A Poor Retired Plumbers Take on Cabinet Trolley's

Hi there fraternity

Ok so as boredom takes its toll on my weary shoulders, I stand in my workshop looking desperately about for something to do.

I have just come in from the house after watching Mr. Biden settling himself in behind the Resolute Desk busy reversing most of the policies his predecessor implemented.

At this point I maybe should get on with the purpose of this post.

I am as you will be aware, I am a poor retired plumber by trade and in the last twenty or so years a lecturer in construction, and during that time lecturing period I kept my hand in by working with likeminded lecturers in other building disciplines on weekend projects which covered everything from bathrooms to house extensions.

On retiring I kept it up for a few years but a conflict of interests ensued between my body and my mind in which my body gently informed me my physical being was near knackered after forty odd years at the proverbial coal face and to slow down, while my mind was trying to kill me, by feeding me information that I was still a young agile thing.

My body won out and I informed my colleagues I was quitting as crawling about under the floorboards or across an attic space was no longer something I desired.

So converted my garage into a workshop and you know the rest.

Now as someone who worked most weekends, I had a trailer and a plethora of boxes that filled said trailer that I dragged to the projects we were working on. On giving up all the boxes containing every tool and fixings I owned ended up in various workshop cupboards etc and it has been a nightmare, pulling out containers every time you want something. Plus, my tools were not organised, with everything mixed together. So, what to do

My workshop luckily is a reasonable size, but my work bench and project assembly bench are at opposite ends so I needed something that would allow tools easily accessible to both.

So here is what I came up with i.e., tool cabinet trolley. I did in depth research on the subject and found that there are hundreds on the market of infinite price and dimension.

I could pay a couple of thousand pounds for a Snap On or a hundred pounds for a non-Snap On. Originally, they were manufactured for the motor industry, but times change and the smaller ones are more focused on the domestic market, which is where I started to look. The reason I choose my own was based on my circumstances in that mostly they are only 300mm (12inches) deep with 360-degree wheels that make it easy to navigate around my workshop. But I went for the seven drawer, 460mm wide, why, because of a worldwide in-built fault that most married men are infected with i.e., bigger and better it has to be. Married women do not possess this precious gene. It is the exclusive domain of the married man. Let me prove this by a simple analogy.

Not too long ago our main tv packed in and we set off to our UK equivalent of Best Buy to choose a replacement. My good wife dutifully perused said tv’s until she settled on a 43inch one. Whereas my nose was glued to an 85inch behemoth, with every available toy it had to offer, including a giant remote with about 500 buttons and nestled underneath an accompanying 1000-watt sound bar that would rattle your dentures and entertain most of your neighbours. The fact we wouldn’t get it through the front door and if we did, we would have to remove two chairs just to fit it in the lounge and our knees would be resting against the screen is irrelevant if you have the precious gene. None of that matters.

This male gene has many other remarkable features in that it strips what little male common sense you may have at your disposal. When visiting the likes of Home Depot, it allows you to buy an amazing array of tools you don’t need but want. My workshop in particular has many of such tools dotted around waiting patiently to be used

Luckily being a woman, my wife does not have access to the gene. If she did, we would now be bankrupt and probably homeless by now.

In the end a compromise was reached and I had to settle a lesser model. I did consider throwing a tantrum in the shop, but didn’t have my pram or toys with me, but reverted to begging instead.


So, pros and cons. Not too expensive and all the drawers are all rubber lined as is the top work surface. Wheels are roller bearing with stops. Very easy to organise your tools. The top work surface is really handy as a second worktop.

The cons are down to just one. Only two feet are swivel which allows you to turn 360 degrees but only push in one direction, so I have ordered a completely new set of all swivel feet.

Costs are, original £200 reduced to £159 and on clearance I got it for £134 including delivery, so happy bunny.

To summarise the reason, I posted this is because there may be a few members who find themselves in the same situation as myself especially with limited storage and access and it offers one solution to make workshop tools etc a little more accessible, and most workshops have at least 300mm (12inch) to wheel it about. In my case I use it solely for maintenance tools.

There are a number of profiles available with a mixture of drawers and cupboard.

Ideal for router and bit storage.

Colin
Off his trolley in Scotland