Ikea Helmer DIY Workshop Cart 

I bought one because of your video. For the money you can’t beat it. I have it under my Nova DVR drill press where it holds everything I need to support it’s operation. Thanks Again.

"La organizacion vence al tiempo" Gracias por tu tiempo! Soy un maker como tu y necesitaba justamente esto. saludos!

Double LIKE for this one, Robert. The magnets, the relocated stops, and the MDF bracing are superb - the icing on the cake is the divider liner. Thanks for sharing. Also the price tag & band aid.

Great tutorial I’ve just completed something similar as a bedside table, used 3/4 red oak instead of the MDF, static legs from IKEA and upgraded the drawer pulls to richelieu hardware. Thanks for the inspiration!

The magnets are a brilliant idea! Thanks.

Many thanks for these hacks - I have just assembled mine with the same adjustments - love the drawer stop idea - the screws are so much better than the fold-out tabs. And adding the MDF top and bottom ( I used melamine) to stiffen the structure and provide a better base for real casters is an all round excellent idea! I look forward to more of your IKEA hacks :-)

Thank you Robert! Very nice project, will be glad to see such "hacks" in the future!

Thanks for sharing this! I'm going to do something similar for my dental office (but with a chemical resistant polyethylene top).

Great modification. By coincidence, I bought that unit from Ikea yesterday. And today, I made your mods after I watched your amazing video. Greetings from Qatar.

This was great! I did two of these (and the magnets are my favorite part.) Thank you!

Gonna use the magnet idea! I use a lot of these for my RC hobby. They are great.

This is a really good idea for people that need small work benches

This was an informative video. I want to purchase the unit but I didn't know if it was sturdy enough and you hit the nail right on the button. All the other tips you gave were extremely helpful. Thanks for the video.

Great improvement!

Simple yet really useful project! I just did this myself, but using a 83x50 cm pine IVAR shelf for the wood & a set of RILL castors, so I could source all the parts from under one roof (well except for screws & varnish).

That's really cool mate! And very well explained :) Great work, keep it up!

Loved the magnet ideas! 😍

Thank you Robert, I watched your video and successfully modified my Ikea Helmer.

Robert, A safety tip when working with a tablesaw: Never crosscut a piece of material that is wider than deep using the fence, Instead, use a crosscut sled. The safety issue a risk of the part rotating between the fence and blade, getting grabbed by the upward rovolving back of the blade causing a situation called "kickback". Be safe...I really enjoy your videos! Mike

Awesome tutorial thanks 4 sharing

That is a sweet workbench. Maybe someday I can get some more space. Your Ikea mod turned out great! I love Ikea mods.

Genius! Bye from Italy!

one of the killers is when thing are out of sight that you don't use most of the time you forget about them but this draw system in quite good saying they are not commencal draws thank you for sharing Robert Cowan

This is perfect! Thanks for sharing your feedback and customizations you did an awesome job. This is a great value and efficient for the same scenario I’ll be using it for.

Great job buddy!

Brilliant!

Well done, i think i will buy some HELMER Drawer , lots of storage for cheap. It would be a great addition to my workshop!! 🙂 🤗

You're a legend. Very well explained. You deserve way more subscribers

Wow! Thank you a lot for ideas! I think, you can also add a thin layer of rubber or fabric on the back to prevent extra noise from the magnets. I'm trying to replace basic the metal rails with telescopic side rails, because the base rails makes a lot of noise.

hello from Greece perfect video very good job :)

Brilliant

Also suggestion Getting some foam cabinet drawer protectors you can get pretty cheap and will allow you to put stuff and not have things slide around.

awesome video, good work:)

Great video, good quality, but I wonder how much more it cost you to make all the modifications. It seems that you could have just spent that money on a better made product. BUT THEN...we wouldn't have this great video.

Good mods, I'm going to borrow some.

Nice video

I just ordered 4 of these. the Plano 3707 may fit inside too

This is a great idea. It will work perfectly with a computer desk I have. Would a 1/4" of plywood on the back of the cabinet stiffen it up ?? Thanks for the tip. I didn't know Ikea had this.

I just finished more or less exactly this mod (except my HELMER is green). I used 2 slices of 1/2" plywood at each end (for a total of 1" of wood on the top and 1" on the bottom), and a pair of rotary casters at the front and a pair of fixed casters at the back to make it a bit easier to move around. I found that 12mm of NeFeB magnets was a good balance between grabbing the drawer when it's all the way in and stopping it from being easily pulled out. I left the drawer stops off because I'll be storing projects in these drawers, so now I can pull a project out and put it on my bench, then pack it all away when I'm done. I reused the sheet-metal screws that held the original caster-like-objects on to attach the back panel to the bottom frame, and ran a couple of them into each sideframe as well to stop the back panel being pulled into the body (the magnets for the drawers were pulling the sheet into a curve, which seemed non-ideal). Thanks for the video and the inspiration, Robert. I expect I'll have a couple of these in my workshop before too long.

Excellent doctoring, thank you. I just finished building mine, via your method, and I can’t seem to get magnets to function as yours does. Then again, I purchased “super strong” refrigerator magnets, so that’s on me. Could you send a link for the ones you used? And how many per drawer, per unit? Thanks.

oooh it's good to see that these simple reinforcement do the drawers a lot of good in terms of rigidity! Might try buying them myself and hopefully inserting the mdf on the inside :)

I love this so much. Thank you for sharing. I was wondering if you have any videos on the Alex unit. I haven't purchase one yet because I want to be able to open the drawers all the way. I was thinking to use the kitchen drawer sliders but I don't even know if they will fit. Anyway thanks again.

I have that same timer!!!

I bought a very similar cabinet from IKEA in around 2004, it's construction is very different though. It came in one piece (other than the handles) and it's all welded together, exactly the same size though. It was I think £35, this one is now only £25...If you allow for inflation, this one is half the price of the old one.

Target now sells bright room plastic drawer inserts that fit perfectly in these drawers

I am really interested in a workshop tour and or learning of what you do outside of RU-vid

Would you reccomend adding a washer between the screw and drawer to prevent too much stress when pulling on the handles? I noticed they are a washer-head screw, but I figured this might be a weak spot over-time - have you noticed anything with yours? Thanks for the awesome vid! Youve earned my subscription & like! :)

I just bought one and I’m gonna try out some of your ideas. Looks like it turned out great.👍...Too bad they don’t offer that that red color no more

I mean these are cool but I wanna know more about that desk! :) i'll go see if you made a video on that already. Thanks for the great ideas to fix up the Helmer!

Good side down, Haha, such a stupid mistake, yet it still happens even after many years of experience. Good work on the improvement. =)

Give it about 3 months and the paint wears off the bottom of the draws and friction goes through the roof on these. The draw handles will just be useful to pull the whole cart around with the, rather than opening the draws. Get yourself some 3M PTFE tape and add some pads every 3 inches to the bottom of both sides of all the draws.

Hi Robert, great hack! I really apreciated the detailed explanation. I do want to ask if you recomend helmer as a desk support. Is it too fragile to handle a desk top?

Who makes the workbenches? They look really nice

I bought this for my friend for his birthday as we just moved into a new house and he finally has room for a workshop. The bench was very easy to set up ru-vid.comUgkxyFZUPFEey-PuqsPMxqaykBhgA1LWxFHh They center support is a little difficult to snap in and out of place at first but at least then we know the bench is secure. It was a pleasant surprise when we saw it came with clamps. I apparently missed that in the description. My friend loves the versatility of the bench. Great starter bench for his workshop and easily transportable all over our property. I wish the bench was a little taller but the other features of the bench more than make up for that.

The harbor fright tool chests are nice - but $170. So I can see why you opted for these. Pro tip. If you buy two sturdy filing cabinets that are half height, and a soil core door at a home improvement center, it makes for a very cheap/sturdy bench.

I can't find those storage trays anywhere in IKEA. What are they called?

What kind of lab benches are those at the beginning?

Where did you buy the magnets? That's a very helpful idea to secure the drawers

From 9:47 all I can see is that sweet desk. Just gorgeous. Do you have any videos how it's made?

Hi, nice video. Did the metal top came already folded? Is there a reason why you chose to put the mdf out instead of in? I think it would be easier to clean if the mdf was in, except for the resemblance with your other drawers... A little cable management seams to be your next needed trick 😉

Anyone who's undertaken this - what size and strength of magnet has worked well for you?

Hi.. im curious to whether this cabinet actually fits the black folder you showed at the beginning of this video, cos it does look pretty slim. Love your video btw, very insightful xx

Does anyone have any tips to permanently secure the drawer faces to the drawers? I’m tired of the handle and face coming apart when I attempt to open the drawer. I like to use this as in indoor tool chest, for indoor household lightweight tools.

can it hold as a table stand? im planning to get 2 and use it as a table leg for my computer desk

What is the part or model number of the plastic trays?

Where did you get CNC cabinet tool box and cost? Thank you.

I can imagine what you would look like sitting at your desk after its raised 8 inches. You'd look like Ronnie Corbett sitting in an oversized chair... LMFAO. :-)

Hey Robert, just wondering if you'd share whether your Helmer unit have held together 7 years on? I'm thinking of buying these for under my workbench. Thanks

What is the name of the drawer organizer you got from IKEA? I’d like to see if they still have them. Thanks!

Why not put the MDF inside the cabinet instead of the outside?

I like order the plastic organiser, but can't find right now, any help, looking in Poland IKEA...

Hi Robert, If you still have this cabinet, I don't suppose you could tell me the internal drawer dimensions? I want to use a number of these cabinets as a small parts organiser and trying to find the dimensions before committing to buying any? Thank you

Where did you get the monitor stand?

Did you ever end up reinforcing the drawers? I was thinking about converting one of these to hold 7” vinyl records, but I know the drawers won’t be sturdy enough as is.

What size screws did you use?

Ι am certain that Ikea's quality has gone down over the years. I have the EXACT same set of draws, same color and all, however mine is from 2009. The metal on mine looks a lot thicker and definitely not as "wobbly".

PSA: the IKEA Antonius has been discontinued I built one of these a while ago, but today went to build another, but the Antonius is discontinued

The cabinets are now $70 bucks

You can 3D print various inserts that fit perfectly, just look for gridfinity over on Thangs. Man, my comments get instantly erased and I don't even write anything offensive. Ugh.