This is the first installment in building an undercabinet for the shopsmith to get some weight on it for stability purposes and to have a place to store some of the myriad accessories needed.  Hopefully this will be useful to someone.

I went with a 2 large drawer setup under the head stock and I am not certain yet on the drawers for the right hand side, I have some ideas that I am going to play with over the next couple days to see what is going to work best.

Obligatory pictures follow….

 

 

Nice. Glad ur getting some shop time in making projects to enhance your environment.

Thanks for sharing.

I am too, any day making sawdust is a good day in my book!  

2 minutes ago, Static_LV said:

I am too, any day making sawdust is a good day in my book!  

 

8 minutes ago, Static_LV said:

I am too, any day making sawdust is a good day in my book!  

Even the worst day in your shop beats the best day on a J-O-B.

A suggestion before you get to far along.  Carefully consider what you want to store in this, even if it slows project down until you have a solid plan.  In designing my twin tablesaw lower cabinet this took alot of time to lay out.

 

These pictures are for example purpose of use of space in a drawer.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

I was about to suggest that you get the new castors, but you are already there.  I never thought that the cabinet idea on the SS was a good idea because of my big feet.  Now, that I am older, I now kick things that I don't see.  My feet need more room.  Another thought about this cabinet is to put a slant on it to have the sawdust to fall off and not accumulate.  

Saw dust is the bane of my existence with the SS. Some folks seem to have the problem solved. I'm not one. My redneck solution is a large plastic storage tub lengthwise with two lids stuck in at an angle on each side of the tub, under the saw. It ain't pretty or sublime but, it catches most of the dust....most of the time. 

In a burst of brilliance, I cut a hole in one tub and installed a DC port. That was a fail!

Edited December 31, 20214 yr by Gene Howe

@Gunny  That is always the challenge with these things, I do have a pretty good idea of what needs to go into this one and where though.  I tend to design things around the concept of stations and then make sure that everything needed at that station is at that station.  As this station will primarily be sanding, lathe, and sharpening, those are the things I will focus on and then store anything else I can fit after that.

Drawer 1 is looking pretty good.

 

Auxiliary tables, support bars, brackets, support legs.  It adds a non-trivial amount of weight to the machine and just with this, the vibration dampening is apparent.

 

Still working on sorting out the second drawer and planning the right side to maximize utilization.

Looking good Michael ! 
Paul

Got the rest of the drawers finished up today, mounted and everything stuffed into them with a fair amount of storage space left over (for more accessories), Still need to do drawer faces to finish them off properly, but so far things have come together nicely.
I am still working on a chisel storage solution but that is almost designed out and I will get that built in the next day or so. 

Progress pictures…

 

 

 

My, you've been busy this year.Looking good. Great deal of storage gained. Well done.

Edited January 3, 20224 yr by Grandpadave52

Looks like a great addition to the SS Static!

Adding the weight to the machine really improves its performance. That’s coming out nicely !

Paul

Looks like a good improvement over the typical shelf (AKA shin-banger) that you see.  Though I'm wondering if a little toe kick space will be handy, depending on what tools you are using.  Looks like there is room to lift it up though, if you decide that in the future.

I need to build one of these. I also understand with added weight of the cabinet and contents, the smith sounds smoother? Some rattling from the base and such are eliminated?

I would think contents would rattle some unless something like Kaisen foam is used.   I heard many years ago that bags of sand work really well in absorbing vibrations.

 

Unless you have skis for feet, I don’t see any problem there.  I have to stand back far enough to clear the table carriage adjustment wheel anyway when using the lathe which leaves plenty of room for my feet.   I debated raising the cabinet and / or making it two inches taller but this is what I am going with for now and it doesn’t seem to be an issue.  I wanted as much weight as possible as low as possible and preferably on the head stock side which factored into the overall design.

The contents don’t seem to rattle at all and the overall operation of the SS seems much smoother. No rattling from the base and operating vibration is significantly reduced.  If I find that things move around I will build some drawer organizers / retainers to keep things in place but that doesn’t look like an issue currently.

5 minutes ago, Static_LV said:

No rattling from the base and operating vibration is significantly reduced.

Exactly what I heard this upgrade would do, excellent!