rolling tool chest - what type, brand

[sscherin]

I have a Harbor freight (US General) 44" 13 drawer Rolling Cab..
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90320


The box is solid.. heavy gauge steel. large locking casters, ball bearing drawer slides.
At 44"x18" it has a nice large work area on top and comes with a rubber top mat and drawer liners.
You can get it down to $399 with the 20% coupon or wait for it to go on sale.
It replaced an old Craftsman low end model I'd killed by overloading it with tools.

Bring a friend to load & unload it.. it's 400lbs empty.. With all my hand tools the box is 1000+ lbs..

My only complaint is the wrinkle power coat finish.. It's hard to clean..

I don't have any good pics of it. It's in the background on these.
http://www.pontiacs.org/pics/project...0/IMGP0637.JPG
http://www.pontiacs.org/pics/project...0/IMGP0807.JPG

[machinistchest]

Suitcase tool chest

Here`s another that dosen`t exactly roll , however it sits on top and is portable. Great project for the woodworker.

http://www.woodsmith.com/issues/183/



MC

[toolguy1000]

i have the craftsman that's featured for $300. it is a great unit that holds a great deal of small tools. and that's a great price. i got mine 5 years ago at that price as the one i wanted was out of stock, so they bumped me up to that one at the price of th elesser unit. oyu won't be sorry. however, if you can go the $600-650 for the unit from costco, that is a really neat unit. and it comes with drawer liners! either way, those 2 units will serve you well. but that price on that sears unit is an outstanding value.

[charliex]

This is the one I want. But it is a bit spendy..

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...19D&lpage=none

[Tom Slick]

I think you need something a little more like this
http://www.finewoodworking.com/Proje....aspx?id=27038

or at least a nice one like this
http://www.gerstnerusa.com/hobby/210.htm

[Pappy]

Check for deals on Kobalt chests at Lowe's. I bought a set when they changed styles and have been happy with them. I wasn't impressed with what HD had to offer.

[aggrex]

i am thinking of buy at least a two piece or three piece tall rolling tool chest. with this unit i will be able to organize all my small tools that i have. i was looking on line and there are so many options like ball-bearing drawers, or the "quiet glide" systems

I bought a few quiet-glide intermediate chests on clearance and they work okay for light duty on my steel shelves. My craftsman ball-bearing tall cabinets work out great for me. Just make sure you get them on sale for the best value. The rolling cabinets without chests can provide another work surface. Deep top chests are the way to go for maximum tool space. I have the 26" wide cabinets in the basement and the wider 40" cabinets in the garage. Depending on your tool selection try to get the right mix of deep and narrow drawers. Craftsman used to be made by Waterloo USA but now most if not all are imported. I picked up Kobalt/Husky ball-bearing chests/cabinets on clearance when they made the transition from US to imported products a few years ago. The better units (we can afford) usually have reinforced frames, bottoms and bigger wheels. I do not like the trend in riveted BB drawer slides that are found on the imports but they should be okay. The Harbor Freight unit looks interesting but I don't spend alot time there.

[dbhost]

For what it's worth, I have an early 90's Craftsman ball bearing rolling cabinet, prior to the "Quiet Glide" stuff. It holds all of my automotive tools. The cabinet is topped off with a late 80's vintage Stanley Proto 6 drawer chest. Both are the old standard 26" variety, and both, aside from being a little dirty, have held up exceptionally well over all these years. For the most part, my small, handheld wood working tools are arranged on my peg board, and on top of my small parts bins. Some items like the magnetic blade alignment tool for my AP1301 and the adjustment jig for my Sunhill jointer are in a drawer along with some tool specific allen wrenches.

I really like my tool box / cabinet for security, and organization sake. But for ease of getting to specific tools, and cost factors the peg board is really hard to beat....

[sscherin]

I have to give my old craftsman some credit (this model) It survived me for 10 years with enough tools in it to nicely fill the 44" HF unit.

They are ok boxes if you don't abuse them like I did

Oh yeah.. I was at Lowes today and they had this set on sale for $388
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...T04&lpage=none

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...T04&lpage=none

[Hoover]

Ok!

This has got to be the finest role top/role away I`v ever seen. You`ll just have to check it out and let us know your opinion.

http://www.papawswrench.com/vboard/s...ead.php?p=7495

Machinistchest

I see you are a member of papawswrench.com. Are you a legit member here? This seems to be more than a coincidence. This threads last post was 01-28-2008 relating to tool chests. Your member's handle is machinist chest. The forum is against any spamming or collecting names. Just sayin'.

[tommyt654]

Harbor Freight has a decent tool chest on sale for $149 w/coupon this week

[RAV2]

Picking a tool chest is like picking shoes - everyone has an opinion.

I liked a Sears chest with ball bearings and the non-locking drawers. I also wanted black (my experience with my older - non-ball-bearing, non-sears unit was that the red krinkle finish shows dirt and grease).

When I got ready to buy, even with shipping to the store (about $40 extra I believe) I ended up with an unrealistic price for this color.

I ended up getting the next level up - ball bearing with locking draws - during an in store sale with the Craftsman club for a lot less.

Wait for the sales.

These boxes are pretty similar and you will find that Husky and Craftsman may be built in the same factory - I forget now who it is.

I actually chose a 7 draw Husky box for the bottom. This combo is so tall that you may not be able to easily see the top of the box. I removed the Husky logo before I dropped the top box on the lower box (think I even removed the Craftsman quiet glide - or whatever- sticker as well). Looks great, like a tall stack of Craftsman boxes. This is how I got the layout I desired and I am very happy after 5 years.

I bought several rolls of black dish/shelf liner for $1 each at the Dollar Store. Lined all of the draws. This stuff is rubberized and open weave. Was going to custom fit more but found that overlapping the sheets across the middle gave a little extra cushion. This is an excellent material to line drawers. The open weave prevents rust. The rubber material actually "grabs" the tools over time and keeps them in place (you can feel a little 'sticking' when you pick up tools). Very happy and I think it cost $7 to do the entire stack.

[LinuxRandal]

I don't know who makes the China Stainless ones, but I believe the made in Mexico ones are still Waterloo. My understanding is they moved their last manufacturing facilities down there, after the great Lake Iowa Incidents last year (think it was 80 of 86 area's had flooding).

The kitchen cabinet/shelf stuff works ok. On another board, I found several people using foam, or exercise mats cut out for the tools.

[Bill Stock]

Sorry for reviving the old thread, but I pulled the trigger on one of these myself tonight:

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/s...k=P_PartNumber

Really wanted the six drawer unit, but there were none. Hopefully all those tools that ran away will come home now. Bought the matching top too. It's all made in China though.