# Rolling Garage Cabinet for Dad (Pic Heavy)



## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

I was recently commissioned by my Dad to build him some storage for his garage. After a lot of back and forth on what type of cabinets he wanted, we decided that a mobile cabinet would work best for his needs. I bought the plans online (for an absurd price of course) simply because I didn't feel comfortable drawing up all the plans myself, and possibly wasting a lot of HIS money. The plans were very close to what he was looking for, so we only had to make a couple of adjustments that I will explain in the photos.

I was blessed with an amazing father who may not fully share my interest in woodworking, but sees the passion (not skill I might add) for it, and encourages my hobby. Instead of trying to earn money off of building this for him, we decided that the few jigs, bits, and any other minor things I needed for this project, would be my payment. As I'm sure most of you know, this is almost better than money sometimes and I'm able to purchase some things I've been putting off for a long time simply because I didn't "need" them at the time.

I started with 3 sheets of 3/4" birch ply for the case and shelves.

Ripping the sides of the cabinet with the circ. saw straight edge guide I made for this project. I wish I had made one of these a long time ago, as it makes quick work of sheet goods.








Cross cutting some of the panels. I also wish I had made a 48" or 36" guide when the full 8' guide wasn't needed. 








The sides, fixed shelves, and center divider all cut to final dimensions. Top and bottom shelves are only rough cut so that I can finish them at the table saw. With such a small shop, I have to plan far in advance since the entire layout has to be shifted in order to cut full sheets of plywood.








The opposite side of the circ. saw guide doubles as a straight edge guide for the router, and 3/4" plywood router bit. I ordered a set of three plywood bits for this project, and with the guide, the dadoes and rabbets were a breeze.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

captainawesome said:


> The opposite side of the circ. saw guide doubles as a straight edge guide for the router


Great idea! I am going to make one of those.


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

I received four of those clamping squares from Rockler as a Christmas present this year, and they sure make assembling a cabinet of this size much easier when working alone.








I went ahead and drilled and screwed all of the panels together during the dry run because I knew I would be struggling with drying glue during final assembly.








After the dry run, I disassembled the entire unit and cut a rabbet for a 1/4" panel in the back bottom half of the cabinet. The plans call for the cabinet to be open on both sides, but I am adding the back panel and two doors with a lock to the front. Dad has recently found his own passion in sporting clays and duck/dove/turkey hunting which means he stocks a good bit of 12ga. and 20ga. ammo that he would like to keep locked up in the bottom part of the cabinet.








One of the jigs I bought for this project was the Rockler shelf pin jig. I have never made adjustable shelves before, but always wanted to. The plans had a drawing for making a template out of hardwood, and using a piece of tape on the drill bit as a depth gauge. I'm sure this method would have given me the same results, but at $30 (I think they still have it on sale) I figured it would be a fairly useful jig to acquire, and I would get plenty of use out of it.








I only messed up once with a misplaced hole, but the beauty of this jig is that I could just go back to all the panels, index off of the existing holes, and distribute the screw up all the way across. It almost looks like I did it on purpose, and hopefully no one will notice.

Shelf pin holes drilled.


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

Assembling huge panels like this presents a bit of a challenge when doing it solo, and in a smaller shop. I grabbed these two stools from my parents when they were headed to the curb. I didn't know what I would use them for, but these ugly little things are probably the most crucial tool in my shop!! They have been used as a ladder, workbench, planer stand, and here, I used them to hold each panel upright as I fit the shelves in place.








I got 2 of the 50" Revo K body clamps for Christmas this year, and boy are they nice. The glue up had its fair share of challenges, and nothing seemed to line up just perfect. I'm glad I pre drilled/screwed the panels together in the dry run. It made getting everything lined up much easier and quicker this time.
















After it was glued up, I double checked all of my measurements for the shelves and ripped the width down to the correct dimension. 

Front side of cabinet.








Back.


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

I gain so much knowledge from everyone on this site, and I hope that I can give back a little by posting with as much detail as I have.

Next up was to rip down some poplar I had to use as edging for the plywood shelves. I found the plans for a simple thin rip jig from this website I believe. I built it a few months back, and although I don't use it all that often, it is really nice to have when I need it. It fits in the miter slot, and has a screw that I back out or screw in to get the correct distance between it and the blade. Then, all you do is snug your material between the fence and the screw, and you end up with the thin strip you need. It cuts it on the left side of the blade which is much safer when making such a thin rip.








The width of the edging needs to be 1/4". I didn't even know calipers like this existed until I saw Kenbo using a set. Again, not needed, but a great tool to have. Every time I see a member post these types of close up pictures in a thread, I've found them extremely useful, so hopefully someone will benefit from this one.








A big thanks to johnnie52 for the painters tape edging clamp idea. This saves a lot of time, and is a lot less hassle than trying to clamp each piece on with the correct overhang on either side.








So this is as far as I have gotten in the past 10 days or so. I hope to start working on the face frames this week, but may not have time to get any work done until this weekend.

I hope you've enjoyed the build this far, and please, PLEASE don't be afraid to ask questions or give me advice. I want to use this as a chance to help others, while also getting some tips on how to perfect my methods.


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## Just_Ryan (Dec 13, 2012)

Great description, I'm going to try that thin rip jig.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

captainawesome said:


> I gain so much knowledge from everyone on this site, and I hope that I can give back a little by posting with as much detail as I have.
> 
> Next up was to rip down some poplar I had to use as edging for the plywood shelves. I found the plans for a simple thin rip jig from this website I believe. I built it a few months back, and although I don't use it all that often, it is really nice to have when I need it. It fits in the miter slot, and has a screw that I back out or screw in to get the correct distance between it and the blade. Then, all you do is snug your material between the fence and the screw, and you end up with the thin strip you need. It cuts it on the left side of the blade which is much safer when making such a thin rip.


I understand how the screw lets you zero in on the width, which is a nice trick, but without a fence, how do you keep the stock you are cutting straight throughout the entire length of the cut?


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

Chris Curl said:


> I understand how the screw lets you zero in on the width, which is a nice trick, but without a fence, how do you keep the stock you are cutting straight throughout the entire length of the cut?


In that quoted text, I wrote that I snug the material between the fence and the head of the screw before making the cut. I should have taken a picture right before I made a cut instead of right after. I moved the fence out of the picture to hold up the other side of my calipers so I could use both of my shaky hands to take the picture. I'll try to take another picture today when I get home that better shows how I made the cut.


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## LukeDuke (Dec 2, 2012)

Looking good! Lots of good tips and great detail, thanks for sharing.


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## MagGeorge (Jul 5, 2012)

Already a great looking cabinet, looking forward to photos of the finished project. Great tips and techniques there. I think Dad will be proud. Keep it up!

www.sawblade.com


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## jharris2 (Jul 9, 2012)

That's awesome Awesome 

Your dad is going to be very pleased.

Great pictures and explanations.

Looking forward to more.


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

*Thin rip jig*

To clear up a little confusion and give a little more information, I took some pictures of the thin rip jig last night. 

You don't want the material pinched too tight between the TS fence and screw on the jig, otherwise it will bind. I keep moving it in until I can barely slide the material up out of the gap without moving the jig. 








I screwed in to the end grain of a piece of oak. The screw is a little difficult to turn with a screw driver, but having it in the end grain like that helps keep it from walking on you while making a rip.








The runner for the miter slot was just a leftover piece I had from making my TS sled. If you look at towards the front rail, you can see a little 5/8" screw I put into the runner. The threads on the bottom side catch the front of the miter slot, and keep the jig from moving forward while cutting. Make sure that the screw making contact with the material is located IN FRONT OF the blade! (thanks jharris2) This jig also works as kind of a featherboard, and the last thing you want is to pinch the material into the blade!


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

I got a little bit of work done last night, but not as much as I had hoped.

Rough cut some 1x6 poplar for the stiles and rails. I went to my local building supplier for this rather than a big box store to try and save some money. It was a good bit cheaper, but 13ft. was the shortest lengths they had... Oh well, I guess that means I'll get to keep some "scraps"!!








I think that we can all agree that Kenbo can produce some pretty incredible stuff, and somehow in a physically impossible amount of time. I figured if I copy everything he does, eventually I will be able to do the same right?!?!?! Saw this in one of his posts, and now I always double check my blade to my saw top for squareness before cutting.








As you can see, 90 degrees...








Set my fence to 2" and let er rip!! Rails and stiles ripped to final width, and rough cut to length.


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

I got a Groz block plane and #4 smoothing plane for Christmas. Before you say anything, I went with the Groz because it was on sale, and didn't cost much. I know they aren't high quality, but they are good enough to use as my first set of planes. I have no clue how to set them up properly, but after reading some posts in the hand tools section, and watching a couple videos, I realize that simply getting some practice under my belt is the best way to learn.

It is a very gratifying process when you can get it to work right, and the most frustrating experience ever when it doesn't. I plan to keep using them though because it really is a lot of fun.

To get the edging flush with the top, I used the block plane to take off the majority of the material. I have a bad habit of trying to achieve a final finish type of look with the wrong tool. Most of the shelves went fairly well, but I took a few of them too far and caught some of the plywood. Don't make the same mistake I did... learn when to stop, and switch to the ROS!!!








Shelves done, back panel glued in place.








I hope to be posting pictures of a rolling cabinet with finished and installed face frames on Monday so wish me luck!

Thanks for looking. Questions, comments, and criticism is encouraged. All I want to do is learn everything I can, and share it with whoever is interested!


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## papa_smurf73 (Oct 8, 2012)

Well done! I love the tips you are providing through the phases of your build. I'm a newby so this is incredibly valuable to me. Thanks for sharing. I've subscribed to your thread.  Keep the updates coming.


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## jharris2 (Jul 9, 2012)

captainawesome said:


> You don't want the material pinched too tight between the TS fence and screw on the jig, otherwise it will bind.
> 
> *** This ShopNotes thin rip jig lessens resistance by using a router bearing for the material to ride on.
> 
> ...


***In FRONT of the blade. That is between you and the blade. IMO even in the photo above the jig needs to be moved more towards the saw operator and just ahead of the blade.


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

jharris2 said:


> ***In FRONT of the blade. That is between you and the blade. IMO even in the photo above the jig needs to be moved more towards the saw operator and just ahead of the blade.


You are absolutely right. It needs to be in FRONT of the blade. I edited the post and made the appropriate corrections, and thanking you for it. I have it set up correctly in the pictures, I just had a brain fart when typing the post.

I also really like the idea of the Shop Notes jig that has a bearing. I made mine originally because I had the leftover piece of miter slot runner, and would cost me all of $0 to build it. The screw does have its drawbacks, and after adjusting a few different times, I need to take a file to the head of the screw and knock the burrs down. I may look in to building one with a bearing if I start using this more often.

Thanks for the post!


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## jharris2 (Jul 9, 2012)

captainawesome said:


> ... I just had a brain fart when typing the post.


Laughing! If brain farts smelled my skull would be condemned!


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

I was able to get a little bit of work in this weekend. The cabinet is now standing upright and rolling on casters. I still need to build a set of doors, and sand everything for finishing, but we'll get to all that later.

I started on Friday night by cutting all of the face frame pieces to their final dimension using my TS sled and a stop block attached to my fence.

I found a scrap of 2x4, squared it up on the planer, and ripped it to 1".








I would set one end of the rail in the sled, and make a fresh, square cut on one end. As you can see, I only took about a half a blade off.








Once I had one end square, I would slide the piece all the way over until it made contact with the stop/spacer block. The spacer block serves a couple of purposes.
1) It is exactly 1" wide, so by adding 1" to my rail length, and then setting my fence to that dimension, I can get all 6 rails cut to the exact same length.
2) By only having that little bit as a spacer, the end of the rail that is closest to the fence, will travel freely while being cut. You don't need to search this forum long before you start reading horror stories of trapping material between the blade and the fence when making a crosscut.








You can see here that the rail contacts the spacer block, and immediately comes off of it as I start to push the sled forward.








I will try to post more pictures of the face frame assembly and the rolling cabinet tonight.

To all the veterans who haven't been bored to tears by the detailed explanations of what most of you consider to be "simple" tasks, please tell me if anything I have written is wrong. I want to help some beginners like me, and the last thing I want is to teach someone a bad habit right from the start!


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

Next I had to drill all the pocket holes to attach the face frames.








I've had the Kregg R3 jig for a few years, and don't really use it all that often, but it is pretty much fool proof.








and the drilling goes pretty quick...








I line up and put a clamp over the joint so that both faces are flush, the put the clamping square on to get the joints just right.








I've never used pocket holes to build a face frame before, and they are so much easier than any other method I've found.








Everyone has their opinion about pocket screws, and even though they are so easy, and seem fairly strong.... I think I still lean towards more traditional joinery if time and budget permit.


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

The plans said to use wood glue and clamping cauls to attach the face frames to the cabinet. I'm sure that would have held up fine, I just didn't trust it, and decided to add a couple of 3/4" x 3/4" screw strips inside both top edges, and pocket screws in the bottom and sides of the lower shelving area. It not only feels stronger, but I was able to pull the face frame tighter to the cabinet without the use of all the clamps I don't have.

The top shelf sections were the only ones that were glued.








The only reason I did this is because I didn't pre-drill the pocket hole screws before assembling, and couldn't fit a drill and the jig inside to drill the holes.








On Sunday, I installed the casters on two pieces of 1x4 and attached them to the base of the cabinet and face frames with some 2" deck screws.








You can't see them in the picture too well, but I installed a couple of large handles on the side with the swivel casters to make it easier to move around.








Oh... and my little man came out to check on the progress I'm making. He approves!!!









Thanks for stopping by! I am toying with the idea of building some "simple" inset raised panel doors. I made some inset doors for the hutch project I built, and I've been wanting to try raised panel doors for a while now.


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

*All but finished*

I'll limit my rambling in this post, and just post the pictures. If anyone wants more detail on anything below, just ask and I'll be happy to explain.

I decided to try my first set of raised panel doors.

Panel glue up: 2 pcs of 1x6 poplar








I built a tall auxiliary fence and clamped it to my fence.








I cut some test pieces to make sure my measurements, blade angle, and thicknesses were correct.








I made a raised and notched push jig to keep the panel tight to the fence, and my hands away from the blade.








You can see the blade angle was 9 degrees.








Blade angle: 9 degrees
Blade height: about 1 13/16" (high enough to reach the score cuts I made at 1 3/4")
Fence: 7/16" from bottom of blade


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

I made a couple of test panels using different blade angles and score cuts until I was happy with the fit.








I then moved on the the final panels. I planed them down earlier so that the front face of the raised portion would be co-planer with the front faces of the rails and stiles.








I then marked out my overlay, and installed the doors.








Finished product with doors installed. A couple of hiccups in the raised panels, but overall I'm pretty pleased.








I added some basic knobs last night, and now all I need to do is finish sanding and put a few coats of finish on it.

Thanks for viewing!


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

This was an awesome build, and I enjoyed watching you learn along the way. I even picked up a few pointers as well. The little guy will be helping you very soon, so start getting him his own little tool set.

I'm sure your dad is going to love this.


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

*Final Post*

Just wanted to post some pictures of the cabinet after it had been delivered.

You can see that Pops is one happy camper!








After he loaded all of his ammo in the cabinet he said, "I'm pretty low on ammo right now, so I'm glad there's still room for more" hahaha.








This is the top half of the front loaded with all of his cleaning supplies and whatnot. You can see the gun vise I made him for Father's Day sitting on top of the cabinet.









Thanks again for viewing, and I hope you enjoyed following the build thread as much as I enjoyed building the cabinet, and sharing it with all of you!

-Sean


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## CharlieW (Jan 26, 2013)

Looks great and something I could use in my new shop. Can you provide a link to the plans? thanks!


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

I got the plans here.


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

That is one proud papa there. I'm sure everytime your dad uses that cabinet, or thinks of using that cabinet, it will bring a smile to his face knowing you made that with all that special care you used. Very well done!


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

"A guy can't ever have too much stuff" (George Carlin).

There's extra space. Plus, there's a lot of supplies for the relatively small (rolling) footprint on the floor. The panel doors are a really nice design additive.
I've been shooting for more than 1/2 a century. I can understand his delight.


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## Burb (Nov 30, 2012)

Just_Ryan said:


> Great description, I'm going to try that thin rip jig.


I think I may do that as well. Looks like it could be handy.

Mark


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## Burb (Nov 30, 2012)

captainawesome said:


> !
> 
> After he loaded all of his ammo in the cabinet he said, "I'm pretty low on ammo right now, so I'm glad there's still room for more" hahaha.
> 
> -Sean


I see your dad likes Fiochi ammunition. Good company. They are local to me in SW Missouri. They used to be a client of mine. Pretty neat processes there.

Mark


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

Burb said:


> I see your dad likes Fiochi ammunition. Good company. They are local to me in SW Missouri. They used to be a client of mine. Pretty neat processes there.
> 
> Mark


I looked back at the pictures and saw that most of the Fiochi ammo he has is for my Mom's 28ga. Top shelf is 28ga., middle shelf is 20ga., and bottom shelf is 12ga. Judging by the name I would have thought Fiochi would be in Italy or something!


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Awesome build, Captain! The cabinet came out really nice. And I see that dad's quite pleased with the outcome too. The happiness of the one who receives the project makes it all worthwhile.


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## gus1962 (Jan 9, 2013)

That's an awesome job! Thanks for sharing the process!Very nice and very well done!


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