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Swivel Storage Shows Us How to Build Tool Cabinet Drawers that Open Easily and Support an Incredible Amount of Weight
Hint—don't use slides.
By David Frane - Jun 17, 2016
According to Norm Penner, it's better to swivel than slide, at least when it comes to the drawers in heavy duty tool storage cabinets. He should know because when the conventional cabinets in his metal fabrication shop failed, he and his father invented the pivoting drawers now used in Swivel Storage Solutions' work benches and cabinets.
Enter a caption (optional)They needed to store heavy tooling and supplies but there was a lot of grinding debris in the shop—and grinding debris is the last thing you want to get into delicate ball-bearing slides. The debris settled into the slides on a regular basis causing the slides in their tool cabinets to stick and ultimately fail.
The Penners addressed the problem by devising drawers that pivot off a vertical rod that runs the full height of the cabinet. Unlike drawers with slides—which are rated to carry a given amount of weight—the taller you make a pivoting drawer, the more weight it is able to handle. That's because the height of the drawer is proportional to the bearing it has on the rod.
It's a very cool system—check out the video I shot at the National Hardware Show last month and see for yourself.
David Frane
David Frane is a tool nut who has worked as a carpenter, furniture maker, and journalist—with a special interest in how, where, and by whom things are made.
10 Comments
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Another option to increase space efficiency would be to make the cabinet drawers accessible from both sides -for example for "island" style work environments- and place the pivots on opposite corners. Then the space usage increases from 78.5 % to 89.3 % with square base area.
Other option would be one big one and an additional drawer which only uses the dead space in the corner (with pivot on opposite corner). Then it could also open to the side or opposite.!Report as spam-
Interesting see this calculated. There is a lot of waste if the cabinet is square--which may be why the cabinets the company makes are much wider than they are deep. If the cabinet is X deep and 2X wide I'm thinking that 78.5% "utilization rate" goes up to 94.25%. The wider and shallower the cabinet the less waste there is with this kind of pivot.
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nice to see you around here David!
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Thanks Scott. Aside from the cool content, the thing I like best about Core77 is the engaged and communicative audience.
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I have one criticism: if all the load bearing is on the one pivot, why does it need a fully framed container with four corners? If you took out the corner opposite the pivot, you'd be able to have a full-sized rectangular drawer swing out, instead of cutting 1/5th of your drawer off to accommodate the swing path. Not only would you gain that drawer space back, but you wouldn't have to get clever with your tool layout along the curve.
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I'll send an invoice for my consultation fee in the mail. ;)
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Oh, and for the double-wide models, just move the pivot points to the center. The frame would be a T shape from a top-down view, and the drawers would tuck into either corner, pivoting from the "foot" of the T.
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I hear what you're saying about picking up more storage space, but if the post and side across from the pivot was removed debris could get into the drawers and the contents would be less secure. And one corner of the top would be unsupported--making it a less than sturdy work surface.
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Agreed, I would like to see the empty space filled though, possibly with another set of smaller drawers pivotting from the side for storage of smaller tools or nuts and bolts.
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I am from Swivel :), the diagram is miss leading as it shows both sides as equal in distance making the curve a Full Radial, In fact the curve is much more elliptical. Cubic foot calculations shows a loss of 3%. This loss is less evident in slider doors that don't slide completely and leave an area hidden to the eye.
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