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Default seeking ideas for low cost sheet material for tool drawer separators

Hi All
I have a nice large tool chest with sliding drawers, bought via Gumtree a
while ago. It has eight drawers of depth varying from about 50mm to about 200mm.

I am using the shallower drawers for small tools, but want to separate the tools
out and stop them rolling around. The edge of the drawers have useful slots
(about 2mm thick) at 20mm or so intervals. So you can put thin inserts in these to
mark out areas in the base, as it were - a bit like an adjustable cutlery drawer,
if you get me.

The (italian) manufacturer of this chest charge a fortune for the 'proper'
spacers, but I am after doing something on the cheap. So I am looking for ideas
as to what material I might be able to ... find in a skip, type thing.

Some sheets of 2mm Alu would be nice, guillotined down, but that looks a bit
pricy unless I happen across some. Thin MDF would be too weak, I think. FR4 PCB
material might work, but the offcuts I see at work are only 10mmdeep or so, and
some treatment would need to be applied to the edges - GF splinters are not nice!

The drawers are quite large, so I would need lengths of something like 700mm.

Any thoughts as to other sources of cheapskate materials I might consider for
this?

Thanks, Jon N
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On Sunday, 20 January 2019 12:29:14 UTC, jkn wrote:
Some sheets of 2mm Alu would be nice, guillotined down, but that looks
a bit pricy unless I happen across some.


There's a skip near me full of almost new 4' or 5' fluorescent fittings that are being replaced with LED. Ample source of powder coated steel or aluminium.

Not much help to you, but that's the sort of place to look. Shopfitters and strippers-out of vacant premises.

Owain

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On 20/01/2019 12:29, jkn wrote:
Hi All
I have a nice large tool chest with sliding drawers, bought via Gumtree a
while ago. It has eight drawers of depth varying from about 50mm to about 200mm.

I am using the shallower drawers for small tools, but want to separate the tools
out and stop them rolling around. The edge of the drawers have useful slots
(about 2mm thick) at 20mm or so intervals. So you can put thin inserts in these to
mark out areas in the base, as it were - a bit like an adjustable cutlery drawer,
if you get me.

The (italian) manufacturer of this chest charge a fortune for the 'proper'
spacers, but I am after doing something on the cheap. So I am looking for ideas
as to what material I might be able to ... find in a skip, type thing.

Some sheets of 2mm Alu would be nice, guillotined down, but that looks a bit
pricy unless I happen across some. Thin MDF would be too weak, I think. FR4 PCB
material might work, but the offcuts I see at work are only 10mmdeep or so, and
some treatment would need to be applied to the edges - GF splinters are not nice!

The drawers are quite large, so I would need lengths of something like 700mm.

Any thoughts as to other sources of cheapskate materials I might consider for
this?

Thanks, Jon N

Almost anything 2mm thick and 700mm long will not be stiff enough to
stop is pinging out of the slots when the centre flexes as it will do
inevitably.
Cheapest/easiest will likely be some U channel of ali or hardwood fixed
to the base and ends of the drawers, with ply dividers slotted in.
You used to be able to buy ramin U channel moulding for bookcase glass
etc but since the demise of Woodwork DIY and ramin being classified as
endangered species, these useful mouldings are like hens teeth in the
diy sheds now with only cr4p softwood ones.
If you are stuck and want to go the wooden route, I can make hardwood
mouldings for you? I'm near Southampton. you can pm me about it if you like.
Bob
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Bob Minchin wrote:

Almost anything 2mm thick and 700mm long will not be stiff enough to
stop is pinging out of the slots when the centre flexes


Surely the dividers will be arranged in a grid, with cross-halving joints?
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On 20/01/2019 13:05, Andy Burns wrote:
Bob Minchin wrote:

Almost anything 2mm thick and 700mm long will not be stiff enough to
stop is pinging out of the slots when the centre flexes


Surely the dividers will be arranged in a grid, with cross-halving joints?


or glue on anything going spare as stiffeners so long as they stop short
of the slots? possibly "braced" vertically too?

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid


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On 20/01/2019 12:29, jkn wrote:
Hi All
I have a nice large tool chest with sliding drawers, bought via Gumtree a
while ago. It has eight drawers of depth varying from about 50mm to about 200mm.

I am using the shallower drawers for small tools, but want to separate the tools
out and stop them rolling around. The edge of the drawers have useful slots
(about 2mm thick) at 20mm or so intervals. So you can put thin inserts in these to
mark out areas in the base, as it were - a bit like an adjustable cutlery drawer,
if you get me.

The (italian) manufacturer of this chest charge a fortune for the 'proper'
spacers, but I am after doing something on the cheap. So I am looking for ideas
as to what material I might be able to ... find in a skip, type thing.

Some sheets of 2mm Alu would be nice, guillotined down, but that looks a bit
pricy unless I happen across some. Thin MDF would be too weak, I think. FR4 PCB
material might work, but the offcuts I see at work are only 10mmdeep or so, and
some treatment would need to be applied to the edges - GF splinters are not nice!

The drawers are quite large, so I would need lengths of something like 700mm.

Any thoughts as to other sources of cheapskate materials I might consider for
this?

Thanks, Jon N

Polycarbonate sheet, as used for secondary double glazing? Relatively
cheap, tough, reliable to score and snap once you get the technique (and
then just sand the edges smooth).

Bob's point about pinging out is correct, though.

Slightly more expensive is perspex (poly methyl methacrylate) sheet
which can also be scored and snapped. A merit of this is that it can be
solvent welded either to a "footer" strip maybe 8 mm wide, which will
provide stiffening and avoid the ping problem, or the "cross halving"
joints could be glued up in the same way.

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Default seeking ideas for low cost sheet material for tool drawer separators

In message , jkn
writes
Hi All
I have a nice large tool chest with sliding drawers, bought via Gumtree a
while ago. It has eight drawers of depth varying from about 50mm to
about 200mm.

I am using the shallower drawers for small tools, but want to separate
the tools
out and stop them rolling around. The edge of the drawers have useful slots
(about 2mm thick) at 20mm or so intervals. So you can put thin inserts
in these to
mark out areas in the base, as it were - a bit like an adjustable
cutlery drawer,
if you get me.

The (italian) manufacturer of this chest charge a fortune for the 'proper'
spacers, but I am after doing something on the cheap. So I am looking for ideas
as to what material I might be able to ... find in a skip, type thing.

Some sheets of 2mm Alu would be nice, guillotined down, but that looks a bit
pricy unless I happen across some. Thin MDF would be too weak, I think. FR4 PCB
material might work, but the offcuts I see at work are only 10mmdeep or so, and
some treatment would need to be applied to the edges - GF splinters are
not nice!

The drawers are quite large, so I would need lengths of something like 700mm.

Any thoughts as to other sources of cheapskate materials I might consider for
this?


You could consider the hardwood offer below coupled with a careful
sawcut each end to take a strip of 2mm stiff plastic/metal...

--
Tim Lamb
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Default seeking ideas for low cost sheet material for tool drawer separators

On Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 1:43:35 PM UTC, newshound wrote:
On 20/01/2019 12:29, jkn wrote:
Hi All
I have a nice large tool chest with sliding drawers, bought via Gumtree a
while ago. It has eight drawers of depth varying from about 50mm to about 200mm.

I am using the shallower drawers for small tools, but want to separate the tools
out and stop them rolling around. The edge of the drawers have useful slots
(about 2mm thick) at 20mm or so intervals. So you can put thin inserts in these to
mark out areas in the base, as it were - a bit like an adjustable cutlery drawer,
if you get me.

The (italian) manufacturer of this chest charge a fortune for the 'proper'
spacers, but I am after doing something on the cheap. So I am looking for ideas
as to what material I might be able to ... find in a skip, type thing.

Some sheets of 2mm Alu would be nice, guillotined down, but that looks a bit
pricy unless I happen across some. Thin MDF would be too weak, I think. FR4 PCB
material might work, but the offcuts I see at work are only 10mmdeep or so, and
some treatment would need to be applied to the edges - GF splinters are not nice!

The drawers are quite large, so I would need lengths of something like 700mm.

Any thoughts as to other sources of cheapskate materials I might consider for
this?

Thanks, Jon N

Polycarbonate sheet, as used for secondary double glazing? Relatively
cheap, tough, reliable to score and snap once you get the technique (and
then just sand the edges smooth).

Bob's point about pinging out is correct, though.

Slightly more expensive is perspex (poly methyl methacrylate) sheet
which can also be scored and snapped. A merit of this is that it can be
solvent welded either to a "footer" strip maybe 8 mm wide, which will
provide stiffening and avoid the ping problem, or the "cross halving"
joints could be glued up in the same way.


That's not a bad idea ... I should perhaps have said that

- yes, I will most likely be arranging things in a 'cross-halved' arrangement
- it might be that the required thickness will be nearer 1.5mm, rather than 2mm

How straightforward would it be to score and snap polycarbonate sheets of such
thicknesses? Also, to make saw or dremel cuts for the cross joints?

Thanks, J^n
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Default seeking ideas for low cost sheet material for tool drawer separators

In article ,
jkn wrote:
Some sheets of 2mm Alu would be nice, guillotined down, but that looks a
bit pricy unless I happen across some. Thin MDF would be too weak, I
think. FR4 PCB material might work, but the offcuts I see at work are
only 10mmdeep or so, and some treatment would need to be applied to the
edges - GF splinters are not nice!


I use that stuff for lots of things - and never had a problem with GF
splinters. I would normally give the edges a rub over with a file, though.

--
*America is so advanced that even the chairs are electric.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
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Default seeking ideas for low cost sheet material for tool drawer separators

On Sun, 20 Jan 2019 13:43:34 +0000, newshound
wrote:

A merit of this is that it can be
solvent welded either to a "footer" strip maybe 8 mm wide, which will
provide stiffening and avoid the ping problem


....and the problem where the spacer rides up, 40 thousand washers slip under it
and mix with the washers on the other side, and prevent the spacer from settling
back down until ALL the bits are removed, the spacer is reseated, and the bits
sorted and replaced....


Aaaargh.




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On Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 3:54:48 PM UTC, Thomas Prufer wrote:
On Sun, 20 Jan 2019 13:43:34 +0000, newshound
wrote:

A merit of this is that it can be
solvent welded either to a "footer" strip maybe 8 mm wide, which will
provide stiffening and avoid the ping problem


...and the problem where the spacer rides up, 40 thousand washers slip under it
and mix with the washers on the other side, and prevent the spacer from settling
back down until ALL the bits are removed, the spacer is reseated, and the bits
sorted and replaced....


Aaaargh.


Indeed ... except that I'm only talking about this for tools.

I can probably use hot melt glue to strengthen in a few places as well ... the
base of the drawers is perforated.

J^n
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Default seeking ideas for low cost sheet material for tool drawer separators

On Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 2:56:27 PM UTC, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
jkn wrote:
Some sheets of 2mm Alu would be nice, guillotined down, but that looks a
bit pricy unless I happen across some. Thin MDF would be too weak, I
think. FR4 PCB material might work, but the offcuts I see at work are
only 10mmdeep or so, and some treatment would need to be applied to the
edges - GF splinters are not nice!


I use that stuff for lots of things - and never had a problem with GF
splinters. I would normally give the edges a rub over with a file, though.

--
*America is so advanced that even the chairs are electric.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.


Hi Dave
I picked up some from the waste bins a while back and got some horrid
skin rash/cuts which I attribute to splinters from the GF. Mind you, it was
punched out stuff. If it was easy to get in the length I was looking for I'd
probably use it, and either take the edges off and/or paint the ends...

J^n



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Default seeking ideas for low cost sheet material for tool drawer separators

On Sunday, 20 January 2019 12:29:14 UTC, jkn wrote:
Hi All
I have a nice large tool chest with sliding drawers, bought via Gumtree a
while ago. It has eight drawers of depth varying from about 50mm to about 200mm.

I am using the shallower drawers for small tools, but want to separate the tools
out and stop them rolling around. The edge of the drawers have useful slots
(about 2mm thick) at 20mm or so intervals. So you can put thin inserts in these to
mark out areas in the base, as it were - a bit like an adjustable cutlery drawer,
if you get me.

The (italian) manufacturer of this chest charge a fortune for the 'proper'
spacers, but I am after doing something on the cheap. So I am looking for ideas
as to what material I might be able to ... find in a skip, type thing.

Some sheets of 2mm Alu would be nice, guillotined down, but that looks a bit
pricy unless I happen across some. Thin MDF would be too weak, I think. FR4 PCB
material might work, but the offcuts I see at work are only 10mmdeep or so, and
some treatment would need to be applied to the edges - GF splinters are not nice!

The drawers are quite large, so I would need lengths of something like 700mm.

Any thoughts as to other sources of cheapskate materials I might consider for
this?

Thanks, Jon N


Skips, auctions, freecycle/freegle, gumtree, there's some neighbourhood site as well.


NT
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On Sun, 20 Jan 2019 04:29:12 -0800 (PST)
jkn wrote:

The drawers are quite large, so I would need lengths of something
like 700mm.

Any thoughts as to other sources of cheapskate materials I might
consider for this?

Thin sheet steel as used in domestic white goods (so free if you get
there before the scrap man - or try Freegle). Fold it double to stiffen
it (or fold in a L or T shape for extra rigidity) Cross-dividers can be
tack-welded in place.

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On 20/01/2019 14:46, jkn wrote:
On Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 1:43:35 PM UTC, newshound wrote:
On 20/01/2019 12:29, jkn wrote:
Hi All
I have a nice large tool chest with sliding drawers, bought via Gumtree a
while ago. It has eight drawers of depth varying from about 50mm to about 200mm.

I am using the shallower drawers for small tools, but want to separate the tools
out and stop them rolling around. The edge of the drawers have useful slots
(about 2mm thick) at 20mm or so intervals. So you can put thin inserts in these to
mark out areas in the base, as it were - a bit like an adjustable cutlery drawer,
if you get me.

The (italian) manufacturer of this chest charge a fortune for the 'proper'
spacers, but I am after doing something on the cheap. So I am looking for ideas
as to what material I might be able to ... find in a skip, type thing.

Some sheets of 2mm Alu would be nice, guillotined down, but that looks a bit
pricy unless I happen across some. Thin MDF would be too weak, I think. FR4 PCB
material might work, but the offcuts I see at work are only 10mmdeep or so, and
some treatment would need to be applied to the edges - GF splinters are not nice!

The drawers are quite large, so I would need lengths of something like 700mm.

Any thoughts as to other sources of cheapskate materials I might consider for
this?

Thanks, Jon N

Polycarbonate sheet, as used for secondary double glazing? Relatively
cheap, tough, reliable to score and snap once you get the technique (and
then just sand the edges smooth).

Bob's point about pinging out is correct, though.

Slightly more expensive is perspex (poly methyl methacrylate) sheet
which can also be scored and snapped. A merit of this is that it can be
solvent welded either to a "footer" strip maybe 8 mm wide, which will
provide stiffening and avoid the ping problem, or the "cross halving"
joints could be glued up in the same way.


That's not a bad idea ... I should perhaps have said that

- yes, I will most likely be arranging things in a 'cross-halved' arrangement
- it might be that the required thickness will be nearer 1.5mm, rather than 2mm

How straightforward would it be to score and snap polycarbonate sheets of such
thicknesses? Also, to make saw or dremel cuts for the cross joints?

Thanks, J^n

Polycarbonate is available in 2 mm although IIRC the common size is 3 mm
and this is obviously a bit stronger. Even if your slots are a bit
narrow you could always put a gentle chamfer on the ends of the dividers.

Scoring and snapping polycarbonate is relatively easy, you can do it
with a Stanley knife and a metal straight edge. For Perspex I've found
it better to use a "scriber" with a 90 degree corner, for example you
can use the corner of a chisel blade held almost perpendicular to the
sheet, with a slight negative "rake", i.e. so that the point is slightly
trailing the direction of movement. For perspex it is worth making a
fairly deep groove. Polycarbonate and perspex both saw OK but as with
all thermoplastics if there is too much load and speed the frictional
heating causes the plastic to melt, and then it "snatches" on the tool.
Junior or ordinary hacksaw is normally fine. Or jigsaw at low speed. I
imagine you could do it with a Dremel too, pehaps the saw or
alternatively the fibre reinforced cutting disks. Worth having a
practice on some scrap.


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On 20/01/2019 12:29, jkn wrote:
Any thoughts as to other sources of cheapskate materials I might consider for
this?


Any old bit of MDF you have lying around with a couple of lost head
nails banged in the end to drop in the slots.

Andy
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On 20/01/2019 21:48, Vir Campestris wrote:
On 20/01/2019 12:29, jkn wrote:
Any thoughts as to other sources of cheapskateÂ* materials I might
consider for
this?


Any old bit of MDF you have lying around with a couple of lost head
nails banged in the end to drop in the slots.

Andy


Neat idea, could do the same with 6 mm ply (but I would drill and
screw). Or you could make a sort of wide but shallow "U" out of coat
hanger wire, fitting in two drilled holes.
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Used to be able to get door slotted runners in wood and plastic that can be
fixed too the bottom to add strength to dividers at the expense of some
width at the bottom of course.
Brian

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...
On 20/01/2019 12:29, jkn wrote:
Hi All
I have a nice large tool chest with sliding drawers, bought via
Gumtree a
while ago. It has eight drawers of depth varying from about 50mm to about
200mm.

I am using the shallower drawers for small tools, but want to separate
the tools
out and stop them rolling around. The edge of the drawers have useful
slots
(about 2mm thick) at 20mm or so intervals. So you can put thin inserts in
these to
mark out areas in the base, as it were - a bit like an adjustable cutlery
drawer,
if you get me.

The (italian) manufacturer of this chest charge a fortune for the
'proper'
spacers, but I am after doing something on the cheap. So I am looking for
ideas
as to what material I might be able to ... find in a skip, type thing.

Some sheets of 2mm Alu would be nice, guillotined down, but that looks a
bit
pricy unless I happen across some. Thin MDF would be too weak, I think.
FR4 PCB
material might work, but the offcuts I see at work are only 10mmdeep or
so, and
some treatment would need to be applied to the edges - GF splinters are
not nice!

The drawers are quite large, so I would need lengths of something like
700mm.

Any thoughts as to other sources of cheapskate materials I might
consider for
this?

Thanks, Jon N

Almost anything 2mm thick and 700mm long will not be stiff enough to stop
is pinging out of the slots when the centre flexes as it will do
inevitably.
Cheapest/easiest will likely be some U channel of ali or hardwood fixed to
the base and ends of the drawers, with ply dividers slotted in.
You used to be able to buy ramin U channel moulding for bookcase glass etc
but since the demise of Woodwork DIY and ramin being classified as
endangered species, these useful mouldings are like hens teeth in the diy
sheds now with only cr4p softwood ones.
If you are stuck and want to go the wooden route, I can make hardwood
mouldings for you? I'm near Southampton. you can pm me about it if you
like.
Bob



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On Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 9:58:33 PM UTC, newshound wrote:
On 20/01/2019 21:48, Vir Campestris wrote:
On 20/01/2019 12:29, jkn wrote:
Any thoughts as to other sources of cheapskateÂ* materials I might
consider for
this?


Any old bit of MDF you have lying around with a couple of lost head
nails banged in the end to drop in the slots.

Andy


Neat idea, could do the same with 6 mm ply (but I would drill and
screw). Or you could make a sort of wide but shallow "U" out of coat
hanger wire, fitting in two drilled holes.


Actually that is a really good plan. Yeah, I think I might go with that sort
of thing. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Cheers, Jon N

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