We’re sure everyone could use some more storage and organization in their workshop. [Nixie] is no exception, though he also hates sacrificing tabletop space for boxes. His solution was to attach them to the wall directly by hacking together some brackets. This hack allowed him to hang everything without using internal screws which were a pain to get at if he need to removed the boxes from the wall to take with him.
[Nixie] started by laser-cutting a negative pattern for a mounting bracket that would fit the dovetail rails already on the sides of the boxes. He then pressed a piece of polymorph into this mold, slid the bracket along the side of the box…and realized it wouldn’t work. The piece wiggled around too much because it did not sit firmly in the rail. Back at the drawing board, [Nixie] split the project into two steps. He cast the screw-hole portion of the bracket in its own separate mold, then cast the railing part of the bracket directly in the dovetail section of the box, providing him a much higher degree of accuracy. After joining the two pieces, [Nixie] had a sturdy support bracket that he duplicated and attached around the rest of the bins.
Neat idea to use the dovetails, but if there’s any forward motion, the box will fall off. Internal screws only require removing a drawer to get at, and are very secure. If you’re that pick, a set of french cleats are very easy to make, and very secure. This is basically a good implementation of a bad idea for the sake of “being easy” for that 1 time every 3-4 years he’d want to move these.
Usually I’d agree with you about moving them, however, in my particular case, I have a bad habit of reconfiguring them every now and then to mantain “similar” components close together (bit of OCD there)
Also, since they’re expensive, new box additions happen scarcely but steadily, so my need for easy removal is important. Also, you can’t add boxes on the bottom and one of the sides without removing the whole assembly. (they slide front to back only)
It could slide out, certainly, just depends on dovetail piece lenght. I made them 15mm long, and I was going to leave it at that, however, you can see I have a wall outlet just over it, and as it happens, I have been fiddling around with extra power needs just in there. So I put two dabs of superglue only on the two topmost pieces. Polymorph will not leave residues if I peel it off, but will keep adhered under shearing force, wich is the one acting on the junction.
Hey Nixieguy, I hope I didn’t sound too much like an ass, Hackaday is a hive of villiany and I do believe it was well executed, but I see the hacker community moving away from tried and true methods. A french cleat, or a regular cleated system would work fabulously here, be easier and fairly universal amongst things of this size.
Not at all, I got it as a constructive comment. ^^
I didn’t know that mounting system, is nice and looks sturdy. However, I think it wouldn’t be necessarily “easier”, in terms of construction, as I don’t have proper wood tools. (and milling machine is under repairs just now)
My first idea was to (using the top dovetails) make an upper holding system, but I don’t have a dovetail mill at hand, so I resorted to lateral thinking ( XD! )
Do you have an skill saw, or can borrow one? It’s all you need to make a french cleat. And a piece of wood, of course. Just set it to cut at an angle, follow an straight line, and you are done.
Sorry, english is not my language…I was refering to a jig saw. An skill saw could be used, but is more dangerous.
I could probably steal one ( ^^ ) I might try it in the future :)
No thanks I’m good. I have a few empty Akro-Mills organizer drawer units kicking around now in fact.
I wouldn’t trust polymorph with anything structural.
it’s surprisingly strong
As long as it’s cold. Wait until summer and his precious boxes will hit the dirt like Kaczynski did in Smolensk.
This brick wall never receives direct sunlight, and in my country, we rarely exceed 35ºC, I doubt the wall could get up to, what, 45ºC?…
But yes, in more extreme temperature settings, this would be unfeasible.
I have two words, hook and loop.
Seriously, hook and loop tape (velcro), paired with some contact adhesive, will easily hold parts drawers on the wall, just a strip across the top edge of the units.
I know, because I did exactly that.
I used contact adhesive to attach the loop side to the wall, and hook side to the drawer units.
I bought something like 20 meters of hook and loop, a spool of each, a few years back, it’s cheap as chips for the generic stuff, and comes in useful for all sorts of things.
Yeah, (in fact, I got some samples of 3M ultrastrong (not really it’s name) adhesive velcro, and that would stick to anything, and given enough area, support those boxes, but it would leave space behind the boxes, wich I don’t especially like,