How I Made Cabinets For A Cheap Stack On 10-gun Cupboard

Just got my LTC two months ago and I've already amassed 3 handguns. I wanted a manner to fasten them up and smartly shop ammo, holsters, cleansing system and a small fire resistant "safe" that I've been "hiding" below my mattress for 5 years. It had to be simply inexpensive, it needed to be lightweight enough to rise up to my second-ground condominium, it had to be modular and feature the ability to conform when I purchase greater guns or maybe become an ammo only storage cupboard if I get a real secure someday. I got pretty near to buying the Stack On 18 gun convertible cupboard on sale for $189 after which I were given the idea to buy the narrower 10 gun for $one hundred ten so it might healthy higher in my bedroom closet and make my very own cabinets with scrap particle board I already had. I additionally constructed a handgun rack and mounted lights. It came out better than I expected so I determined to make a touch how-to.

Materials:

Stack On 10 or 14 gun cabinet

E5 shelf track $three / seventy two" period

E5 brackets $3 / 12

Plywood or particleboard or MDF

1-2 yards of felt $five / linear backyard (seventy two" extensive roll so 1 yard is surely 2 sq.yards)

Aluminum pop-rivets

Tools:

Table noticed or circular noticed

Drill and bits

Tape degree

Combination square

Pop-riveter

Staple gun

Hammer

Drop-mild

Scissors

I decided on four shelves plus a floor so 2 72" lengths of E5 cut in half of gave me four 36" lengths. The interior depth of the cabinet is simply over 12" so I decided on 8-half" deep cabinets so that they wouldn't interfere with the lock mechanism and additionally so I may want to get up a shotgun between the shelves and the door after I get one. If you are using the cupboard for handguns or ammo simplest then you can use extra cabinets, make the cabinets a few inches deeper and region them in order that they won't be in the way of the lock.

Lay the cupboard on it's side and use a few painters tape to defend the end whilst you lay the shelf music on the outdoor of the cupboard to get it rectangular and mark the holes. Mine begins about eight" from the pinnacle of the cupboard which leaves numerous space between the bottom shelf and the floor so I can open my little fire resistant secure. You would possibly need that area for heavy ammo cans. In any case, get it the way you want it and drill your holes. Repeat 4 times, use aluminum rivets to mount the track so that you do not weigh down it and also you need to have this:

Decide for your size and quantity of cabinets. Cut them out. Remember to reduce them 1/sixteen" - 1/eight" smaller to atone for the thickness of the felt. Mine are sixteen-3/four" wide and 8-half of" deep. Cover them with felt. I had by no means executed this before however it is just like wrapping a gift. Cut the felt larger than you need, area the "accurate facet" of the shelf face down, pull one edge of the felt over and staple it down approximately every inch. Use a hammer to hit them down flat if necessary. Pull the opposite area over and fold it over an inch like the hem in your garments, maintain it REALLY tight and staple it down. Repeat with the other facets and it should look something like this:

That unsightly seam may be beneath and in the direction of the rear of the cabinet once established.

I forgot to take a image but I additionally made a ground to finish the appearance and assist fortify the lowest of the cabinet. I used a 1" diameter Forstner bit to make three/8" deep flat-backside holes and I notched the the front side in two places to clean the bottom of the door jamb before I blanketed it with felt. I then used a razor to make a small get right of entry to slit over every of the flat bottom holes. When I mount the cabinet to the sub-ground of the residence I'll drop the lag bolts thru the little slits and the heads will sit down in the flat backside holes. There's sufficient clearance to get a socket on the heads, too. Then I'll close up the slit and there might be a pleasing felt-over-timber floor to help maintain the cupboard down if a person ever attempts to rock it unfastened.

I additionally made a touch L-bracket from a few 18 gauge and used switches to govern the lighting. One switch is door activated like a refrigerator and the other transfer opens the circuit so I can depart the door open with the light off whilst I'm domestic. I had planned to buy some LED or incandescent rope lighting but I had a latest string of Christmas tree mini lighting fixtures that had been by no means used because they'd a white wire and seemed awful at the tree. Adhesive zip-tie mounting squares and zip-ties steady the lighting around the interior of the jamb:

I also used a drill press and jig saw to make a handgun rack with magazine garage below. I included it with the identical felt but I had to use spray adhesive. It become a pain to make but it grew to become out respectable. If I had to do it again I could in all likelihood simply buy the manaboutracks.com racks.

Finished version: