Drill and Sander Storage

I needed storage for my drills and sanders. I had been thinking/working out this design for a while, and settled on a combination of plywood and 3D printed parts.

I wanted the tools to be easily accessible, and have a single location to store and charge the batteries. For the sanders I added storage drawers for the hook and loop sanding discs.

• 3/4" Plywood
• 1/8" hardboard or 1/4" plywood
• Pocket hole screws
• 3D printer or just the 3D printed parts
• Wood glue
• Screws
• Table or circular saw
• Drawer slides
• Dado stack (optional. I was trying something new for the drawer slides.)

Determine which tools you want to store, so you can figure out the optimal layout and the necessary dimensions. I had actually printed some of the 3D printed parts beforehand and tested the layout before any wood was cut.

I figured I wanted a pullout drawer/shelf so I can more easily reach smaller items in the back. And I wanted a shelf just for sand paper. Figuring out the heights and width needed for each section, and than account for the width of the plywood you'll be using. Now you can calculate the sizes you need to cut.

Cut the plywood for the cabinet, the shelf, and drawer. Use the dimensions you determined from the layout and design step. This can be done with a table saw or a circular saw (with a cross cut jig, or similar method).

This step is not necessary. I wanted to see if having a dedicated dado slot for the drawer slide mechanism would make assembly easier and avoid the need for a drawer slide alignment jig. I think it worked out great. The dado will need to be wide enough to accommodate the drawer slide. One potential issue, is the included screws may now be too long for installation.

The shelf can be installed in a dado or with pocket hole screws. I prefer using a dado.

I downloaded several different parts from Thingiverse. The drill holsters, which I later cut one side off of to decrease the amount of required space. Dewalt hanging tool holders. A Dewalt random orbit hanger. Dewalt battery holders. A 5" random orbit disc sander shelf and drawers. I modified this from someone else's design to use less print material, and help line up the discs during application to the sander.

Some of the holders were printed about two years ago... that's how long this whole thing has been waiting in the planning stages.

• DeWALT / Makita drill gun shelf hanger holder
• Wall Mount For DeWalt 12, 20 & 60V MAX Batteries.
• Dewalt DWE6423 Sander Wall Mounting Bracket
• DeWalt XR 20v oscillating tool holder
• 5 inch sandpaper storage improved

I utilized pocket holes for assembly.

Drill the pocket holes.

Apply glue to the appropriate edges (optional).

Use a 90 degree corner clamp to hold pieces in place, while driving in the screws.

This is the 90 degree corner clamp I use: Reverse corner clamp with Pocket Hole Cutouts

Install the drawer slides to the cabinet and drawers

I think the Dado greatly assisted in this (but there are plenty of jigs available to assist as well).

Various sized wood screws were used to attach the 3D printed parts to the cabinet.

I also hung up the chargers. I added a small power strip, and plugged it into a smart switch. Why? So I could set the charge on a timer and have it switch off completely to avoid the possibility of over charging and a fire (I've seen people report fires caused by power tool over charging).

Note: you could do this step before or after hanging the cabinet.

Before cutting the back panel on the table saw, I assemble the cabinet and re-measure to ensure my dimensions are correct.

I attached a 1/8" thick piece of hardboard to the back of the cabinet with a pin nailer and glue. 1/4" plywood is fine too. (I used what I already had laying around).

I used cabinet screws to attach the cabinet to studs in the wall. I used a piece of 2x4 that was attached to the studs, to aide in leveling and installation (I learned this tip while installing some cabinets).