Building a French Cleat System for Power Tools | How To

so I don't think it's any secret that I enjoy having a clean shop I like being able to you think of what I need and then just go directly to it so I'm going to put my building to-do list on hold and focus on just organizing my shop at least for the next few weeks the first thing on my list is going to be to organize my power tools I'm going to stick with the same system that I have been using to where it's a French cleat system and every tool has its own holder so let's get going so the first thing I did was clear out my workspace moving my workbench and removing the old French cleat then I located the studs and started making the cleats to make the cleats I simply ran a board through my table saw with the blade tilted at a 45 degree then I put two screws into each stud to secure it to the wall when it came to making the holders I would always start the same by laying out the tools and then taking some measurements then I would build a holder around those measurements and most of them are going to be the same where they have a back and a side with this kind of wing design and to make these I would mark the top and then that front location and then just make a straight line connecting them these sides give really good support to the bottom of the holder where the tool is actually resting once I had it traced out I would take it over to the bandsaw and cut two of them out to where the holder actually ended up looking like this I assembled everything with screws including a clean that I attached to the bat which is also cut out of 45 this completes one holder that I'm not able to put onto the wall and then fill it full tools next I started working on the holder for the Chargers I wanted something that I could slide the batteries on and off with only one hand because the majority of the time when I go to place a battery on or off the charger I typically have a drill in my other hand so I made a shelf with four sides and then secured it all the screws I'll come back later and organize these cords while designing these holders I don't think I used a tape measure once really I would just mark all around the tool and create lips and ledges anywhere I needed to in order for the tool to rest in place for any of the tools that came with accessories I grabbed a bend from my hardware caddy and threw it on Oakley the circular saw holder is probably the most tedious one because you just have to get that placement of the slot correct but I marked out the location and cut it out with a jigsaw then I would test fit it and cut more until I got the perfect fit I then use my bandsaw to cut two triangles at roughly a 20 degree angle then I secured at the top using screws then flipped it around and did the same with the back to keep the saw from falling forward whenever it's in the holder I made a very simple latch using a brad nail as a pivoting point anything with a cord I just added a hook to one of the sides so that I could wrap it up and place it on it now when I was making these holders I tried to store what I could vertically just to save on space however the majority of tools are stored horizontally and I use the same basic shelf with wing side design to do that I would change the dimensions depending on the tool then in the case of these few tools I stored them perpendicular to the cleat just to save on space now for these smaller chargers they don't slide in and out but rather pull up and down so I decided to make a shelf but with a brace on the top so that's nice and secure again I'll come back later to mess with those cords Oh yep I even made a home for this guy I know this one if this is actually a Triton's 3 blade cleaner it is almost like carrying a mini alligator it's a beast anyways I went ahead and stored this one a little bit differently because it was going to take up a lot of room and it was also kind of heavy so I just kind of made a crude latching system to where it pivots on a screw anyways it held it in place so I went with it attach the cord to the wall and moved along okay next up or the routers the routers come with these accessories that are kind of longer so I thought of a box I started off making the box and attached the cleat to the back however whenever I put the Box on the wall I wasn't happy with how insecure it felt on how we get felt so I ripped it apart and went back to the standard wing design and then attached the box to the bottom and that feels so much more secure now keep in mind you can do the same design for all of the other tools that come with accessories I just happen to have been slinging around so that's what I utilize for the accessories that would fit ok last tool is the biscuit joiner this one is just a simple ledge that I can throw on the cleat and hang the jointer from and now I have an entire area dedicated to my power tools or another way of saying that is another area completely off-limits to everyone if you missed the announcement I am sponsored by Triton so just being very upfront that I did receive all of these tools from them but the French cleat system yes it takes up a lot of wall space but it really works out perfect in my shop because all of this right here is the outfeed to my table saw and so that workbench was constantly getting in the way whenever I was trying to make those longer cuts so I needed something in this area that wasn't going to take up a lot of floor space so this takes up 11 to 12 inches I think it's actually loved and a half but so this system having my power tools here takes up and utilizes this otherwise wasted wall space so like I said it works great in my shop but if you don't have a lot of wall space then this probably isn't the system for you but I really like it because I like being able to see all my tools just very quickly go up and grab the one that I need and then put it back and then even once with the cords I grab the cord then I grab a tool off I go put it back I put the tool first wrap up the cord and the photon hook now I do have a wrench tutorial with a little bit more detail on it with all the dimensions that I personally used for the individual tools so check that out if you would like to build a system of your own of course the sizes might vary depending on what brand of tools you have but I'd always give you a starting place and that's it of course I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below and I will see you soon

Channel: April Wilkerson

Views: 2,391,355

Keywords: Organize power tools, power tool storage, french cleat, build french cleats, shop storage, shop organization, April Wilkerson, DIY, Shop project, Triton Tools, Charger storage, drill storage, router holder, circular saw holder, scrap wood project, tool storage, april, wilker dos, diy tool storage, how to french cleat, make french cleats, diy french cleats, french cleat tool storage, french cleat system, female builder, female carpenter

Id: WYuoiefb2uk

Length: 7min 21sec (441 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 26 2015