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Here we go- Building a toolbox.

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TireTracks

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I decided to make a thread that I can post the progress of my toolbox i'm building.

It's going to be 48" wide, 24" deep and 36" high. It's going to have 11 drawers. IN 2 banks, one roughly 12" wide and another about 24-25" wide.
I'm starting the build at home, and once I run out of things I have the material to build at home, it's going to get moved to my HS woodshop so I can finish it in class.

On the 2 most used drawers I have some real sliders to use. the rest will get hardwood sliders. ( we have a old cabinate full of steel chunks and lathe parts that works fine with no sliders and is made of softwood. So they will be fine for me)

Depending on how much time I have after the drawers are built and installed. It's going to get a 3/4" plywood or 3/4" butcher block top.

It's not going to perfect. But It's going to be cheap to build compaired to a storebought one. I'm a function over form kinda guy.

The plans.

Toolboxplans1.jpg


ToolBox2.jpg


After 2 afternoons of work- I cut the joints on a tablesaw, then cleaned them out with a wood chisel. if the weather is warmer this weekend i'm going to glue the joints. But it's too cold right now.
Toolbox1.jpg
 
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TireTracks

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TireTracks

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Damian said:
Subscribed...

What kind of tools will you be storing in this box?
Click to expand...

Mechanics tools, Power tools in both metal and wood working varietys, Diagnostic testers, etc. The general stuff that I dont have much of.

for the next few months this box will stay mostly empty. I just filled up my Cman top. I plan to spend as much as possible this spring and summer on tools.
 
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84TurboBuick

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Looking good so far....

At this stage of the build I would make sure you check for "sway" in the box frame itself.

Trust me... when you start adding tools it gets heavy real, real quick... any kind of movement will just be amplified when everything is added.
 
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TireTracks

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Got the castors and installed them. 200lb per, solid cast iron ones. 2 1/2" in size ( they started getting very expencive very fast above this size), made in china. But no way around that anymore. I know someone will bring up the small size of the castors, but i was working with a limited budget and if the smaller castors are not enough, I'll buy a set of larger ones and use these to make a creeper. :)
Toolbox7.jpg

Toolbox8.jpg



Also got a set of prybars. This rack is going to go on the side of it.
PrybarRack2.jpg
 
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TireTracks

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84TurboBuick said:
Looking good so far....

At this stage of the build I would make sure you check for "sway" in the box frame itself.

Trust me... when you start adding tools it gets heavy real, real quick... any kind of movement will just be amplified when everything is added.
Click to expand...

by sway you mean movement between the boards?

I havent noticed much movement. I sat on top of it and moved around. and it stayed straight, creaked abit, but I'm not a lightweight.

The verticals are going to be sandwiched between a sheet of 1/2" or 7/16" on the inside, that the sliders will screw too. and 1/4" veneered ply/MDF on the outside. then another chunk of 1/2" ply on the back.

I'm hopeing this will keep it rigid for the long haul.
:beer:
 
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scott37300

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Don't worry about sway right now, your plywood will stiffen that thing up good.

I don't know how much faith I would have in 200 pound casters? I know they are expensive but you said you are keeping this thing for the long haul. Your box is going to weigh a couple hundred pounds empty when it's done. Then tools add up really fast. This is one area I might spend some extra money and get some heavy duty casters.
 
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mrholeshot

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It won't take long to over load those casters. Even if the roll they will bind on the swivels
 
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TireTracks

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mrholeshot said:
It won't take long to over load those casters. Even if the roll they will bind on the swivels
Click to expand...

man, I must be psychic..:bounce:


I know I know. but the 3" ones were $12 a peice, The four inch were Nearing double the price. I don't have alot of money to work with at this very moment. I don't have a hf within 100miles to go get the big ones cheap.
They have to be better than the castors on the Cman homeowners boxes! Empty the stupid things wouldent work right.
 
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mrholeshot

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TireTracks said:
man, I must be psychic..:bounce:


I know I know. but the 3" ones were $12 a peice, The four inch were Nearing double the price. I don't have alot of money to work with at this very moment.
They have to be better than the castors on the Cman homeowners boxes! Empty the stupid things wouldent work right.
Click to expand...

Yeah I had to learn the hard way as well, lol
 
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OccupantRJ

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TireTracks said:
His toolbox is the reason I decided to build one. It's amazeing. :beer:

They are lap joints. I dident want to go as advanced as a M&t joint sence this is my first Large and complicated woodworking project.
Click to expand...

The joints you are using are actually half lap joints. Looks like you have taken on an interesting and useful project. :thumbup:
 
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Displaced Hokie

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Nice job so far, and I admire you taking this on! Believe me, I understand working within a budget! I'm looking forward to watching this!

I hope you also know you will get a lot of armchair quarterbacks here...me included.

So, I'm thinking your casters should be directly under your corners. I see that you have other fasteners there that probably forced you to move inside, but I''d try it if at all possible. Maybe even if you have to put a 2X4 under each corner to mount them. Right now, you have all that vertical force coming down on 1/2 thickness of the bottom board. If the caster was directly under that force, you'd be OK. Right now, I'm thinking that bottom board is going to crack/break.

Again, I'm not there to see it in person...
 
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johnnybentwrench

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Don't forget to MATCH the Grain. It is all in the lay out. score your cross cuts with a razor and a straight edge, they will not blow out. You can put blue tape on first then score it too. Good luck with it, JBW
 
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diggerrick

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Nice project.

If you're not on a tight deadline to finish it, you might want to consider ordering the larger casters from HF to save the long drive.
 
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TireTracks

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Displaced Hokie said:
Nice job so far, and I admire you taking this on! Believe me, I understand working within a budget! I'm looking forward to watching this!

I hope you also know you will get a lot of armchair quarterbacks here...me included.

So, I'm thinking your casters should be directly under your corners. I see that you have other fasteners there that probably forced you to move inside, but I''d try it if at all possible. Maybe even if you have to put a 2X4 under each corner to mount them. Right now, you have all that vertical force coming down on 1/2 thickness of the bottom board. If the caster was directly under that force, you'd be OK. Right now, I'm thinking that bottom board is going to crack/break.

Again, I'm not there to see it in person...
Click to expand...

I'm not sure If there is enough room to mount the castors to the corners directly, because there are 6 screws there.

Thanks for the idea. I've got alot of 21" long scraps I can screw under the corners and then bolt the castors to that.

I doubt I even own 75lbs worth of tools at the moment, So i'm not in a huge hurry with the castors. I can sit on the frame and roll around just fine and I weight 290. So i should be good for a while.
 
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scott37300

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TireTracks said:
I'm not sure If there is enough room to mount the castors to the corners directly, because there are 6 screws there.

Thanks for the idea. I've got alot of 21" long scraps I can screw under the corners and then bolt the castors to that.

I doubt I even own 75lbs worth of tools at the moment, So i'm not in a huge hurry with the castors. I can sit on the frame and roll around just fine and I weight 290. So i should be good for a while.
Click to expand...


The castors might work for a while, until you start getting more tools. But a box that size can get into the thousands of pounds pretty easily. It would be much easier to cahnge them now but if money is tight just leave them and then put some money aside for new ones because it won't take many tools to start overloading the ones you have now. I don't know what the castors on big boxes are rated for but I would think over 1000 pounds each. In theory you want each caster to support the entire weight of the box.
 
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bindernut

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Something else to think about....If you plan to use these casters for now & then swap them out at a later date, consider how much work will be involved in swapping them? If you want to flip the box on it's back to do it, you'll have to empty it completely. If you want to jack it up, is it high enough to get a jack under it? And don't forget, if you do jack it up, you'll have nice dents in the box frame that will match your jack's pad.
 
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TireTracks

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Man, you guys are obsessed with those castors.


I'm not too worried about them at this moment in time. And yes, money is very very very very very very tight. I was cringing about spending $35 on the castors.

Your opinions have been logged for futere use. Thanks for them. :) If the castors start giveing me problems I'll change them out. But for the next year I doubt I will have enough tools to put more than 200lbs in it. Right now all I have that needs a drawer is my sockets, a grease gun and my random
supplies.
 
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mrholeshot

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TireTracks said:
Man, you guys are obsessed with those castors.

.
Click to expand...

Just one thing to consider is give some thought to when it comes time to change the casters. I made sure that if my casters didn't work out that they could be changed out easily. I'm glad now I did

I was also given the caster speech. Wood boxes are very heavy

IMG_0912.jpg
 
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scott37300

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TireTracks said:
Man, you guys are obsessed with those castors.
Click to expand...

I learned threw experience! Just as you will, was just trying to give a headsup. I understand money being tight and I'm sure that your castors will be fine until you have funds to change them. Are you planning on moving this box a lot or will it sit against a wall?

I keep a bunch of castors around for little projects, always pick a couple up from HF when they are on sale. A nice castor is a must on something like a tool box if you are going to be moving it around.

Here are some 5"x2" with metal wheels like you have for 14 bucks and 16 for the swivel. Not to much more than the 35 you spend if you can take them back. http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=1-1780-R&catname=wheels. 900 pounds each with roller bearings and grease zerks. There are many other ones on there also if you search around, I have ordered from them before and was happy with my order. They even have some with shock absorbors like the big pro boxes have but they are 30 bucks a peice which isn't to bad considering they are rated for 1500 pounds a peice.
 
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