Like our paint racks - but don't like the price? Maybe you just want to have a go at it yourself. Either way, here is what will help get the ball rolling for you. The following is a bit detailed - quite a bit random - but mostly complete. You should be able to build the racks for yourself for around $15-20 each depending on the woods you choose to use. Once you get a handle on the basic design, you can change it up a bit in order to meet your specific needs.

Tools Required:

• Saw (You can do it with a hand saw...if you do use a back saw, it will help make straighter cuts. Ideally a power miter saw or radial arm saw).
• Drill (Make sure it has a bit of torque. Any corded drill will work, most good cordless drills will work. A lot of the cheap cordless drills will bog down).
• 3/32" Drill Bit (used for pilot and marking holes).
• 1/2" Drill Bit (Used for making the smaller secondary hole for holding the bottle cap).
• 1 1/8" Drill Bit (You can use a forstner, spade, auger or even a hole saw for this. I listed them in my preference for this type of work. Keep in mind the hole saw will limit your ability to make gang drills).
• Sand paper (80, 120, 160 and 240 grit...or a similiar combination which you prefer).
• Straight Edge, Square and marking tools.
• Clamps (Bar/Pipe/Quick Grip clamps capable of spanning 12 1/2") better still are box clamps which keep things square by spanning from corner to corner.

Optional tools:

• Router Table w/ 45° Chamfer bit (This allows for a tight fit against the back wall).
• Bandsaw (If you have more time than money).
• Planer (If you have more time than money).
• Jointer (For making your joints tight and square).
• Additional Joinery bits for your router (For advanced/optional jointing methods).

Materials List:

• 3/4" x 2 1/2" Oak* - 25"
• 1/2" x 2 1/2" Oak* - 24"
• 1/4" x 2 1/2" Oak* - 58"
• 1/4" Oak Plywood* - 12" x 12" or 13" x 13" if you prefer not to recess the backing.
• Chamfer blocks** - 10 each.
• Wood Glue (Preferably Titebond III, though any good woodworking glue will work).

* Lengths will depend somewhat on how you are cutting the wood and what you are cutting from. Most power saws have a 1/8" cutting kerf, so be sure to take that into account when determining what you will actually need.

** The Chamfer Blocks are used to speed shelf alignment and help to keep things secure. Basically it is a right triangle cut from wood that is 3/4" tall with 45 degree angles on two corners.

Step #1 - Assemble Your Materials

The only item which might be a little difficult to find is the plywood. 1/8" Oak can be a tough find, but you can substitute 1/4" with no serious problems. I used 1/8" for my setup since I have lots of it on hand (I build custom cabinetry and furniture...so I have lots of all the woods on hand) and since I will be hanging mine on the wall, I don't want anymore weight than I need to have.

Step #2 - Measure, Mark and Cut

Measure twice, cut once. Measure three times, cut once and not have to fudge things when you get around to assembly.

For this it is important to know your tools and how they work. RTFM people. Make sure you calibrate your miter saws, and sharpen the blades. A good saw, with a good sharp blade that has been properly calibrated will not need any jointing or planing in order to make tight fits. If you are using hand tools, practice a bit with them. Learn how to best control their cut - and if needed, look for guidance. Most hand tools don't come with manuals, but luckily a lot of old guys like me are around who have been using them for decades and can give you a few tips.

So...the measurements?

Top/Bottom - 2 ea. - 12 1/2" - 3/4" Oak.
Sides - 2 ea. - 12" - 1/2" Oak.
Shelves - 5 ea. - 11 1/2" - 1/4" Oak.

The absolute most important measurement is on the 5 - 1/4" pieces. Since these will be in the middle spanning from upright to upright, you need to make sure they are all the same size. If not, well it won't work.

If you are planning on marking all the parts at once, don't. You need to take into account your saw kerf - that is the thickness of your saws cuts. Quite often this is about 1/8", however unless you are very familiar with your tools - you don't want to mark everything and then cut it only to find out that some parts are shorter than you thought.

Quick Tip: Gang Cuts and Chipout

Whenever you have multiple items which all need to be the same size, use gang cutting methods. It will save time and hassles as well. Basically, you want to rough cut your stock 1/2" or so over sized and then bundle all the pieces that need to be the same size together. Then you cut through all the pieces at the same time as opposed to cutting each individually. Since they all get cut at once, they should all be the same size.

Almost anytime I cut anything, I want to limit the amount of work I need to do to get it ready for use. In order to help facilitate this, you don't want to have any chip-out. Chip out is when the saw blade breaks through the back of the wood and causes the wood to splinter. The cure is simple, sharp blades and blue tape. Obviously you want to use sharp blades - they will keep your tools much happier overall. The tape on the other hand can be a little confusing. What you do is wrap the wood in the location that the cut needs to be made. By doing this, the tape helps to reinforce the wood when the blade exits it. Less chip out, less time fixing problems.

Step #3 - Dealing with Joints

Depending on the tools you have on hand, and the ammount of time you want to spend on each one - you can deal with the joints for the case in a number of different ways. In most cases the joint you choose will change the dimensions of the materials - so be sure you make up your mind before you make your cuts.

Rabbet Joint

I like to use a rabbet joint for handling corner joints on stuff like this. The joint is simple and quick to make. It speeds alignment and assembly, and for the application it is plenty strog when combined with a good quality glue. If you decide to follow my lead, I recommend using a 1/4" rabbeting router bit. This will speed your set up time on the router as the same bit can be used for the corner joints as well as doing the recess for the back panel.

Dado/Groove Joint

The dado joint is a slight improvement over a rabbet joint. It doesn't take a lot more work in terms of cutting it and making things work together - but it is more sturdy and makes alignment easier...assuming that you cut the dado correctly.

Butt Joint

The other type of joint that I will mention here is a good old fashioned butt joint. A butt joint is basically just two pieces of wood coming together without any specific joinery being used. You are relying entirely on the glue to hold things together. If you decide to use a butt joint you will want to shorten the top and bottom pieces by 1 inch and lengthen the sides by 1 inch.

If you feel a need to reinforce the butt joint, you can use dowels or pocket screws to help beef the joint up. Both have a long history in carpentry, and neither requires any advanced tools - although a pocket hole jig like those sold by Kreg will help make things go faster.

Other Joints

In addition to the above, you can use a number of other more complicated joints like locking miters, dovetails and box joints. Most of these will lead to a stonger box than the options above - but the use of the paint racks means that they shouldn't be subject to the same stresses as something like a kitchen drawer which is opened and closed all day long.

The Back Panel

On the racks which I produce, I recess the back panel into a rabbet which goes around the inner edge of the back of the case. Since the backing is 1/4" plywood - I can cut this rabbet at the same time as the rabbets used for the corner joints. You do not need to recess the back panel though. If you choose not to, you can simply cut it to the proper size and glue it directly to the back. In order to reinforce this joint, you can use small brad nails in order to help secure it.

Step #4 - Drilling Holes

Ugh. 18 holes per rack shelf...90 holes per section...1890 holes in my paint room rack (no they are not all being used). So, there are a lot of holes to drill. Again, layout is the key to success. Each hole is laid out 1 1/4" on center from the centerline. The front, larger holes are set back 3/4" from the front and the back smaller set of holes is set back 1/2" from the back. Take your time and make sure you are marking where it needs to be.

OK, you have your first one marked and ready to go. Take the other four and bundle them with the one you have marked (you can clamp them together with blue painters tape...just make sure there is no wiggle room and everything is lined up). Take your 3/32" drill bit and with the parts clamped on a solid flat surface with a sacrificial board under them, drill straight down through all the pieces at once. Make sure you keep the drill plump otherwise each hole will be slightly off from where it should be.

If you have a drill that can handle it - chuck up your two larger bits and finish the holes. The front gets the 1 1/8" holes, the back gets 1/2" holes. If you are using a smaller drill, unbundle the shelves and drill each individually. Yes - it is boring, especially after a dozen or so...however this is an integral part of the assembly and you want to take your time.

Step #5 - Bevel the backs

Since the shelves are on an angle - and this design doesn't use any dowel joints or dadoes, you want the backs of the shelves to meet flush with the back of the case for a strong glue joint. In order to accomplish this, the back of the shelf needs to be beveled at a 45° angle. The easiest way to do this, is to use a router table with a 45° degree bit or a table saw (when possible, I prefer to use my router table as opposed to the table saw - since the angle is machined it is more likely to be accurate). However, don't fret if you don't have those toys. You can accomplish what needs to be done with some coarse sand paper. The key though is in the jig. If you tried to put the angle on the board by hand and eyeballed it, you would likely have 5 different angles...many of which are not uniform from side to side.

The jig...

You will need two pieces of wood cut at a 45° angle which are pretty close to the same size and one longer board - about 16" long - which will be your shooting board. The two angled boards will have the shooting board attached so that when you set it on your workbench the shooting board is on a 45° angle. Take a sheet of coarse sandpaper and set it on the workbench. Set the jig on top of that so that the bottom edge is over the paper (I find setting it on an angle - kitty corner allows for a longer stroke). Take each shelf and hold it firmly against the shooting board and slide from side to side till you get the bevel you need. Don't worry - it will go quick. Keep an eye on how much edge you have...you want to stop just when the new face you are creating joins up with the top of the shelf.

Step #6 - Finishing the Shelves

Step #7 - Assembly

Hopefully everything has been cut to the right size and square. If it has been - the assembly will go quickly. If not - I pitty you.

While assembling the parts I start by connecting the two side pieces to the top and bottom. Use the shelves as spacers in order to make sure everything is lined up. Normally I will space them between the sides and hold the sides tight with clamps. When applying glue - make sure you use enough but not too much. You should just barely see a thin bead of glue squeeze out from the edges when clamped. Angle blocks are a great thing here. Use them if you have them...consider getting them if you don't. It will go a long way to make sure things are square when assembled. Measure from across the corners to make sure it is square - if the numbers are the same...you are square. If not, adjust as needed till they match.

Once the glue has dried. Attack the back. If you have a router and a top guide bit, just go ahead and attach it as is...a bit oversized. If you don't...mark the backing and cut it to fit. I would double check to see if the location you got it at can cut to size. If so, wait to pick it up till you are at this point - and have them cut it to fit.

The Shelves.

Measure each side for placing the blocks that will hold the shelves in place. The first shelf to measure is the bottom, and this should be marked 2 1/2" from the bottom. Each shelf after the first should be placed 2" from the last shelf. This should leave you with placing the last shelf block about 1" from the top. Once you have marked all the shelves, glue your chamfer blocks to the sides with the top corner of the block on the mark. Repeat for all the blocks and let dry.

Apply glue to the back edge of the shelves and the chamfer blocks and slide them into place. Start with the bottom shelf. As long as everything has been done right to this point, you should be able to quickly slide each shelf into place. Hold each shelf in place for a few minutes before moving to the next one. Once you have started gluing them in place it is hard to go back and replace ones that have fallen out of alignment.

Step #8 - Finish Finishing

There you go. If you left the backing oversized, once the glue has fully dried (overnight) - trim it to size with the flush trim bit. Double check all your edges and clean it up with sandpaper. Once that is done, apply the finish of your choice to the remaining parts.

Variations

In addition to being useful for storing dropper bottles, I have found that this size works well for a lot of other stuff that is a constant presence on my workbench. Due to their small footprint (only 2 1/2" deep) you are able to keep a lot more workspace available when compared to other organization systems. This extra workspace can be very useful when you are working with terrain and other large items, not to mention it just keeps everything more readily visible. You are able to spend more time working on your minis and less time looking for paint or glue.

Large Bottles

The rack that I have in order to hold the larger bottles like craft paints and many glue bottles is very much like the dropper bottle racks. As opposed to using shelves that are 2 1/2" wide I use 3" wide shelves. The front holes are 1 1/2" diameter and you can fit 7 across each shelf. Instead of having them 5 shelves high, you can only get 4 high. Everything else is basically the same in terms of assembly methods.

General Purpose Shelves

One of the most versatile shelves that I have found have been the General Purpose shelves. Each of these is a narrow shelf that is simple in form but broad in function. Many of the materials we use come in small bottles and cans - and keeping them organized can be a pain. Often bottles of glue disappear behind cans of spray paint and bottles of flock. The narrow depth of the shelves keeps everything visible, and handy when you need it.

I make the shelves out of 1/2" thick stock that has been ripped down to 2 1/4" wide. You will want to cut them to 11 1/2" long. While you can glue them in place easily enough, and it will likely hold, I prefer to reinforce them with pocket screws. This provides a fast joint that will be nearly impossible to overload no matter what you put on them.

Tool Holders

You can also use these racks for a variety of different tool holders. You can arrange shelves for holding all of your commonly used tools relatively easily. In many cases they are highly efficient in terms of space - in a few other situations though you do sacrifice that efficiency for aesthetics...though it isn't much less efficient in most cases.

Remember that the width of each shelf will be 11 1/2". Depending on what you want to use them for, you may want to use thinner or thicker wood in order to make the most out of your space. For example you can use 1/2" or 3/4" thick stock with holes drilled in it in order to organize your Dremel bits. You can also use 1/4" thick stock in order to create a rack for holding files, spatulas and shaping tools. There really is no limit other than your imagination.

So there you go. While the design is fairly simple you can expand on it and create any number of configurations in order to get the most out of your workbench. Since they are made out of solid wood, you can stack them and secure them using screws or other mechanical fasteners. I have mine hanging on the wall behind my workbench and find that I can comfortably reach anything within 4 sections wide by 2 sections tall without getting out of my chair. This gives me a lot of paint and tools close at hand and in plain view.