Sandusky Cabinets made in the USA

[Carl B]

Anyone here own any of these Sandusky-Lee Cabinets? They look like they would be ideal for garage use, come in Red if you wish.

Norther Tool offers the first one - but not for in-store pickup. Which means there is a freight charge of $170.00 on top of the $400.00 price.

The Sliding Door and Sliding Door Clear View models would save floor space, plus prevent "doors" from hitting your car.

http://www.sanduskycabinets.com/products.php?action=viewprod&prodid=80
Transport Mobile Storage

Sliding Door
http://www.sanduskycabinets.com/products.php?action=viewprod&prodid=11

Sliding Door Clear View
http://www.sanduskycabinets.com/products.php?action=viewprod&prodid=192

I'd like some feedback related to how sturdy they are, how well built etc. I like the fact that you can get them in Red.

FWIW,
Carl B.

 

[Carl B]

NO ONE ????

Sandusky sells to Schools, Hospitals, and Industrial facilities - no one has any at work? I may just have to take a chance on one - they are the only one's I've found that "SEEM" to be pretty well made, have 200lb per shelf capacity, come in Red to match the tool boxes - - and might be in the affordable for me range.

But I'd sure like to hear from anyone that has any experience with them.

FWIW,
Carl B.

 

[Brad54]

I don't have those, but I'll give you my two cents' on the clear door:
I have a short book case (metal office 3-shelf book case) that I made some clear lexan doors for. I keep all my reference books in it.

After a dozen years in the garage and shop, the books have never been coated in dust and grime... I can quickly see in the cabinet and see the book I'm looking for before opening the door, or double-check to see if the book is there or I left it somewhere else while I'm passing by.

EVERY cabinet in the shop should have doors. It's amazing how much dust and grime accumulates.

For your shop, I guess it depends on what you're looking to store in it. I'm a book guy... professional writer and career reader, so I like my books on display. Shop supplies, etc. I like behind doors I can't see through, but that's just me.

As for the quality of those cabinets, if they're in industrial environments, they should be up to your shop.

-Brad

 

[John in OH]

They look quite nice for the price! I see they even have wall cabinets that may match the floor units.

 

[dittle fart around]

I'm showing some of the some Edsal line on my website. ShopStorageCabinets.com
Sandusky Lee Corp has three lines. Edsal is the industrial line, Sandusky is the school and office line and MBI is the office furniture line made in China.
The company's been in business for 50 years selling to the government, schools and industrial customers. That's got to say a lot for the quality of the their products. I'm doing the same thing Northern Tool is doing, showing products on a web page and drop shipping from the manufacture. I don't have a brick and mortar store, Northern does. Otherwise I can get any product from the Sandusky or Edal line and pretty much match prices with Northern.

 

[Carl B]

An up-date:
At first - I was thinking about buying 2 of the Harbor Freight 42" side cabinets - that go with the 13 Drawer roll cabinet. Only hanging them on the wall, rather than on the roll cabinet. They would have been $199.00 each or call it $400.00 plus tax for the pair.

Then I found the Sandusky Lee Mobile Storage Cabinet - that was 36"wX24"dX78" tall. Which offered a lot more storage space with four each 200 lb capacity adjustable shelves, plus the bottom shelf. It was available in a powder coated RED.. so would match my other tool cabinets.

A friend of mine is a Manager for a Sam's Club Store - so I ask her to see what could be done.

Bottom line - the Sandusky Lee Transport Mobile Storage Cabinet can now be ordered on-line from Sam's Club - $498.00 INCLUDING SHIPPING. {that's $153.22 less than Northern Tool}

Sandusky Lee On-line catalog:
http://www.sanduskycabinets.com/products.php?action=viewprod&prodid=80

Ordered from Sam's Club
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=147294

Model: TA4R362472-01 {-01 is RED}
Item #: 315087

Specs
# Heavy gauge (20/22 gauge) steel
# Contract quality
# Meets ANSI/BIFMA shelf standards
# Patented 12 gauge heavy-duty caster base
# Casters located to permit flush positioning to walls
# Four fully adjustable shelves on 2" centers
# Raised bottom shelf
# 200 lbs. shelf capacity
# Contemporary three point recessed locking handle with key
# Welded steel construction
# Powder Coated
# Ships assembled

78"H x 36"W x 24"D

Not inexpensive at $498.00 - but not really expensive for this quality and utility - in a color that I wanted to match my tool boxes etc.

FWIW,
Carl B.

 

[John in OH]

So have you ordered the cabinets yet? If you have purchased them, can you please provide a "user review" to us here on GJ or at least a "first impressions" summary when you receive them?

 

[RobSmith]

20 / 22 gauge steel is pretty thin. We've got similar cabinets at work...they are mainly stationery storage. They can handle 'some' weight. When you open a door it is pretty flexible...only relying on the folded edges....the door handle is plastic and works two pins in the top and bottom of the door as well as a tab at the handle. They also make clothes lockers. They're pretty tinny too !

 

[scw1991]

Take a look at Gloabal Industrial as an option as well. I purchased the 24" deep x 48" wide cabinet years ago and it came with 4 or 5 reinforced shelves. Been pretty pleased with it. The shelf clips could be made a little more stout in my opinion. It shipped truck freight as well and I think it was about $100 or so.

http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/s...storage-cabinet-easy-assembly-48x24x78-gray-2

http://www.globalindustrial.com/c/storage/cabinets

 

[Carl B]

So have you ordered the cabinets yet? If you have purchased them, can you please provide a "user review" to us here on GJ or at least a "first impressions" summary when you receive them?

Hi John:
Yes - I ordered one last night. I'll be glad to file a user report.

FWIW,
Carl B.

 

[Carl B]

Take a look at Gloabal Industrial as an option as well. I purchased the 24" deep x 48" wide cabinet years ago and it came with 4 or 5 reinforced shelves. Been pretty pleased with it. The shelf clips could be made a little more stout in my opinion. It shipped truck freight as well and I think it was about $100 or so.

This one from Global - seems to be about the same as the Sandusky offering, and it does come in RED with castors. Which is what I wanted... Global doesn't list a country of origin - but considering it's a welded unit - must be USA or Canada??
4 Adjustable shelves with 200 Lbs per shelf
http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/storage/cabinets/mobile/mobile-storage-cabinet-36x24x78-red

Global price is $426.95 plus $143.24 shipping to my ZIP. So $570.19 vs $498.00 from Sams.

Shipping might be different for you if your closer to Global. Good to see some of the other offerings from Global and I'll keep them in mind.


FWIW,
Carl B.

 

[Carl B]

20 / 22 gauge steel is pretty thin. We've got similar cabinets at work...they are mainly stationery storage. They can handle 'some' weight. When you open a door it is pretty flexible...only relying on the folded edges....the door handle is plastic and works two pins in the top and bottom of the door as well as a tab at the handle. They also make clothes lockers. They're pretty tinny too !

Hi Rob:
True - 20/22 gauge steel is pretty thin - compared to 16/18 gauge. But then 16/18 gauge is pretty thin compared to 10/12.

The thickness of sheet metal is only one factor that determines the strength of any cabinet. Structural design and how its fastened together are perhaps two others that are more important. How the sheetmetal parts are reinforced, what gussets are used and the quality of the welding {or what bolts/screws are used} all made a huge difference in the end product.

The cabinets at your work can handle "some" weight??? What exactly does that mean?? The cabinets I'm talking about hold half a ton - 200lbs per shelf x 5 shelves - - -Plus they are strong enough to be rolled around on castors. If the cabinets at you work have pretty flexible doors - it's most likely because they are not reinforced with sheetmetal sub-frames.

Yes - steel cabinets are available in a huge range of strength and quality - as well as a huge price range. Mostly because there is huge range of intended uses. If the cabinets where you work do the job they were intended to do - and they were priced accordingly - they are good cabinets.

Here I'm talking about cabinets that will do the job in my garage and at a price that is about equal to their quality. If I'm lucky by this time next month - I'll know if I made the right decision or not.

FWIW,
Carl B.

 

[Carl B]

So have you ordered the cabinets yet? If you have purchased them, can you please provide a "user review" to us here on GJ or at least a "first impressions" summary when you receive them?

I've now had my Sandusky cabinet for a few weeks. It arrived at my garage free of any shipping damage. Sam's Club notified me of the delivery - and delivered it on time. The Delivery Guys unpacked it for my review and carried off all packing & trash. All I had to do was bolt on the castors that were included.

First let me say that in a way I am greatly disappointed. Let me elaborate.... My Sandusky four shelf cabinet is now sitting beside my US General Pro - 13 Drawer Roll Cabinet {USGP}. When you make a direct comparison between the two, in terms of build quality, finish, features and functions... if you rate the USGP a 10 then the Sandusky cabinet is at best a 3.

The USGP has 13 drawers on roller bearing slides... The Sandusky cabinet has four adjustable shelves. In terms of the cost of production - it has to cost at least 10 times as much to produce 13 drawers as it cost to produce 4 shelves. The USGP was $349.99 and the Sandusky was $498.00. For 140% the price of the USGP - I would expect that a cabinet made in the USA would have at least as good, if not far better build quality - especially considering how simple a four shelf cabinet is to make in the first place.

The USGP is built very strong - the Sandusky is really very cheaply made. So cheap that they simply punch holes in the rear sheet metal of the cabinet - for the shelf supports to hang on. {leaving holes in the rear for bugs to crawl into where you can't see them}

It is easy to see the spot welds through the powder coating on the door fronts - that hold the sheet metal sub-frame to the doors to add some rigidity. {see white arrows in pictures}. The right door is more than an 1/8 of an inch mismatched to the left door - leaving a large gap showing at the top. Seams around the bottom are just as sloppy...

IMHO if the USGP retails for $499.00 when not on sale - then this Sandusky Cabinet should retail for no more than $150.00. Someone mentioned that Sandusky-Lee sells primarily to schools and government agencies - - - if they are buying this junk and paying that price - they are wasting more of our tax money than we can imagine.

On the other hand - although greatly overpriced - - it will hold the stuff I need to store in the garage. So I'll call it $15.00 spent on a cheap cabinet - and $348.00 spent trying to buy something made in America - and learning my lesson again. Don't BUY ANYTHING ON THE WEB - that you can't personally go inspect First. It's a darn shame that you have to spend a thousand dollars to get a simple metal cabinet with some level of quality made in the USA. Great market for USGP to expand their offerings into...

FWIW,
Carl B.

 

[oilslick]

that *****, wish it was nicer

 

[John in OH]

Yeah, that's a bummer. I was hoping to hear good things about a reasonably priced US made cabinet.

 

[A**holes Garage]

Good thread, very timely for me, I'm updating my garage in December and I have been looking for a heavy duty cabinet to store my ammo boxes.

Can anyone recommend a solid cabinet that can support 15-20 cans of ammo?

I'm thinking 200 lbs per shelf should do it but based on these reviews, I think some manufacturers over rate their load limits.

I'm even considering making one, but I really don't want to.

Casters would be even better but not a requirement.

 

[Carl B]

The Sandusky cabinet rates the shelves at 200 lbs - evenly distributed. I'm sure they will hold that load easily. It's just the sloppy build quality that stinks.

I may take a drawing to a local fabrication shop that I use - just to see what it would cost to have cabinets properly built out of 14 gauage steel and/or aluminum, welded and gusseted properly. Maybe set up for a run to produce 5 of them ... 72"x36"x24"...

FWIW,
Carl B.

 

[scw1991]

Carl,

After I put my cabinet together purchased from Global Industrial, I had to shim it at the bottom on one side (about 1/8") so the doors would maintain parellelism when they opened and closed.

I agree with you on poor build quality. The manufacturers must have profit margins through the roof on these things.

 

[GarageEnvy]

Thanks for the good and honest review. So many people would not have wanted to admit they made a poor choice and probably would have skewed their review.

A**holes garage, I have a row of Strong Hold cabinets in my garage that would support anything you'd want to put on them. The catch is that they are ridiculously expensive new. You pretty much have to buy them used. These are the cabinets in Jack Olsen's garage. Even used, they can get pricey. Between the cost of purchasing them, painting them and renting a trailer to go and get them, it cost about $100 per linear foot for used cabinets.

 

[brett09]

I bought one from staples for 260.00ish I believe, and I've been happy with it. Its 72"x36"18", once you weigh it down, it seems like the quality jumps. Really seems sturdy after putting some weight to stabilize it. Hard to explain. Only complaint is the cheap lock & handles.

 

[A**holes Garage]

Thanks for the good and honest review. So many people would not have wanted to admit they made a poor choice and probably would have skewed their review.

A**holes garage, I have a row of Strong Hold cabinets in my garage that would support anything you'd want to put on them. The catch is that they are ridiculously expensive new. You pretty much have to buy them used. These are the cabinets in Jack Olsen's garage. Even used, they can get pricey. Between the cost of purchasing them, painting them and renting a trailer to go and get them, it cost about $100 per linear foot for used cabinets.

Thanks GE, just what I was looking for.

 

[John in OH]

Thanks for the good and honest review. So many people would not have wanted to admit they made a poor choice and probably would have skewed their review.

I wouldn't say it was necessarily a "poor choice". It appears that Carl B did his homework and based on the specs and info available ... and handicapped by not being able to inspect a Sandusky cabinet in the flesh ... he made a most reasonable decision. Unfortunately, Sandusky dropped the ball and their quality just didn't match up with their hype. It used to be that "Made in USA" meant good quality .... well, except maybe for the auto industry ... but now you can't blindly expect a "Made in USA" product to necessarily have good design, fit, finish, workmanship, and material. Sad.

 

[GarageEnvy]

I wouldn't say it was necessarily a "poor choice". It appears that Carl B did his homework and based on the specs and info available ... and handicapped by not being able to inspect a Sandusky cabinet in the flesh ... he made a most reasonable decision. Unfortunately, Sandusky dropped the ball and their quality just didn't match up with their hype. It used to be that "Made in USA" meant good quality .... well, except maybe for the auto industry ... but now you can't blindly expect a "Made in USA" product to necessarily have good design, fit, finish, workmanship, and material. Sad.

You're right. He made a decision based on the best available information he had at the time. The results were just not what he expected. That sounds like a lot of my investments.

 

[Quint]

Sandusky cabinet I got off CL for CHEAP!

Painted it to look like a CMAN cabinet

 

[mastiff0]

I got the same large Sandusky Mobile cabinet a year ago. This was after I looked at all of the cabinets at Sears/Lowes/Home Depot (Gladiator, etc). I spent the extra money for the Sandusky because I thought it would be built better than the Gladiator cabinets.

Unfortunately, it is. What I mean by this is that, while the Sandusky cabinet has faults, you could do far worse. The Sandusky cabinets use thicker steel and have higher load capacities than its lower priced competitors. Despite this, the doors do feel flimsy, to a point where they do not line up and close properly unless I use pressure when closing the door. On top of that, mine came shipped slighly dented.

Now the cabinet works and is housing a ton of stuff right now. It is deeper than most competitors, and the rollers work well. Build quality is not high, and I don't think you can get high build quality unless you spend considerably more.

I would still recommend one of these over a big box brand cabinet if you can afford it. For all of the faults of the Sandusky, the cheaper alternatives will not be able to hold as much volume or weight, and there build quality is not better.

I don't think you should be comparing the Sandusky cabinet to a US General Pro Tool chest either by looking at their storage weight capacity either. So much of the cost of a product is simply the cost of raw materials (the steel), and a large cabinet has to use much of that steel just creating the outsides of the cabinet. A tool chest is much smaller and the majority of the steel can be used as structural support- an advantage the large cabineet cannot afford. No, you should be comparing the Sandusky to other large mobile storage cabinets. With the Sam's free shipping, you can't really get a better deal if your not going second hand. That doesn't mean that made in the USA quality wasn't disappointing . . .

 

[bludblu]

I just purchased a Sandusky Cabinet for $20 on Craigslist. It will used to store misc stuff in the garage. I intend to paint it to match my Craftsman box and maybe attach rollers. for the money, I think it will serve the purpose.