French Cleat Storage for my router Table
I built this router table a couple months ago with a couple of “Jackman Drawers” inspired by the #Lumberbear himself. I planned on building out some heavy duty french cleat organization and french cleat tool holders in this thing but I ended up just tossing a bunch of stuff in there.
This ends today.
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I am finally going to organize these cabinets and get some of these tools into their permanent french cleat homes. The first thing I need to find a home for is all of my tools from Dremel tools including the new 3.5 Amp oscillating tool. I don’t use these tools much as I don’t do much carving or detail work, but I do plan on getting more into it in 2019 and beyond so I need to find a good place for them so they are at hand when I need them.
First step is to cut french cleats. French cleats are 45 degree mitered cuts into plywood that serve as brackets for other fixtures. French cleats are super versatile and super heavy duty. Putting up french cleats is a great use of scrap plywood laying around and a great way to organize your shop.
Once you cut the cleats you can install them with either just screws or screws and glue if you want them to support more weight. For this application, they don’t need to support much weight so I will just screw them in.
After the french cleats are screwed in comes the fun part, making all of the custom tool holders. This may seem a little intimidating, but it is as simple as tracing out a shape the your tool can sit comfortably in, cutting it out with a jigsaw, and maybe…iunno rounding over the edges or something to make it more presentable. I am excited to get more into carving, I use a traditional Dremel rotary tool, the Dremel Stylo which is great for details, and the Dremel 3.5 amp and 5 amp model which I use for removing big chunks of material and detail sanding.
You can knock these holders out pretty quick. I usually make mine out of pine to there are no raw edges to worry about. Once you cut out the shapes, glue and screw them to a corresponding french cleat.
Now, I have a sliding vertical drawer full of tools, neat. I also put my batteries and chargers on the other side just keep them a little bit cleaner and out of the elements. I used a powerstrip with LED lights on it to maybe keep this cabinet a little bit warmer so the batteries will last longer. This was a tip I picked up for @toolpig himself, and he knows his stuff, so it must be true.
Stage 2 finished for an organized shop in 2019!
Follow along for more,
Keep your tools sharp, and your mind sharper
Rick
WoodWorkLIFE
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