Rotunda Organiser for Hardware

Having somewhere to keep all your most commonly used fixings is really useful, especially when you are in a small area.I probably spend 50% of my time when making something either searching for the right size screw (or the tool I had in my hand 3 seconds ago)Hopefully this will assist me in being a bit more organised, (but don't bet on it)It doesn't have to be (and probably won't be) pretty as long as it does the jobI have had a couple of questions on dimensions, tbh you can make it as big or small as you want.I was guided by the wood available in my "come in handy pile"The trays are 45cm long x 10 cm x 10 cm approx, the hexagons are 45cm across the points and the frame about 35cm high (big enough so it can allow rotationThe drawing is 1/3 scale on a sheet of A4

This was all made from bits that I had hanging around.

The wood came from some old cupboard doors I bought for $1 ages ago.

The plywood was scrap from a skip

The bolts are from a job lot of broken meccano, again $1

All the screws are from dismantled packing cases that I used to line my shed, Free from my wifes workplace

And the spindle was a broken broom handle

Tools,

Table saw

Mitre saw

Drill and bits

Driver

I saw this picture on pinterest and thought that could be useful, I wonder if I could make it from wood?

I drew up a basic design on a piece of paper at one third scale, sorry about the green pencil, I couldn't find a decent one

A quick rummage around in the shed loft produced some old kitchen cupboard doors.I bought these a couple of years back from trademe for $1. Originally I was going to use them to make cubbys in the shed, but it didn't really work so...All the hardware was saved as you never know what will come in handy.

6 fronts, 6 backs and a bunch of sides and dividers

Like the heading says!

I made up all 6 boxes and gave them a quick sand

Attached a plywood base and dividers for each box.

Using the Mitre saw set at a 30 degrees setting I cut 2 hexagons, and drilled the holes to attach the trays.I used my initial drawing to work out the size.

As mentioned earlier I bought a job lot of broken meccano, these are the bolts and my lock nuts that I used, as you can see there are also a lot of others, not bad for $1 (there was also a full set mixed in with it (spacecraft) which I built)

1 bolt each end with a nylock nut, leaving the trays free to swivel.The bolt circle diameter needs to be large enough so that the trays don't foul each other, this was largely determined by the scientific method of a WAG (wild ass guess).I cut a circle which had a radius of the distance from the tray bolt hole to the furthest extremity of the tray then laid it on the hexagonal wood between each "segment" not touching the lines, then drilled a hole at the circles centre (like in the original drawing)

I cut 2 end frames from scrap 18mm ply and sanded themI then drilled a 20mm hole to accept the broom handle and a 22mm hole in the rotunda.The 20mm gives a tight interference fit into the end panels and the 22mm gives a clearance hole for the rotating part

I hammered the broom handle end into one of the end frames, fed the handle through the 2 rotunda holes then hammered the second end frame on.I also drove a 75mm screw from the top of the frame through the spindle to secure it. Pic 1Then I squared it all up and put in a front and rear cross brace. Pic 2So there it is, done, not pretty but functional.I may give it a good sanding and a coat of something, but then again I may not.