Aluminium Workshop Bin

[Jigantor]

Every workshop needs a bin.
For housing waste be it scrap metal, filings, swarf or mistakes.
I have just constructed a new workshop/Welding bay and need a metal bin for all of the above reasons. I rang all the major hardwares and the machinery shop, I then rang an industrial cleaning supply company but alas none had a small metal bin.

They all had plastic bins and some had S/S bins with plastic liners.
No good when a red hot piece of metal is tossed into it.

I used aluminium tread plate for the flooring of my workshop and had a few pieces of scrap left over. I thought why don't I make my own bin out of the same material as the flooring.
Custom job.

Ji

[Jigantor]

I marked up the 1.4mm alloy tread plate and folded it in my panbrake.

Ji

[Jigantor]

This stuff folds pretty easy and looks great.

Ji

[Jigantor]

I placed the tail of my scrap into my home made shear and cut to length.

Ji

[Jigantor]

I then clamped the folded sides together.

Ji

[Jigantor]

I then switched on the TIG welder and let it warm up for 30 minutes before welding up the side joint.

Ji

[RoGrrr]

I go to scrap yards and one in particular sells things like those aluminum cross-bed tool boxes.

It doesn't matter what it is, all their aluminum gets sold for $1 a pound. I have a number of tool boxes that would sell used for over $100 that I bought for anywhere from $30 to $60. I tig the holes closed or I just throw stuff into them.
They are leakproof. I leave them outside bolted to my stock rack and the contents stay dry. I take the locks to a smith to get new keys made.

By the way, I'm in Ohio.

[hockeyguynick]

What part of Ohio you in? That sounds like a scrap yard worth checkin out. Our local ones have mostly shred, nothin worth taking a look at.

Oh, and I don't know what you are paying to have new keys made up for the locks, but if the locks are the same style that I have on my box (round ones with a tab that turns on the back) They sell em at Tractor Supply for like 4 bucks