Cheap (and hopefully good) tool storage solutions?
 

G'day All,

My garage is a mess.

A total mess.

I need to get organised!


I've been looking at waist height (about 1m / 3 foot high + a bit) steel cabinets with 7 drawers mounted on rollers so I can trundle to car (like a pro!) and trundle back...

To make a dent in the mess I reckon I'll need about four of the buggers.

New price for entry level cheapo junk will be about 1500 to 2000 euros over here.

My response => get a grip - I can buy a car for that.


Looked for second hand cabinets - no ball - no hope - no luck.


So plan B => ask you lot what you've got.

Plan B, flea markets for about anything with wheels, estate sales and the like.

Thankfully here we have a large number of auctions that can be a real trove of goodies.

Now you're making me jealous!

No hope of that round here.


Has anyone made their own?


I've been looking at drawer rails (a bit like in a kitchen work unit) and a wooden construction... four castor wheels... and a partridge in a pear tree...

Here in the land of disposable everything - I pick up out of fashion kitchen cabinets when people are doing a re-model. I use them as intended - wall cabinets on the wall and the base cabinets as a work bench with storage.

But kitchen cabinets here are built as modular units - say standard 30" wide or whatever. So I would think that the base cabinets could be beefed up with heavy plywood in the back (if necessary) and then put casters on the bottom for wheel around storage.

Here we are also fortunate enough to have Harbor Freight where one can get perfectly serviceable 4" swivel casters for $5 on sale.

May not be an option for you but possibly something to keep an eye out for. One set I got for no cost are painted pink - but I'm not picky about free.

Eric

Thanks Eric - kitchen units are always an option. I'm using some at the moment...

I'm leaning towards a custom build solution today (it could change) basically because I want to have drawers and drawers and drawers.

I totally agree free is great - even in pink - in fact it is almost always the best option if it arises unless of course it is an old chicken...

careful on the weight of tools in the kitchen unit. I've had the bottoms fall out of the cheaper ones. the drawers did jam. it was no fun.

We have Sears Outlets in the US where I've found nice boxes that aren't too expensive.

I leave the big rolling unit in one place.

Have you considered a cleaning cart? The commercial Rubbermaid stuff is pretty durable. Rubbermaid Commercial Products - Rubbermaid Cleaning : Cleaning Carts

But you know this is the one you want: fridge, MP3 hookup for stereo http://www.lowes.com/pd_112374-55738-LWTB08-5319D_0__?productId=1119495

I hear you jmk - cheap kitchen drawers are no fun with kitchen stuff let alone tools.

And Yak I think two of these might just be the solution I want if only they didn't cost so much...

Gereedschapswagen en werkbank 17 laden | Datona.nl

Hmm
 

This will make you envy my location
detroit metro all for sale / wanted classifieds "toolbox" - craigslist

http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/tls/2838352704.html

http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/tls/2871670368.html



.

Yes that helps now I'm green green green...


...people round here will probably think it is a save the environment thing rather than an envy thing though!



My wife came back from taking stuff from her work to a council run charity shop the other day saying that there were some large office filing cabinets with lots of drawers for sale... I'm going to go and have a look see...

Army, take this advice from a guy who's been breaking bolts for over 40 years. Spend the money! A good toolbox will last you a lifetime. A cheap toolbox will make every job you do seem like a lifetime.

I keep my "real" tool boxes at my shop but I have a couple at home for my homework. I have a 3 drawer "Home Depot" special and a Matco 3 drawer roll around cart. The "special" is one of the biggest pieces of crap I've ever owned. I had to put 20 lbs. of weight in the bottom of it just to keep it from falling over when I open the drawers to get the one wrench/socket/whatever which has rolled to the very back of the drawer due to the junk casters on the box. The slides constantly stick and refuse to open evenly.

The Matco cart has ball bearing slides, nice large casters and it will actually stay upright with all the drawers open.

$90 US for the "special" and $240 US for the Matco. I figure the "special" will fall over one more time on me before I go berserk and beat it into a mass of re-recyclable metal.

The filing cabinets will be fine STORAGE for grinders, drills, etc. but it won't work for the everyday stuff such as wrenches.

Mike I hear you - and I do hope that bloody thing doesn't fall on you again for your sake not the cabinets... perhaps now is the time to go ballistic on it? A good old preemptive strike?

I want to take being anal to the next level... when I worked as an aircraft mechanic I was used to what we called shadow boards. I don't know if you've heard of them? Day-glo shapes of the tools are cut and applied to boards or drawers so that missing tools can be identified from each tool kit. Where I worked an aircraft was not allowed to fly until each tool was put back in its place.

I feel that I need a similar system at home to help me keep things tidy. There are often very good reasons why all of the tools just get chucked back into the box or the bucket but it makes finding anything very very frustrating.

I'm therefore looking for lots of shallow drawers so I can put in foam drawer inserts and then cut holes in it for the tools that fit in that drawer. I'm hoping that in this idealised world the weight of each drawer will not be so much that the cabinet will topple.



In another ideal world (where I have just won the lottery and can afford anything) which brand would you recommend? I find it is very easy to spend lots of money these days - but whether you'll get value for money or not is a very different case. The link I provided above for the company here in Holland for example demonstrate that I could spend hundreds and hundreds of euros - but - I'm pretty sure I'll end up with a product that shouldn't really be put together with anything beefier than a 1/4" socket set...

I tried peg board shadow boxes and I still have my carpentry/wood working tools on one but the problem I always had when wrenching on cars was the one wrench I needed was over THERE and I was usually lying under the car over HERE.:(

It doesn't take much to stop me from working on my cars and the extra bit of walking just gave me an excuse to take another break.:D

Grin
 

Magnetic tool wall? « Singletrack Forum

tool shadow board templates - Google Search

Not quite what I wanted but it is a start...
 

Competing with TnBob for value for money - I bought this bit of office furniture for 20 euros (at today's exchange rate => 26.23 USD)

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1331060785

It has four steel beams (the bits nicely painted in 1980's office maroon) and plastic trays that can be height adjusted. The sides are chipboard coated in melamine. I wonder how long this will last.

You'll all be glad to know it is already full and I'm looking for another one.

I could fit castor wheels to the bottom but I think that will accelerate death. So I'm going to use it for not so frequently used tools.


Funny how "Jolanda" got several of the deep drawers and the "Turkish work group" got one of the small ones... which brings me on to a top tip for anyone visiting Holland - beware of women called Jolanda they tend to dominate and spread out!