Cabinet for Small Parts Storage Cases

[eastbaysubaru]

For those of you using the HF boxes and angle material - iron or aluminum to support the boxes. Do you notice any sagging issues with the middle of the box when storing heavier items? Working on my own design and want to go the angle route but I am afraid my boxes with 3/8, 1/2 hardware will sag

While I used Stanley boxes (fairly similar to the HF boxes), I was concerned about just that. I elected to use plywood shelves for each box with cutouts for the handles. Routing the sides for the plywood to slide in was a bit of a PITA but they look solid as hell now and I have no concerns about them sagging, even when fully loaded with heavy items.

-Brian

 

[Victorymike18]

Here is my version, definitely inspired by these builds. I am a Lego enthusiast and do a lot of sorting and organizing of the pieces. These trays are a great solution of course, and I needed an easily accessible rack at my workbench.

The trays just slide on wood rails. It is a very precise build but on a budget. I am very happy with it.

 

[BoostAddiction]

While I used Stanley boxes (fairly similar to the HF boxes), I was concerned about just that. I elected to use plywood shelves for each box with cutouts for the handles. Routing the sides for the plywood to slide in was a bit of a PITA but they look solid as hell now and I have no concerns about them sagging, even when fully loaded with heavy items.

-Brian

I have several boxes with lots of heavy bolts, etc, like 3/8" and 1/2". With the boxes just supported at the sides with aluminum angle, there is no sagging.

The boxes are pretty strong, and I don't think it's likely you could overload them enough to make them sag, unless you are storing depleted uranium shells.

 

[starquestMM]

Has anybody made their own trays for the hf boxes? I'd be nice to hold some larger/longer things in them than the base trays will do.

 

[soj]

Has anybody made their own trays for the hf boxes? I'd be nice to hold some larger/longer things in them than the base trays will do.

I have not made custom trays, but for some things I have just removed the yellow trays to make room for larger items/tools.

The remaining trays are held in place by the "feet" on the bottom and the locator ridges in the lid.

If you are good with sheet metal, you could make any size tray with a box brake.

jp

 

[soj]

Here is my version, definitely inspired by these builds. I am a Lego enthusiast and do a lot of sorting and organizing of the pieces. These trays are a great solution of course, and I needed an easily accessible rack at my workbench.

The trays just slide on wood rails. It is a very precise build but on a budget. I am very happy with it.

Nice. Very compact, and in a handy location. Shows that a rack for these cases can be adapted for everybody's situation. Thanks for sharing.
jp

 

[TheOtherChris]

I have several boxes with lots of heavy bolts, etc, like 3/8" and 1/2". With the boxes just supported at the sides with aluminum angle, there is no sagging.

The boxes are pretty strong, and I don't think it's likely you could overload them enough to make them sag, unless you are storing depleted uranium shells.

I built my cabinet from a surplus server rack.



It uses HF boxes and is two sided so that I have a stack of boxes on the front and the back. (Still haven't filled the back side yet).


I have had it now for nearly two years and the heavier ones are definitely sagging in the middle. They sag enough now to drag on the box below.

 

[LG63]

Has anybody made their own trays for the hf boxes? I'd be nice to hold some larger/longer things in them than the base trays will do.

Schaller bins/boxes may be an option. Many sizes available in the 1" tall variety.

 

[Outlander]

These are great, guys! Keep up the good work. One day the pail on my floor will get emptied!

 

[eastbaysubaru]

I have had it now for nearly two years and the heavier ones are definitely sagging in the middle. They sag enough now to drag on the box below.

Good info. Thanks for the update. I built my cabinet with 1/4" ply as shelves because I was concerned about the sag.

-Brian

 

[Firebug24k]

In case anyone needs some more of the cases, HF has them on sale right now for $5.99, that's the cheapest I've seen in a long time.

 

[CSRPenFab]

In case anyone needs some more of the cases, HF has them on sale right now for $5.99, that's the cheapest I've seen in a long time.

Yes, you won't find them any cheaper. $8.99 now, but $5.99 with coupon, limit 7. Just picked up 7 earlier this evening. Here's the coupon:

And while your there, pick up a free magnetic tray. Can't have enough of these:

 

[topcok88]

Thanks CSR! I've picked up 14 in the past two days at a central VA location and plan to get atleast 14 to 28 more.

 

[vertcnc]

When your there, ask what the quantity limit is. Last time I was there they let me have as many as I wanted.

 

[topcok88]

I was just going by what was stated in the ad. I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask if they would let me do a lump sum purchase so I could stop going by every day after work now.

 

[topcok88]

My local HF is having a 3 Day Sale on these organizers for $6.00 each. They allowed me to purchase 19 at $5.99 so I hope this helps someone. I also found out they ship these to the store in boxes in quantities of 16, because I took the last full box they had. So if your are shopping at the Lynchburg location I bought 40 in the last four days and left 6 on the shelf for you!

 

[TheOtherChris]

Older thread but make sure you check each of the HF cases for cracks (especially the corners) before leaving the store. I had 2 of 6 that had apparently fallen off the shelf and were cracked. Luckily I noticed before I took them to the checkstand.

 

[TravisT]

Scoured this thread the other day because I remember seeing a comparison between the 2 different SKU numbers on the HF coupon for these bins.

I've been planning to recreate a version of this drawer system (great design) and with the coupon, have been slowly building my inventory of them. So far, I have only bought the 62778 SKU, but today's run turned out different. I didn't even notice until I got home, that some of the boxes didn't nest as well on top of the others I had already bought. Very close, but not exact. Then I noticed the different SKUs associated to all the boxes that were a little off.

With a bit of built in tolerance when building the drawer system, it seems that either could work. Is there a preference on which one I should get? I read somewhere that the newer box (93928) weighed half as much as the old one (so it is presumably weaker...) but I haven't confirmed.

Thoughts?


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[Whiskeymike]

Is the large box ever on sale or have a coupon? Using the 20 or 25% coupon one box at a time is going to take a while.

 

[GasNSteering]

Damn! That's why I love this place. Great ideas, advice etc. I'm making one ASAP

 

[soj]

Damn! That's why I love this place. Great ideas, advice etc. I'm making one ASAP

Post a pic when you do. Or, in GJ termanology, "Pics or it didn't happen!"

 

[gungatim]

I got ambitious over the weekend and built a little cabinet to hold 10 of these cases I picked up on coupon. I hate the Stanley ones I have so decided to convert over. nothing special, just a $20 half-sheet of plywood and some scrap luan I had in the shop. I figure I cam build more and just omit the bottom shelf and drill for dowels to stack them. I toyed with different ideas for the shelves, but then just decided to run a 1/4" dado and stick in the luan. as for weight, I have lag bolts in one, tapcons/cement anchors in another, and they seem to hold the weight just fine, but I put the heavier stuff in the bottom so we'll see how they hold up.

if you want to copy, sides/middle are 13.5 x 13.5", 2.5" between shelves, 1/4" deep dado at 2.5 and 5.25, cut end, then flip, reset saw and repeat.
shelves were 17.5 x 13.5" (net 17" between ends for the case)
top/bottom 36.25 x 13.5"
back 15 x 36.25

I think I got the dimensions right, I am going from memory so if they are wrong I will edit. took 2 hrs. start to finish, I just glued and screwed the carcass but you could use biscuits or whatever joint you prefer...

 

[Outlander]

Thread resurrection alert !

I shared some of these ideas with my FIRST Robotics team and when I arrived at the school a couple of weeks ago for the first time since the spring, I found this!

 

[roc_on_the_rocks]

"...I hate the Stanley ones I have so decided to convert over. ..."

Can you share what you dislike about them?

 

[TravisT]

Can you share what you dislike about them?

Curious too. Only thing I disliked about them was the price, but after getting the HF ones, I really like the removable trays. Too bad the build quality of the HF ones isn't better, but that didn't stop me from getting a bunch to build a cabinet for them!


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[slowthump]

I have had good luck getting quality drawer slides on ebay. For less than $50 with shipping I bought 10 pairs of 26" full extension drawer slides. They have held up good and are very smooth. In comparison, 24" full extension slides were $14 per pair.

 

[manwithtools]

I bought 20 pair of 16" full extension slides for $80 (including shipping) on eBay. $4 a pair seems very reasonable to me.

 

[gungatim]

Can you share what you dislike about them?

they are not as flexible divider wise as the HF. I like the little trays that can be reconfigured or removed to store the rivet tools or other larger things. the Stanley's have some compartments that are permanent, and many are too big.

I also don't like the sizes, I have 3 different sizes due to buying them in promo packs, 1 large, 8 medium, and 4 small. only like sizes lock together, and then it's a pain to undo them all to get one you need out of the stack. I would have built a cabinet to store them like I did the HF, but the different sizes make that difficult.

on the pro side, the Stanley's are deeper, and better constructed (higher quality plastic). they are priced competitively when on sale (2pk of the medium for $10), but HF's are cheaper when on sale and using a coupon.

I'd trade them small and medium ones for HF it was cheap enough to ship...

not knocking the Stanley's, the HF's just fit my needs better...

BTW I painted my rack black qt. of leftover rustoleum and it turned out great. getting ready to build another now that I filled the 10 I have...

 

[gungatim]

also thought I'd add: the one I built-the trays will slide out half way to see what's in them, and the shelf will also slide about half way. not as nice as full extention slides but adequate and cheap. (even though I have a case of nice drawer slides I picked up at the knape & Vogt factory parking lot sale locally a few years ago...really should sell them on here some time.)

 

[jimgood]

Thread resurrection alert !

I shared some of these ideas with my FIRST Robotics team and when I arrived at the school a couple of weeks ago for the first time since the spring, I found this!

Hardly counts as thread resurrection when the thread last post was only a couple weeks ago.

What are those? Baking racks? They aren't really using the space efficiently; too much air between the cases! If they had any real gumption, they'd have rearranged the shelf brackets to fit twice as many cases.

 

[Scottwi]

After looking at all these great ideas I had to build one.

I work part time at a shop that builds race cars and the owner started organizing all his parts in Fatmax bins but they were stored all over the shop. He wanted a central location that would double as a work surface and that was light weight and could go to the track with him.

I introduced him to 80/20 and told him it was the best material for the job. Trying to keep the project cost down I decided to give 80/20's Quick Frame a try. I drew up the cart and contacted my local dealer and he mad a cad drawing and made sure I had all the parts I needed. They will even cut everything to size and miter the panel tabs for a small fee. Basically it was now a ready to assemble kit.

I then purchased HDPE to make the sides/shelf supports out of. I designed the cabinet so the panels would also hold the frame together because I don't think the brackets that pound together will hold up to all the abuse it will get at the shop and traveling in the trailer.

I did add some plywood to the middle to help carry any load they put on top of it. The wood was later covered with the same material I used for the shelves.

View media item 67775
View media item 67776
View media item 67774Shelves are adjustable.

View media item 67773

 

[Bunk]

Looks great Scott, how much do you have into it?

 

[Scottwi]

it wasn't cheap $650.

The next one will be a little better and cheaper.

 

[soj]

Scott, great design and build. The work table height is an excellent alternative to my tall cabinet design, you have me thinking about cutting mine in half.

What is the thickness of the HDPE you used for the shelves and shelf supports? Also, it appears some shelves are white and some are red. What's up with that?

Thanks for posting, jp.

 

[Scottwi]

The HDP is 1/2" thick and I used the table saw to cut the slots. The shelves are made of a material I use to make signs. It is 3mm thick HPDE with a aluminum face on both sides. The red shelves are made from a old sign and are actually white on the other side but someone put them in upside down.

I cut the shelves on my CNC router table.

 

[Mickduc]

My inspiration came from the very nice yellow version at the start of this post. I spent quite a bit of time looking for the ultimate way to set up a rack for Harbor Freight parts organizers. My goals were, low cost, fairly easy to build for anyone semi-handy, modular to allow shallow or deep drawer interchangeability, drawer slides that allow the drawer to be pulled out in a rest position to leave the lid open and still retain portability. I compiled my post here with pics http://www.mick.bike/2017/02/small-p...am-savage.html

 

[Victorymike18]

^ That's excellent!

If you do decide to remove a tray, what keeps each slider in place and from falling off the stationary piece?

 

[Mickduc]

The inner rails of the sliders are attached to the organizer, they protrude out a bit at the back but so far haven't interfered with the portability for me. I can easily swap the order around in the cabinet too. HF has these bins on sale for 5.99 each with a limit of 8 in their current monthly flier ;-)

 

[Jmanders]

Has anybody made their own trays for the hf boxes? I'd be nice to hold some larger/longer things in them than the base trays will do.

I have built a rack similar to the OPs but I am using cases made by Stack-on. They feature the same removable bin design, I used my vacuum former to make some custom sized bins to hold large/odd shaped objects. Crafted the plugs from scrap MDF and then just used ABS to make the bins. I can get some pictures if you would like.

Jason

 

[soj]

I have built a rack similar to the OPs but I am using cases made by Stack-on. They feature the same removable bin design, I used my vacuum former to make some custom sized bins to hold large/odd shaped objects. Crafted the plugs from scrap MDF and then just used ABS to make the bins. I can get some pictures if you would like.

Jason

We would like... very much. Replacement bins and/or other sized bins is the major shortcoming of the HF cases. Help us out.

Thanks, jp, the op. (rack builder and poet)