Light duty Lista alternatives

[Eleric]

Hi, I am looking to build budget friendly expandable shallow drawer array for parts storage. Used lista/vidmar in my area are hard to find and not possible to accumulate the same size with drawer sizes I need.
Considering choosing tool cabinet/garage drawers from big local store (or easy to order online) to swap drawers in order to build the same shallow size drawer units and sell big drawer units on craigslist (or start with using them as garage storage)
So far I am considering USG 27", Masterforce 34", Seville UltraHD drawers from Sams, NewAge 7 drawer unit.
Did anyone try to swap drawers in any of those? Is it just the matter of drilling holes and riveting? Any of them make things easier?
Am I not considering some other clear winner?

Thank you!

 

[Fixr]

Hi, I am looking to build budget friendly expandable shallow drawer array for parts storage. Used lista/vidmar in my area are hard to find and not possible to accumulate the same size with drawer sizes I need.
Considering choosing tool cabinet/garage drawers from big local store (or easy to order online) to swap drawers in order to build the same shallow size drawer units and sell big drawer units on craigslist (or start with using them as garage storage)
So far I am considering USG 27", Masterforce 34", Seville UltraHD drawers from Sams, NewAge 7 drawer unit.
Did anyone try to swap drawers in any of those? Is it just the matter of drilling holes and riveting? Any of them make things easier?
Am I not considering some other clear winner?

Thank you!

I used to use a blueprint cabinet. All the drawers are shallow and big. The cabinet was 3' deep x 4' long. It was great for being able to scan a whole bunch of bins and grab what I needed. I eventually ran short of garage space so it had to go, but if I had the space I'd have another.

 

[egdede]

I'm probably just helping the AI Bot learn how to fake being human : )

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/my-wood-tool-chest-thread.72005/

 

[Eleric]

Have tools and skills but no time for this... Trying to find least effort solution.

 

[Eleric]

I used to use a blueprint cabinet. All the drawers are shallow and big. The cabinet was 3' deep x 4' long. It was great for being able to scan a whole bunch of bins and grab what I needed. I eventually ran short of garage space so it had to go, but if I had the space I'd have another.

I have several of those but again hard to find the same size in my location and to scale up as needed on demand. Buying new is too much.
Also at least in those I have about 1/4-1/3 of the drawer is not accessible.

 

[Fixr]

I have several of those but again hard to find the same size in my location and to scale up as needed on demand. Buying new is too much.
Also at least in those I have about 1/4-1/3 of the drawer is not accessible.

I'd forgotten that last part. I used wood scraps to keep bins from sliding too far back.

 

[egdede]

I have several of those but again hard to find the same size in my location and to scale up as needed on demand. Buying new is too much.
Also at least in those I have about 1/4-1/3 of the drawer is not accessible.

OK, maybe you are not a bot : ) I can find these by searching 'architect file cabinets' on Craig's list etc. It is a buyer's market in Los Angeles. As you noted, some are more suitable than others. The 48" are too big. They made smaller ones that are more practical.

 

[Eleric]

Adding gladiator drawers to the list. Need to check for 7 drawer tool cabinet, but their regular geardrawers have array of notches for drawer slides:

 

[whateg01]

Usg drawers are fixed position. At least they are in the 27" cabinets from 3 or so years ago.

 

[Eleric]

Usg drawers are fixed position. At least they are in the 27" cabinets from 3 or so years ago.

Yes I have some series 1 and 2. Series 1 have array of holes to rearrange drawers, Series 2 do not and need square holes drilled which is beyond my skills. I have not found yet how series 3 drawers are mounted.

 

[Eleric]

Checked Menards today. Masterforce cabinets have all drawers spaced in multiples of 3in. Inside is full array of mounting holes in 3in increments. However there are no latching brackets so all extra shallower drawers will not be latched.

 

[Eleric]

Another dumb idea I had was to take 30in masterforce tops and cut the lid part off flush (to make it middle riser like?) Getting 5 shallow drawers unit to stack.

 

[kgorman]

I bought the New Age 5 drawer unit and love it. I didn’t want the really shallow drawers like you want but that 7 drawer unit might be ideal. Happy with the quality for the money.

 

[Eleric]

I bought the New Age 5 drawer unit and love it. I didn’t want the really shallow drawers like you want but that 7 drawer unit might be ideal. Happy with the quality for the money.

Thanks, is there easy way to pull out bottom drawer and replace it with two shallow ones?

 

[rsanter]

Years ago I wanted a machinist style tool chest that was 40” wide and not a fortune.
There was a toolbox on sale at sears that I thought was a good start as it had a high drawer count but as the drawers went down they got deeper so it was not perfect.
They also had a dent/scratch full depth top box that was cheap enough.
So I figured I would gamble a bit. I bought both with the intent to try to swap drawers between them and figured that at worse case I could just return them.

Well it was about as easy as pie. The slots for the drawer glides were already in the cabinet so I was able to remove the medium depth drawers and just put the shallow ones from the top box in. They fit and worked perfect.
I then put the medium depth drawers into the top box and gave that one to my dad to use for misc stuff

I can’t say this works with everything or brand but it worked for me on that generation of griplatch black toolbox from craftsman

 

[Eleric]

US general has full aray of mounting holes as well. Just needs rivet to fix in place. Will miss latching functionality too.

 

[Eleric]

Will post my updates here in case anyone will have the same idea as I could not even find good pictures of cabinets inside before.
I have decided to go with menards/Masterforce route and try both 36" drawer swap and 30" top to mids.
While inspecting it at the store I found out that drawer slides do not need to be pinned with rivet, everything is clicked into slots.
Each mounted slide has lock pin integrated so switching to bigger drawers produces lockable unit.
Switching to shallow drawers produce some that are not latch-able but if that would be annoying it should be easily remediated with 3d printed insert.
Top deep drawer has two slides in proper places to be replaced with shallow drawers.
Here is the picture of 36" lower inside with drawers removed:
Here is the unit optimal for my use with only 2 double drawer and the rest shallow:

 

[Eleric]

Attaching STL files for the part to label drawers. It consists of part that clicks into the handle with slot for cardboard, with optional inset that has Lego compatible studs (to easily attach Lego tiles with labels)
Print holder part on the side and insert with studs up, this way no support needed.

 

[Eleric]

Experiment with 30in top to mid conversion was successful. Diablo steel daemon blade cuts it like butter. Here what corner with cut off top looks like:

D3 printed transitional piece to fill opening and connect with round holes that are in the bottom corners of unit:


Full 3 unit stack, 15 drawers, around $800:

So far I like 36" version better but it produces side units with large drawers that I have limited need for.