A Question for all DIYers

My grow dresser is currently occupied with two flowering females (*sob... lost three to that dreaded disease---masculinity) and I'd like to start some seedlings. So I'm eyeing everything boxlike in my home, and my roving eye fell upon an old file cabinet that is being used as a stereo stand. It's a good two feet high, one and a half by one and a half feet square. Metal. And therein lies the problem... I'm used to working with wood, but not metal. My plan is to rip the drawer part of the top drawer off (oh yes, the thing is divided into two drawers) and attach the flat bit that used to be the top drawer front to the top of the bottom drawer and that way the cabinet still looks stock, but instead of two drawers it'll be one deep drawer in which I can set my plants and attach the lights to the top sides (or just top) of the cabinet. Lightproofing it will be a piece of cake: the main body is all welded together so there are no cracks except for where the door closes. Anyhow. Here's my question:

How can I attach a flat piece of metal to another flat piece of metal in that way? There's a bit of a lip on the bottom of the top drawer and an upside down lip on the top of the bottom drawer, but even if I could figure out a way, I don't think clamping the two lips together will leave it enough structural integrity. Oh, and I don't have access to anything weldish... I have one of those propane torches but that's about it. Any help will be terribly appreciated!

Don't laugh! but can you use HVAC duct tape? Okay you can laugh, but that is what I would try.

:jointsmile: Bree

You could try a riveter if there is enough of a lip to rivet...
Other than that, I'd go on a yard sale hunt for wood furniture. F'real. Bonus, if you want to get out of the business, you can add it to the burn heap and destroy the evidence of a previous grow.

Thanks for the thoughts... maybe HVAC tape and rivets? I'll mull over things a bit more tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

Build a gusset out of a thin, strong strip of metal and bolt them together that way

Put the drawer faces flush, use the additional piece of metal to span across both pieces in the back - then 2 screws through the top and the bottom and it should hold together

This pic is flat, but you see what I mean

Pop rivits
will hold the structural integrity and look profesional