

My original plan was to use 4x4's for the four corner posts, and 2x4's in an X shape on 3 sides + top and bottom as braces. So like |X|.

However.. They're doing some remodeling at work, involving framing a new room. After seeing them work, this gave me new, possibly better ideas. Should I just frame it? I think it would be more solid overall. Would be more wood expense, though. But the way they banged those frames out made me think it also might be easier, and require only a circular saw instead of both a circular saw and miter saw, neither of which I currently have.

My plan is to put plywood on the outer 3 sides, then add pegboard, shelving and such as needed.

 

[BoomerD]

If you're siding the cabinet with plywood, you won't need the cross-bracing.

Why use 4x4's? Unless you're gonna load it with tons of materials, simple 2x4 uprights will take the load just fine.

 

[grrl]

If you're siding the cabinet with plywood, you won't need the cross-bracing.

Why use 4x4's? Unless you're gonna load it with tons of materials, simple 2x4 uprights will take the load just fine.

Agreed, 4x4s are overkill.

 

[bctbct]

look for a design online, things like this tend to be out of portion by the time you drive the last nail.

 

[skyking]

All good info above. I'll just reinforce the idea (heh) that sheeting is way stronger than anything, if you get sufficient fasteners into it. Make a nice platform out of 2x4s on the bottom to carry all the heavy loads and some double blocking to mount the casters on, and then use 1/2" or even 7/16" ply on the sides. 7/16 with 5 or 7 plies is stronger than 4 ply 1/2" for instance.

 

[keird]

You need a biscuit joiner and a dovetail jig.


























Yeah. I don't know what they do either, but imagine dovetail biscuit waffles!

 

[sdifox]

important thing is squaring it. Just do more horizontal bracing since you are doing 6' and anchor the top to the wall. Wait, castors? what is the load capacity you are going for?

PS, these are not carpenter/woodworker level skill

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

http://www.shopnotes.com/plans/heavy-duty-rolling-shop-cabinets/

 

[Eli]

important thing is squaring it. Just do more horizontal bracing since you are doing 6' and anchor the top to the wall. Wait, castors? what is the load capacity you are going for?

PS, these are not carpenter/woodworker level skill

? I was just looking for some advice from people that have worked with wood before. I never really have.

I'm sure 4x4's are overkill as far as strength and all that goes, I was just thinking about something nice and big/square to mount the casters on. Making frames would also give such a structure. I would also have more support for the shelving brackets, since I could attach them to the studs in the frames, rather than just the corner pieces. I don't know how much weight I'll be putting on them.. maybe a couple hundred pounds at most.

So having walls of plywood would be more than sturdy enough? That makes sense, and would simplify things. The main reason I'm using 4x4 as the length and width is because that's how wide a sheet of plywood is. lol

I guess I should just go at it. There's probably not much to screw up. I'm good with measurements and such, just used to working with metal.

 

[Turin39789]

The main reason I'm using 4x4 as the length and width is because that's how wide a sheet of plywood is. lol

wat

 

[sdifox]

? I was just looking for some advice from people that have worked with wood before. I never really have.

I'm sure 4x4's are overkill as far as strength and all that goes, I was just thinking about something nice and big/square to mount the casters on. Making frames would also give such a structure. I would also have more support for the shelving brackets, since I could attach them to the studs in the frames, rather than just the corner pieces. I don't know how much weight I'll be putting on them.. maybe a couple hundred pounds at most.

So having walls of plywood would be more than sturdy enough? That makes sense, and would simplify things. The main reason I'm using 4x4 as the length and width is because that's how wide a sheet of plywood is. lol

I guess I should just go at it. There's probably not much to screw up. I'm good with measurements and such, just used to working with metal.

Wood is a lot more forgiving than metal Why do you need plywood walls if you are going to put it on casters? Just have the wood frames + the plank shelves. That should be strong enough.
I would suggest adding solid plank for the bottom frame because you are going with castors and a solid plank would flex a little less. Use plenty of screws on that frame + plank assembly

 

[Eli]

wat

What's so hard to understand about that? lol

Cut two feet off the top of a standard sheet of plywood, and you have your side. Kinda going for ease of construction here. Few cuts as possible...

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

What's so hard to understand about that? lol

Cut two feet off the top of a standard sheet of plywood, and you have your side. Kinda going for ease of construction here. Few cuts as possible...

he was asking why you were relating a 4x4 with the size of plywood. The 2 are not at all related.

 

[Eli]

Wood is a lot more forgiving than metal Why do you need plywood walls if you are going to put it on casters? Just have the wood frames + the plank shelves. That should be strong enough.
I would suggest adding solid plank for the bottom frame because you are going with castors and a solid plank would flex a little less. Use plenty of screws on that frame + plank assembly

The casters thing was just an idea. I thought it would make it easy to move around the garage if I needed to. It's not necessary though. I would still be able to anchor the top, and of course any casters would be rather large, with locks.

Anyway.. I'd like to put a door on it, with a lock.. more like a cabinet than a shelving system.

 

[Eli]

he was asking why you were relating a 4x4 with the size of plywood. The 2 are not at all related.

Oh. Sorry. I meant the reason I want to build the cabinet 4' square.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

http://www.plansnow.com/rolltoolcrt.html

 

[Eli]

http://www.plansnow.com/rolltoolcrt.html

Ok, now scale that up about 3x.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Ok, now scale that up about 3x.

just some friendly advice....I'd take the experience of a woodworking pro who built and perfected plans enough to charge $10 for them on the internet over just a random "because I want to" approach.

 

[sdifox]

The casters thing was just an idea. I thought it would make it easy to move around the garage if I needed to. It's not necessary though. I would still be able to anchor the top, and of course any casters would be rather large, with locks.

Anyway.. I'd like to put a door on it, with a lock.. more like a cabinet than a shelving system.

lol, cabinet is very different from shelf.

 

[Eli]

just some friendly advice....I'd take the experience of a woodworking pro who built and perfected plans enough to charge $10 for them on the internet over just a random "because I want to" approach.

I'm not trying to build anything complicated. Just a very simple, yet large, cabinet. I don't need sliding drawers, or it to look nice. It just needs to be simple to build, and level/square.. lol

I'm just looking for advice on how to do this. It's either I attach plywood to four pieces of wood, or I build three 4'Wx6'H frames and attach them together with plywood. Or??? Those are the only two options I can think of. lol

 

[Eli]

If anyone has Google SketchUp, I made a quick model of what my original idea was.

http://home.comcast.net/~epruett3/garagebox.skp

Apparently there is a viewer:

http://sketchup.google.com/download/gsuviewer.html

 

[mugs]

If you're siding the cabinet with plywood, you won't need the cross-bracing.

Why use 4x4's? Unless you're gonna load it with tons of materials, simple 2x4 uprights will take the load just fine.

This. I made some similar shelves in my basement, but mine were 4'x8' and 6' tall (and no casters). I only used six vertical 2x4s. I put a sheet of OSB on one of the narrow ends and a thinner strip of OSB across the back and the other narrow end. That was plenty to keep it from wobbling.

I used OSB for the shelves as well. At $7 a sheet OSB is much cheaper than plywood and did what I needed it to do.

Pics:

I made the shelves 48" wide (so I didn't have to cut the OSB) and then put the vertical 2x4s on the outside, so the whole thing was 51" wide. You'll want yours to be 48x48 if you're going to wrap it with OSB. Framing it like a house is excessive; you could just put a 2x4 outside each corner like I did. Make one side 45" and the other 48" so it totals 48" with the vertical 2x4s. You could cut the shelf 45x48 if you're not worried about stuff falling down on the sides/back, or you could cut them 48x48 and notch around the verticals.

 

[Eli]

This. I made some similar shelves in my basement, but mine were 4'x8' and 6' tall (and no casters). I only used six vertical 2x4s. I put a sheet of OSB on one of the narrow ends and a thinner strip of OSB across the back and the other narrow end. That was plenty to keep it from wobbling.

I used OSB for the shelves as well. At $7 a sheet OSB is much cheaper than plywood and did what I needed it to do.

Cool, thanks. OSB may be the way to go!