The past few years, I have used a cardboard box for the storage of sanding paper and it is a hassle to say the least to pull the contents out of the cardboard box to locate the desired grit of sandpaper needed.  If there was any organization to the contents of the cardboard box, it happened by accident. 

I finally decided to build a straight forward storage cabinet aka bin since I don't plan to put a door on it at this time.  One of my concerns was, practically all the available space in my basement garage woodworking shop is taken up.  I shuffled a storage container around on a storage shelf that has small Christmas decor items and have just enough room for a small sandpaper storage cabinet with the size being in the neighborhood of 12 x 12 x 16 inches and with shelves on 1.5 inch center to center, should allow for about 10 (ten) shelves and handle the various grits of sandpaper that I normally use.

NOTE:  I surveyed the basement woodworking shop area again and can squeeze a sandpaper storage cabinet in on one of the block bulkhead aka walls which will allow a 12 x 12 x 30 inch vertical cabinet.  There was a long table saw sled and a skill saw saw guide obscuring the area and can easily be moved over, whereby opening the space needed for the sandpaper storage cabinet aka bin.  There is a large sanding machine in front of the area, but still be able to manage removing sandpaper from the shelves.  This size of cabinet will allow the storage of 5 inch sanding disc too.  Baltic Birch plywood is available in 30 inch lengths was the reason for that particular length of cabinet and 12 and 24 inch widths, whereas most woodworking mail order companies do not ship out a standard 4 x 8 feet sheet of plywood.

I viewed several sandpaper storage cabinet ideas via the internet and some were low tech and some more high tech, but I will have to work with my available space. 

I ordered some Baltic Birch plywood, 3/4 and 1/4 inch for this project since no one locally has Baltic Birch available and Lowe's in Rockingham, NC Birch plywood leaves a lot to be desired as far as having some void places in the plywood.  Our local supplier of building materials, their Birch plywood is mere junk in my humble opinion!

I will definitely have to dig out my dado blade set for this project, whereas I am thinking about a rabbit on the two side frame members for attachment of the top and bottom and of course 1/4 inch +- dado slots for the shelves.

PORTER'S SANDPAPER STORAGE CABINET

PERSONAL SAFETY AND LIABILITY ISSUES

My goal will be to keep Safety paramount because hand and power tools can do serious bodily harm and death if not used properly, therefore these pages are solely for entertainment purposes only from a personal liability standpoint.  Please read the Legal Stuff page for additional information concerning liability issues before going any further.  Safety glasses and hearing protection is a must, although I do forgo the hearing protection many times; my bad!

GETTING STARTED

The Baltic Birch plywood that I ordered on 04-10-19 is on the UPS truck for delivery today being 04-16-19, therefore I made a zero clearance insert for the table saw just for the dado blade set.  I have used the dado saw blade set in the past for specific applications related to turkey box call construction with dedicated fixtures, therefore I needed the table saw insert and also a sacrificial fence for this storage cabinet aka bin.

I ripped a 1/2 +- piece of material which has a super slick Phenolic lamination on the inner and outer surface, of which I have used to construct a table saw blade zero clearance insert and it worked great.  I drilled and tapped the material for 1/4 x 20 tpi Allen set screws to level the insert since it was less than a 1/8 inch of being flush with the table saw top.  However, this time around, I drilled a 1/8 inch diameter pilot hole in four appropriate places in the insert, a small countersunk hole added and used a small 1/2 inch length brass flat head screw which leveled the insert.  It was definitely quicker and easier than the Allen set screw installation.  I also added a nail at the rear of the insert to keep the insert in place, however as tight as the phenolic laminated insert was into the table saw top cutout, it really wasn't necessary.  I used the bandsaw and the 6 inch wide x 48 inch belt sander to true the radius marked at each end.  I drilled a 1 inch diameter hole in the insert to allow your finger into it in order to easily remove the insert as needed.

The dado blade set was installed and had a little over 3/4 inch width to the dado set and lowered the dado blade set below the table saw surface.  The sacrificial fence was aligned over the dado blade set, power turned on and slowly raised the dado blade into the insert.

I used a scrap aka unallocated piece of 8/4 black walnut the height of the table saw fence for the sacrificial fence and it will be held in place with two small clamps.  The table saw fence has three miter tracks on it, but they are very small and not the standard size, therefore no more than I will use a dado blade set, the clamps will work fine to secure the sacrificial fence in place.

THUMBNAIL PIXS

SAWING BALTIC BIRCH PLYWOOD TO SIZE

I ordered several pieces of Baltic Birch plywood 12 x 30 x 3/4, and the actual size was 11 7/8 wide x 30 x 11/16 inch thickness.

It didn't take but a couple hours cruising along to build the cabinet aka bin.  I used a scrap piece of 2 x 4 that was ripped to 1.5 inches in width and perfect to use as a gauge to move the table saw fence to cut the 1/4 inch plus dado 1.5 inch center to center spacing for the shelves.  The table saw has a calibrated scale right and left of the saw blade center line, but the addition of the auxiliary wood sacrificial fence would have to be taken into consideration to use the calibrate scale.  The 1.5 inch wide wood block required less brain power.....grin if you must!  The pixs are self explanatory.

Click on the thumbnail pixs for a larger screen view:

I did a few test cuts to get the dado blade the correct height and the width for the end frame members along with a test cut and set-up for the 1/4 plus dado for the shelves.  I assembled the storage cabinet aka bin using Titebond Ultimate III glue and 1.250 inch 18 gauge brads and a couple bar clamps.  It wasn't perfectly square in the vertical orientation, but close enough.  My 4 feet pipe bar clamps are hid in the shop somewhere and was what I needed to pull a near perfect corner to corner.  I noticed that the two side panels did bow outwards some due to removing the material on the inside of the side frame members by the dado cuts, but not a problem.

FINISHED SANDPAPER STORAGE CABINET AKA BIN

There is enough room on the 3/4 inch side panel to affix a vertical label with the sandpaper grit.  I might store a few table saw blades in the upper two shelves instead of hanging them on the wall, etc.

The hardest part of this project was hanging the cabinet onto the block bulkhead aka wall, whereas I used Tapcon 1/4 inch self tapping hex head screws.  I hammer drilled a pilot hole first with the masonry bit that comes with the Tapcon screws and transferred that measurement to the storage cabinet back member.  It is easy to understand why cabinet makers use French Cleat Wedge Brackets to hang cabinets to the wall.  I was working harder not smarter on hanging the cabinet!

This sandpaper storage cabinet aka bin is definitely working smarter not harder in my humble opinion for sandpaper storage.   I placed Serial Number 72 on this project.

Web page published by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 04-11-19 and updated on 04-15-19 and 04-16-19.