It's time for a new tool box. My trusty rolling Craftsman upright one (first pic, left side) has been maxed out for a year straight and no amount of reorganizing will cure having to literally DIG through tools to find what I need. So I looked at what was offered at Lowes, Menards, Home Depot, Harbor Freight and Northern Tool and found they all have the same issues. Not enough drawers, too many giant drawers (more digging...), too big (hard to move), too small (no benefit), and all of them were too expensive to have such glaring flaws. One came close at Menards, but it is $1800 and I have no doubts that it was made in China for $100 (saw it on Alibaba). So I'm building one from scratch, entirely my own design.

56" wide x 24" deep x 36.25" tall, and built in two sections that link together. 12 drawers total, ranging from 2.625" to 8.125" deep (each is 22" wide x 18.5" long), a total of 20553.50 cu.in (11.894 cubic feet) of storage space, plus a 56x24 work surface on top. Empty weight is ~320lbs with a maximum capacity of 1000 lbs of tools. Should be more than enough for anything I'll ever need.

So, $a trip to Menards and $250 later, it begins...


Hardware. 16 wheels total


Cut in Progress


Ready for Assembly. I used the Stop Block method to make accurate repeated length measurements, verified it with a tape measure, cut, then measured again. As close to dead-on as humanly possible


Base Assembly Mockup. 6" Lag bolts at every junction


Clamped and bolted together


Base/Tops done


Sides clamped


Sides and Base/Tops done


Can't forget to Countersink them...


After putting in 96 Lag bolts, and countersinking 60 of them, I'm letting my left arm recover for a day before countersinking the remaining 36. Then drawers get put together and final assembly begins. Another 24 4" lag bolts install, then countersink then.

My 1/4" impact and I sure got a workout from all of this and there's more to do on it.

 

Neato. Do post more pictures for us. When you get it all together you should weigh it empty.

Why did you pass on the US General Harbor Freight boxes? I have the 5 drawer cart and it's super nice. I wouldn't hesitate to buy any of the other US General boxes.

 

I look at them and the 5-drawer cart is just too small. Poorly portioned space (half-width drawers) kills any benefit because you can't fit a socket rail in them. Plus, drawers that are too shallow make them worthless as well. Plus, having to clear the top off every time you need something is one of my biggest annoyances with my Craftsman box. The 26x22 cabinets (https://www.harborfreight.com/26-in-...red-64162.html) comes closer despite the top 3 drawers being too shallow for anything practical, but I would have had to buy two of them. $600 plus 1-2 months waiting because they're special order is no fun. Plus, I saw basically the same thing on Alibaba/AliExpress for 1/3 the price, straight from the actual manufacturers. Even then, shipping kills the deal. Also, they're 20 gauge (0.0359") steel which bends if you look at it wrong. There's no chance whatsoever of it holding 1000 lbs. My Craftsman one starts to get iffy with 30 lbs of 1/2" sockets in one of its "50 lb" drawers

There's just too many compromises no matter how you slice it, and I'm not one to drop $300+ on a product and THEN have to fix what the manufacturer did wrong. Call me crazy, but I don't reward failure. My time and money is more valuable than that. So I pulled a Ferrucio Lamborghini move and drew up my own plans. The weight and capacity is similar, except that mine is designed to laugh at having 75 lbs in each drawer, thanks to proper structural reinforcement underneath each drawer's floor that links all of the 3/4" thick drawer walls together. They're designed similar to the porch I built 2 years ago at my old house, which most would deem overkill. Any weight anywhere in the drawer is spread over the entire structure of the drawer, with the drawers having the load spread over 3.5", 5.5" and 9.25" of bearing depth (Drawer height) respectively.

The maximum weight is limited by the wheels. I chose flange mount 2" ones (holds 90 lbs each) to keep the finished height practical as a work surface, then chose to give each cabinet 8 of them for sufficient weight distribution. Truthfully, it could probably hold a LOT more weight based on how I engineered everything, but I wanted to leave some overhead I'm working on something heavy on top of it. Bigger wheels would increase capacity, but they reduce stability by adding height. Plus, the 2" ones were $5 per 4-pack and all of them swivel, making it as easy as possible to maneuver the big heavy beast into place.

As far as total weight is concerned, I used the density of standard 8ft long kiln-dried pine 2x4s and 1/4" plywood/OSB, then did the math to correlate it to all of the dimensions being used, within 0.01". Ended up at 149.24 lbs per cabinet empty, not including hardware weight. Pretty close to what Harbor Freight was selling for $300.

FWIW, when I was in college back in 2007, one of my art class assignments was to build a bridge from 1/8" dowel rods that was minimum 24" inside height and 36" inside span and could hold a 5lb brick in the middle. Most of the class's bridges barely held one. The instructor gave up after putting 20 on mine.

 

Assembled the Drawer shells today

Quick mockup of the first one


Clamped


Done, with a scrap 1x10 for floor mockup


Drill fits laying down in the smallest drawers


So do the biggest wrenches I have, exactly like I wanted


Now the 5.5" drawers, drill fits with no fuss


All the shells assembled. 9.25 on the left, three 3.5" in the middle and two 5.5" on the right


Deep!


My harbor freight drills with their batteries can almost stand up in the 9.25" drawers (8.125" inside depth when finished). Doubt I'll need them to do so, but it's nice to have that as an option. Now I'm itching to start assembling the cabinets

 

Just to clarify for others the US general boxes are closer to 18ga, they do meet the 2018 anti dumping requirements of the import tariff.

 

That's impressive work and if the results suit your needs that's perfect. Honestly though finding a good or better condition Snap On box through the internet has them available gently used for 1/2 to 1/3 of their new cost. As much as many claim they're over priced junk, same a HF US General boxes that's completely incorrect.

When I was looking for a box to be used in a work van all the brands available for personal inspection constantly failed to meet the build quality of Snap On. That was some 10-12 years ago and those I have held up well in their mobile use. Those I've purchased and sold after a while brought no less than 75% of my gently used initial purchase so they do hold their value. Lesser quality doesn't do the same.

Sorry to hi-jack this thread but I do admire you work and designs!

 

That may be, but it still is too flimsy for my money. I would imagine it is similar to my Craftsman box from 2012. The shell is fine, but the drawers start deflecting at the center at around 30 pounds. Plus, I have a simple policy where I don't work for free, especially fixing someone else's screwup on top of paying $300+ for a half-a$$ed box in the first place.

18 gauge steel is 0.05" (1.27mm) thick and can be bent by hand with little effort. Meanwhile, the drawer bottoms for mine are 1/4" thick and have 5/8" of reinforcement underneath in 4 places to spread the load to the drawer walls (3/4" thick). Without the reinforcements, 30lbs loaded evenly in one drawer would deflect 0.03" in the middle. With the reinforcements, it takes 200lbs to reach 0.03" of deflection in the middle. And the bottom drawer's floor is twice as thick as all the others, so I have nothing to worry about,

This is a really useful tool for situations like this:
https://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator/


No apologies needed, I'm taking a break from finishing up the second cabinet and waiting for tool batteries to recharge. I've scoured Craigslist, Ebay and FB Marketplace for used boxes and came up disappointed at every turn with either no results, cutesy little toy "tool boxes" or the stereotypical "I know what I have" people with a box that appeared to be excavated from the Titanic. So I rolled up my sleeves and designed my own that would tick all the boxes for what I wanted and needed.

Pictures and more details once it's all tidied up

 

Got the Cabinets assembled between last night and today.


Quick mockup with drawers. Apparently I mis-measured and am off by 1/8". Gonna have to raise the top ring to slip the last drawer in.


Soon as I got the second one together, I couldn't resist getting this


And the second one needs raised up as well because I didn't account for material variances. Bottom left drawer face needs shaved down slightly too.


Since I have to raise the top rings on both to add gaps between the drawers plus the needed 1/8", I'm heading to Lowes for some 1x2s. Gonna cruise the Paint Department for some ideas too

 

I'm for the most part along the same lines as you since I was in my "teens"...... when I buy something I typically have to calculate the time/$ to fix what ever it is..... and thats ok if it's resonable....but if it's not, just time to build your own!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Smart man! That is why I walked out of Lowes with nothing tonight. Their site said they had 600+ 1x2s at the nearest store. Got there and it was a mess. Maybe 20 and all of them were warped, bent or busted with most in various "S" shapes. But they'd let me have it for $1/board...Sorry, but I'm not paying to take out their garage. Gonna hit up Home Depot in the morning and get it done right.

 

Lowe's hasn't had decent lumber since covid happened. I spent all last summer doing house projects using warped and knotted up lumber. I wouldn't even attempt to build a toolbox right now. For every 10 boards I might find one that was okay.

 

You are far more patient than I am. So far, all of the materials for this came from Menards and things still needed adjusting. The only downside is that the 1x2 Furring Strips I got from there are 0.625 x 1.375" instead of the normal 0.75x1.50". Also, "rough" is being nice about the condition of them. Using proper 1x2s will make things considerably easier for the rest of the project with only a loss of 1/8" depth in each drawer. Small price to pay to work smarter, not harder. Then it's just a matter of cutting to length and putting screws in to finish it all up and finally giving it a nice paintjob.

 

I get all that---sometimes what we want isn't immediately available for purchase--definitely time to build it yourself at that point!

I'll look forward to your completed project!

 

Small update:
A trip to Home Depot and $35 later for 22 1x2s, we're back in business. 3/4" is exactly what the doctor ordered to fit the last drawer. Also shaved down the bottom drawer face on the left cabinet so it fits properly now. All it needed was about 2mm.


Now all I have to do is cut the drawer supports and slide rails as soon as my shoulder cooperates. Was hurting the cold and just from placing the 1x2s on the saw earlier, so I should take it easy for a bit. Some copper washers will set the spacing between the cabinet and each drawer will take up the 1/2" or so gap currently at the top. Then the slide rails can be put in with a couple off-cut 1x2 blocks for proper spacing.

 

While I can't comment on HF boxes, I can comment on Snap On boxes. Very good quality and yes it was way overpriced for what it is but in professional use it's held it's own and still does to this day after 25+ years. Traded in a Mac tool box for it.



I still kick my self in the **** for selling the bottom box and side cabinets I had that matched, times were tough and career moves inevitable dictated the need.

I like the DIY method of the op here, just don't have the space in my garage for anything as bulky as 2x4's for box material.