Bandsaw Storage: Proof of Concept

Feb 2011
(click any pictures for larger image)

	Here is a basic ordinary 14" bandsaw. It's your basic tool, on the standard base, and I would guess that there are many like it in workshops all over the country. My shop, however, is in the basement. It is a compact space, and so efficient storage is always an issue. My bandsaw has often bothered me on that front, since there is all that "wasted" empty space in the base between those splayed legs. Recently I hit on an idea to take advantage of that space, and in the space of an afternoon I put together a proof of concept out of scrap plywood that I had available.
	The basic idea is that I took the brace that is across the middle of the front side, and moved it down close to the floor. I could then fit a box into the newly revealed space. The legs do splay outward, but the brace is long enough to still reach from side-to-side. I did need to drill some new holes in the leg and the brace.
	I considered fitting in angled pieces of wood, but I dismissed that as way too much fiddly work. Instead I built a rectangular box to fit into the space revealed by lowering that brace. A rectangle is far easier to cut out and assemble, and I really don't think I would have gained that much space by going through the hassle of fitting angled pieces. As well, a box can fairly easily be removed and reinstalled, repaired or rebuilt. Finally, a box gives me the optiof of easily fitting in shelves or drawers in the future, or fitting doors onto the face.
	The front of the box is supported by the front brace. The back of the box though... I considered lowering the back brace as well, but instead I engineered a slot across the back of my new storage box, and it now fits over/on the lip of the back brace. This did mean that the back had to be some fairly strong 1/2" plywood, and not the 1/8" that you might normally put on the back of a cabinet.
	A couple of holes were drilled through the rear brace, and two screws were fastened into the back of the box.
	And here is the finished proof of concept:

At this point I plan to just live with it for a while. If I come across any issues, it is easy enough to rip this out and build a new box. I might end up leaving it as is, I might fit some doors on it, or I might fit in a couple drawers. It depends mostly on what I end up thinking should be placed inside there.

Thanks for reading...