Well as you can see in the above pictures I had quite an assortment of metal stock that I have been trying to figure out how to store. I wanted something more organized for when my new equipment shows up than what I have had for the past several years. I try to keep my shop clean and organized but one area that always annoys me is my small metal stock storage.
I cleared out the underside of my welding bench and made room for two small milk crates, one for steel and one for aluminum. These hold the small odd sized pieces and will work great.
I moved my Wilton 20" drill press and my Baldor bench grinder/stand over next to my belt/disc sander to keep the grinding dust off of my new lathe when it arrives. On my old one I had an aluminum shield that I would hang on the chip tray of the Smithy to keep the dust off while grinding but I didn't want to deal with that on the new one.
The new lathe will be closer to the front of the shop next to the solvent tank and the mill will be right across from it so my cart holding my machine tools/toolbox will be within easy reach for either machine.
Here is the void where the new Precision Mathews PM1340GT will live.
I cut some 4" PVC tubing, capped the bottom and mounted them so they rest on the foundation ledge. I divided up my stock by lengths and composition to keep like items together. There are eight tubes behind the disc/belt sander and another seven tubes behind the drill press allowing a nice clean and organized floor area.
Another view.
I haven't been able to get all the way around my disc/belt sander for several years as I had a box of metal stock/pieces in boxes on either side of it. Now I can get to the wall when I need a piece and keep track of my sizes much better rather than having to dig through piles of metal. This was the one area of my shop that I was not happy with. Now I am very pleased with how it turned out and actually look forward to the time when I need a piece of metal to machine and can locate what I am looking for with ease.
Mike.