44 - Grinding Station, страница 6

Dowel Storage Rack

▲ To remove a dowel, just slip it out of the bottom of the compartment.

This way, even long dowels won't bump into anything above the rack.

Until recently, my only "system" for storing dowels was to stick them in a five-gallon plastic bucket. It worked okay. But often, the only way to find the dowel I needed was to dump them out and play a frustrating game of Pik-Up-Stix.

To solve the problem, I built a simple storage rack, see photo. With four narrow compartments that "stairstep" up from one side of the rack to the other, it organizes all my dowels by length.

The nice thing about this type

of system is I don't have to worry about the diameter of the dowel (or whether it's oak, maple or cherry). I just put the dowel in the compartment that suits its length.

For example, long dowels (24" to 36") are stored in the tall compartment on the left. And the compartment next to it holds 18" to 24"-long dowels. The last two compartments are used for 12" to

18"-long and 6" to 12"-long dowels.

Another nice thing about the compartments is they're open in front. So it's easy to sort through the dowels and grab the one you want, see photo in margin.

drawers. But this rack does more than just organize dowels. A bank of drawers also provides plenty of storage for dowel pins, dowel centers, or a doweling jig.

CENTER DIVIDER

r k- ©--v

RIGHT DIVIDER

LEFT DIVIDER

EXPLODED

(CASE ONLY)

NOTE:

ALL PIECES EXCEPT DRAWER GUIDES ARE Vz" PLYWOOD

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6 ShopNotes

THE CASE

The storage rack starts out as a simple plywood case that's divided into four compartments and three drawer openings, see Exploded View at left.

sides. Because of the staggered heights of the compartments, the only vertical pieces that are the same length are the two sides (A). Both sides are rabbeted to accept the bottom of the case, see detail 'c.'

Although the sides are identical in length, there is one thing that's different. The side on the right (as you're looking at the front of the case) has a number of dadoes that support three shelves and a pair of drawer guides.

dividers. The opposite ends of the shelves (and the other two

No. 44