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34-36" box: Kennedy vs waterloo vs international

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kapster

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I'm looking for a roll cab for work(machine shop). Kind of looking at these 3. Anyone that has or has seen one chime in; particularly the international and waterloo magnum, we have a kennedy at work.


International prb-3408rd 8 drawer . 35x18.75 Has double slides, drawer latches, seems like a quality box but I've never seen one. Made in Canada

Waterloo magnum 3608 8 drawer. 36x21. Can't find much info on this, seems like waterloo is doing away with good boxes? Kind of Leary of waterloo after my craftsman 26" quiet glide its replacing, but I've heard they can make good boxes. Would this have double slides on deeper drawers? Wheres it made?

Kennedy 348xr 8 drawer 34x20. These have single slides and no holes to add slides. We have one at work, decent box but seems like the other two are more box for the money. The 2" drawers kind of bother me, they're more like 1 3/4. Makes a lot of stuff a tight fit. Made in USA

Would love some opinions on these, thanks guys
 
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kapster

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Wow that's a deal but getting kind of big for work. And still is just single slides on those big drawers. Come on kennedy get with the program! HF even does that.
 
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kapster

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I wondered about international.

we have a lot of proto boxes at work in maintenance. Seem ok, they crack pretty quick from going in elevators but i'm not saying its protos fault. They put some miles on them.
 
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el tanque prohibido

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I checked again - apparently the Kennedy 3900MP is 3 inches wider than your 36 inch limit. $1070 is a good deal for that box.
 
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bobcatdan

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The Waterloo you post is the highest quailty box Waterloo has ever made. It comes close to truck box quality. Your complaint about not being able to doulbe slide. If you are not overloading the drawer, what do you need evtra slides for. Other then the top drawer, my SO krl is all single slides. I have 4" drawers three laweys deep with 3/4" sockets, wrenchs over 1", pullers, bushing drivers and 1/2" crowsfeet. That drawer is heavy and one set of slides carry it just fine. HF puts doulbe slides on their boxes because they are cheep slides. Both Kennedys posted will serve you life time. Now if you have seen actual failure of a Kennedy box, I would understand being worried about Kennedy. International seems to be a mixed bag. Most post here regrading Internationals are normally on super value boxes. International has four or five lines, the one you post looks like the standard line. International makes that box for ATD, Willams, Wright and SK use to rebrand the box too. I can't comment on it's quailty, but a lot of good tool brands put their name on it. Buy a Kennedy.
 
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bobcatdan said:
Most post here regrading Internationals are normally on super value boxes. International has four or five lines, the one you post looks like the standard line. International makes that box for ATD, Willams, Wright and SK use to rebrand the box too. I can't comment on it's quailty, but a lot of good tool brands put their name on it. Buy a Kennedy.
Click to expand...
International's product lines from high end to low end are as follows:

"SHD", part numbers start with SR.

"Pro", part numbers start with PR. These are what I believe got rebadged for SK, Wright, etc.

"Value", part numbers start with VR.

(there's one or two lines below the value series, but I am not familiar with them)

FWIW, I don't use my tools for a living... but I have a "Value" series 42" top box, it's decent. I do see room for improvement tho. I keep eyeballing that same "Pro" series box mentioned in the OP. qualitytoolsforless sells it (with top box) for 1400 shipped. On the flipside, I also keep eyeballing a Homak H2Pro: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200494283_200494283
I don't know if the drawer config would suit you, but in-store it looked like a decent box.
 
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kapster

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el tanque prohibido said:
It's the same outside dimensions as the other Kennedy you posted, isn't it?
Click to expand...

If we had a bigger shop I wouldn't worry about it but our 34" kennedy is tricky to maneuver. I'll have to do some thinking on that one

bobcatdan said:
Your complaint about not being able to doulbe slide. If you are not overloading the drawer, what do you need evtra slides for.
Click to expand...

That is true but machine shop tends to get pretty heavy in the drawers and that big of a drawer has the potential to have a lot of weight. We tend to put blocks of steel in the drawers; angle plates, setup blocks, fixtures. I could see double slides being nice but maybe I'm over thinking it.
 
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kippieland

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mikew13 said:
Stay away from International, from what I seen, International likes to mislead about where it made, I suspect its either Chinese or assembled in Canada from Chinese parts.
Click to expand...

Mine says made in Canada all over it.....this topic has been talked to death about International boxes and where they are made. Prehaps you should do a search first.
 
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JimH

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I have that Waterloo box, the three piece set actually. Had it for about 6 years and it's held up just fine in my garage, I don't have any complaints. It's a nice box.
 
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kapster

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JimH said:
I have that Waterloo box, the three piece set actually. Had it for about 6 years and it's held up just fine in my garage, I don't have any complaints. It's a nice box.
Click to expand...

Jim, does it have double slides on the taller drawers?
 
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mikew13

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kippieland said:
Mine says made in Canada all over it.....this topic has been talked to death about International boxes and where they are made. Prehaps you should do a search first.
Click to expand...

Maybe you should do a search.....
From what I have seen this company is shady about COO IMO.

"Make sure you really get a Canadian made International, the chinese International boxes ****. I know, I have one, was told by International it was made in Canada, but when it arrived it had Made in China stickers on it."

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124922&highlight=international

I am glad I got a griplatch Waterloo rebadge before Sears came out with the International ****.
 
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mikew13 said:
Maybe you should do a search.....
From what I have seen this company is shady about COO IMO.

"Make sure you really get a Canadian made International, the chinese International boxes ****. I know, I have one, was told by International it was made in Canada, but when it arrived it had Made in China stickers on it."

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124922&highlight=international
Click to expand...

I think some of their older ones were Chinese. I suspect that comment about being told it was Canadian then getting Chinese is somebody bought old stock.
 
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el tanque prohibido

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kapster said:
We tend to put blocks of steel in the drawers; angle plates, setup blocks, fixtures. I could see double slides being nice but maybe I'm over thinking it.
Click to expand...

Double slides are nice, but that's not gonna stop the bottom of the drawer from sagging; you need thick sheet metal for that. It sounds like what you need is a Lista box.
 
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mooman

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I have that same Waterloo box, but the Craftsman Professional branded version.
The bottom drawer has 2 slides on each side. Waterloo's CS is top notch in my opinion. They might also make the boxes for Cornwell as well. When I called Waterloo about a top mat for this box, they sent me one with the Cornwell logo stamped into it.
I've not had any problems with the box at all. I'm the second owner.
 
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JimH

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kapster said:
Jim, does it have double slides on the taller drawers?
Click to expand...

If I remember right, the large bottom drawer has double slides. I know the rest of the drawers don't because I moved them around. You may be able to add double slides, but I haven't had any need too.

As far as the griplatch goes, I've heard others here complain about it, and I didn't think I would like it, but it works really well. And if you're gonna be rolling your box around a shop, you'll probably like it even more.
 
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kapster

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I have a griplatch and a detent box at home. Love the griplatch. Not real happy with the detent, and they get very hard to open when it gets cold. Was surprised to hear people don't like griplatch. snap on is even doing it now.

So I'm hearing good things on the waterloo, is the international a no go? Would the waterloo be a better quality?
 
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FXDawg

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I'm supposed to get my replacement International Value series on Monday, I can let you know what I think After I get it set up.
 
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bobcatdan

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The high end Waterloos are good boxes. They make Cornwell boxes now for the last few years, before that they where Kennedy. Most if not all boxes are made in Mexico now. The magnum series you are looking at seems to be phazed out, but still readable available. Waterloo use to be good box, but quailty has noticable slipped on the lower 40" and smaller boxes. The 36" has been a very popular box and overall is well built. I have not read anything negative about the box and I'm sure would work well. I still say buy Kennedy.
 
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kapster

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Yep, I emailed waterloo and they said it's discontinued. From their catalog their newer stuff is pretty blah. I'd believe it on quality, I got my 26" craftsman 4 or so years ago and am not happy with how its holding. A co worker has a craftsman from the 70s and its pretty tough.

Sounds like Kennedy is the way to go. I'm waiting on a quote for a 2907 with 8 drawers (kennedy will do custom arrangments). The 2907 is supposed to be a little tougher, 18ga vs 20ga drawers. 16/18 gauge body vs 18 ga.
 
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darkk

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I have a 56" International top,bottom and side cabinet. I think it was a good buy and it's a good box...People are going to nit pick no matter what you get.
 
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Rickster

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If you're going to load down the drawers with heavy weight then I would go with the Kennedy.
 
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kapster

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Kind of torn between two kennedys

348xb 8 drawer 34x20
Cabinet body made of 18 gauge steel; drawers of 20 gauge steel; bottom
panel of 16 gauge steel. The bottom panel is also reinforced on the caster
side with “hat section” channels.

3407xb 7 drawer 34x20
Cabinet body of 18 and 16 gauge steel construction. Triple reinforced
front corners and full-height slide carriers. End wall reinforced to give
triple wall construction. Comes with 5 x 2” roller bearing casters bolted
to full-length, heavy gauge bottom reinforcements and tubular high
security locks. Drawers of 18 gauge steel construction and ball-bearing
drawer slides on all drawers.

The 3407 is at least $100 more depending where you go and i don't like the bottom drawer, its 10in high! But I would like the heavier gauges. I thought I'd just get it custom with the same layout as the 348 but its a real pain doing that. I called a local supply place on a quote for a custom drawer arrangement and they never got back to me.

Wondering also if the cabinet is the same on both, they talk up the triple reinforced front corners on the 3407 and not the 348 but they could have just left it out. I'd be pretty disapointed if i spent that much more and it only had thicker drawers.
 
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el tanque prohibido

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I used to have a 3407X in red; very nice box. It had soft rubber casters that were very quiet; you couldn't hear the box rolling across the floor. And another great feature is 4 bolts for the side handle; that makes for a strong side handle mount. I could push or pull the box; whatever I felt like doing. I had the black phenolic top on it; that top is real tough and VERY flat. I sold the box because I thought I needed a Snap-on. Now I wish I had it back.
 
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kapster

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what model snap on do you have? I was looking at the snap on boxes at the local farm dealership garage today, drawers didnt seem much different then kennedy. They look sweet though.

I've noticed our kennedy 348x with bb slides has a lot of drawer twist, like you can have one side extended out farther then the other side if that makes sense. did you notice that with 3407? might just be a bb slide thing but i don't think my 36' masterforce does it as bad.
 
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kapster

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el tanque prohibido said:
I have the KRL1056. The most disappointing thing is the sheet metal thickness on the drawer bottoms; they flex like a cookie sheet. My Kennedy had nice thick heavy drawers.
Click to expand...

Do you know what gauge that is? Your kennedy would have been 18ga.

I called Kennedy today for drawer prices to make the 3407 same layout as 348xb.
6"drawer was 49, 4" drawer was 45 and pair of slides are 45. Cheapest price I've found is $1150 on 3407 so it would be about $1300 adding drawers. I can get the 348 for $1000 shipped.

So is 18ga instead of 20ga drawers worth $300? I'm starting to think no.
 
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