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^^^^Snap On tools are not priced to be "fair"----they're priced to sell on installment payments where their full or actual cost is somewhat obscured or unimportant to the average garage mechanic. I've rarely heard any cash price quote, its always "this will only add $XX to your current weekly bill." A few of my shops have been buying Milwaukee or DeWalt cordless tools from a Snap On dealer/truck and WOW the prices they pay.
Still its only a few dollars a week more so no biggie!
^^^^Snap On tools are not priced to be "fair"----they're priced to sell on installment payments where their full or actual cost is somewhat obscured or unimportant to the average garage mechanic. I've rarely heard any cash price quote, its always "this will only add $XX to your current weekly bill." A few of my shops have been buying Milwaukee or DeWalt cordless tools from a Snap On dealer/truck and WOW the prices they pay.
Still its only a few dollars a week more so no biggie!
With a car, you always negotiate the total price, NOT payments. Doing it the other way means you get screwed by the dealer.
Anyway, I've been busy. Pulled a late night last night and got all of the reinforcements and slide rails put in. 96 pieces.
Spacing Mockup
Rear clearance mockup. Block is where the end of the rails will be
48 rails and 24 reinforcements. Crap, I need 24 more reinforcements.
48 rails and 48 reinforcements. Let the Garage Orgy begin. Lots of Drilling and Screwing gonna happen here
Reinforcements in.
Putting in the first slide rails.
And at the back.
2nd drawer test fit. Perfect 1/16" gap, exactly as planned. I used some 1.5mm thick offset washers from an ebay LS1 shifter to space everything evenly.
Halfway done. One cabinet down, one to go. Top drawer rails took some creative thinking to clamp into place and get the spacing right.
All done now. Finished right at 3am.
The Money Shot. 4 reinforcements and 4 rails per drawer. 30 Screws per drawer, 360 total.
Now we're down to plywood, wheels and paint. But first, a day off to rest, recover and recharge.
Paint? Why not stain and varnish? Or just varnish. Pine ages well.
I have something VERY special in mind for the finish, so you'll see in the next update. But Stain/Varnish won't work for this and would take forever to dry.
Yesterday was a busy day. One final trip to Menards and $113 later, the last of the supplies are here.
Out came the Jigsaw for a day of plywood cutting.
Perfectly straight line, thanks to an 8ft long piece of C-Channel
One drawer bottom done. Had to fit each one with the bench grinder since I can't cut a flawlessly straight line with a jigsaw.
Side panel test fit. I cut them 1/8" smaller to avoid 2hrs of running back and forth to the bench grinder to trim each one.
8 side panels, 4 back panels and all 12 drawer floors done.
Still have to cut out the top pieces. But first comes cleanup. Garage is a complete mess right now with sawdust everywhere. Next update will be coming tomorrow or Saturday.
Test fitting the handles. Wasn't happy with off-the-shelf ones, so I made my own from 6061 aluminum
Bolted on using 1/4-20 stainless bolts, threading into tee nuts installed on the BACK of each drawer face
All hardware is completely hidden, just the way I want it
One cabinet done
You could say I got a handle on this...
Taking a short break right now after adding a bolt and tee nut to the middle of each handle to prevent them from bending in the middle. Bottom drawer on each got two instead of one, to account for the extra weight. Whenever opened, it pulls on the BACK of the drawer face, utilizing the strength of the material instead of the threads, making it MUCH stronger than being screwed in front. A bit fiddly to put them on, but well worth the time to make from scratch.
Now we're up to sealing all the gaps along the edges of each drawer's bottom and paint begins tomorrow once it's cured.
Ninja Edit:
In the words of James May, Oh Caulk...
Drawers are all sealed along the bottom seams now. Pro tip: A Popsicle stick and toothpick are the perfect tools for shaping a caulk bead with minimal waste. Anyway, paint begins tomorrow.
Last edited by Travis S; Jan 29, 2021 at 10:56 PM.
Reason: one more picture, more progress
While the paint was drying on the first drawer today, I did a few other things...
Got the side and rear panel flanges in place, made them from leftover 1x2s ripped lengthwise with a jigsaw.
8 per cabinet, 90lb capacity for each one. I wheely like this
One of the 2x4s on the right cabinet's base was apparently slightly bowed by ~2mm. Some washers on one corner and the adjacent front and side wheels fixed that. Now everything sits flush, flat and even.
Still have to tackle the top, but that's tomorrow's business. Today turned it into a usable piece of equipment.
That is going to be such a "cool" toolbox and one that will out live you as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you. I wanted to be certain that it would be a LONG time before I could outgrow this. After taking my uncle to the hospital this morning, I made some progress.
Front latch mechanisms.
Rear latch mechanisms.
Top panel flange blocks
Test fit
I've tested the latches and they are solid! When linked, there is no wiggle on it at all and they are effortless to unlatch. The bolts are there just to keep it from coming undone by accident. Pretty clever solution for $7. Now I'm just waiting on tool batteries to finish charging before attaching all of the panels in preparation for paint. Gonna be a busy night.
Been busy with the last few panels, getting everything solid and secured into place. Yesterday and today were spent caulking between the 2x4s and plywood panels. As you can see here, there's a few gaps that needed closed up thanks to me not being the most talented person when using a jigsaw freehand, then having to fit each one with the bench grinder. Turns out it's the perfect tool for trimming edges quickly and precisely with no effort. FAR easier than a jigsaw in this case. But no matter how you slice it, it still meant 2 days with a caulk gun, popsicle stick and toothpick.
Also did ALL of the joints on the top to make it as liquid-resistant as possible.
After all of this, I'm quite glad I made it modular and easy to move. Now all that's left is to finish it with a nice paintjob starting tomorrow.
Did 5 drawers sides/faces together in one shot, saved a bunch of time drying this way.
Slide Rail bottoms, rears and misc touchup was done separately, then set aside in here for final drying.
Test fit. Had to shave the cabinet slightly in a few spots so they move freely.
Handles reattached, quite happy with this.
The remaining six drawers are drying from initial paint, touchup or waiting in line right now. More pictures will follow once I'm painting the cabinets later today.
Spent the whole afternoon organizing, cleaning and de-cluttering all my tools, putting them into more logical groups vs the chaotic mess the old box was in. Now I have absolutely ALL of my wrenches in one place, even the giant BMW fan clutch wrench.
One of the bottom drawers has been deemed the Oh ***** Drawer since it has things like thread taps, a big mallet and other things needed when a project goes sideways, A couple drawers are a bit sticky once loaded, a relatively easy fix with some PTFE slide pads. But that's another project for another day
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A few of my shops have been buying Milwaukee or DeWalt cordless tools from a Snap On dealer/truck and WOW the prices they pay. 
