Thin liner trays for this Craftsman Top Chest?

[Skyd]

Hello all,

First post, been lurking a bit and recently registered. I'll save you the long backstory for now but I acquired thousands of dollars in tools when my dad retired as a machine setup technician. He sold some of his boxes but gave me this decent Craftsman Brown Rollaway and top chest. I'm in the process of cleaning alot of things up.

Unfortunately this stuff sat dormant a couple years in a garage and then a shed. One thing that happened is the tool boxes became a mouse house. Mostly the rollaway but they got into the top chest as well. The top chest had these thin plastic liners in the drawers with a softish inside which was kinda nice. Unfortunately they all stink and some are chewed on. Before I go ahead and just put drawer liner in, I wanted to see if I could replace these trays but I'm having trouble finding anything like them. I wondered if anyone here might be familiar or be better at knowing where to look.

I've included a few pictures. Thanks in advance, I've already learned a ton here.

PS - I did locate an online schematic of this model # but it didn't include the trays.

 

[Ohmthis]

I’m sorry I can’t help you with the drawer inserts. But I wanted to welcome you here. That is a damn nice box you have there. You may want to reach out to Waterloo and Kennedy, they may have something that will be similar or of some help to you.

 

[Skyd]

Thank you for the warm welcome! That's an idea, this is similar to a number of Kennedy boxes I've seen. I believe this ones is from early to mid 2000's and if I had to guess 2003/04. I've been trying to find a catalog to see if I can spy these in it but closest I can get is 2013 and no dice.

Thanks for the idea!

 

[ckadams00]

Cant help you on the liner trays but I purchased some black yoga mats and cut liners to size for my chest - works great and much cheaper than traditional toolbox liner material.

 

[rsanter]

no idea where to find those but I buy the dollar store plastic insert trays that are intended for kitchens and such type drawers.

if they are too deep i take them to the table saw and trim them down

 

[Skyd]

Cant help you on the liner trays but I purchased some black yoga mats and cut liners to size for my chest - works great and much cheaper than traditional toolbox liner material.

OH that's a great idea!

no idea where to find those but I buy the dollar store plastic insert trays that are intended for kitchens and such type drawers.

if they are too deep i take them to the table saw and trim them down

Ya it wasn't so much about having trays as it was having THESE trays. If I can't find ones like these or they are too expensive I'll probably just line the drawers. The yoga mat idea above is a good one.

 

[rsanter]

How badly damaged are the trays? Can you repair with epoxy or even hot glue?

 

[Skyd]

How badly damaged are the trays? Can you repair with epoxy or even hot glue?

The trays are probably usable, only a couple have the corners chewed. It's the smell that will likely never come out. I'll admit they're nothing super special, I just thought it would be cool to replace them and also I've not seen anything like these before. I need to get with my dad and see if he recalls if they came with the box or not.

 

[WagonHo!]

Craftsman Bronze makes quite a statement. Is there date stamps on em?

 

[PFSard]

The stench in plastic may be permanent. Curious as to what you've tried to remove it?

 

[Ohmthis]

I got to thinking about these trays. If you can take something like vinegar and kill the stink, some fabric store felt material can be glued down. I made a headliner out of felt years ago. There wasn’t any board to attach it to. I cleaned and then glued (with 3m 90 spray adhesive) felt to the roof. The stuff I bought was very stretchy and contoured really well. It’s at least an idea.

 

[Skyd]

The stench in plastic may be permanent. Curious as to what you've tried to remove it?

I was successful in removing the smell from the roll away using a mixture of baking soda, water, and dawn dish soap. I then sprayed it with some pet urine clorox spray I have for good measure. It did decent I think I got that taken care of. But the rollaway is all metal, no trays. I've yet to try anything on those trays because of the porous fabricky material on the inside of them, I figured replacing would be the only way to go but I may try soaking them at this point. Nothing to lose I suppose.

I got to thinking about these trays. If you can take something like vinegar and kill the stink, some fabric store felt material can be glued down. I made a headliner out of felt years ago. There wasn’t any board to attach it to. I cleaned and then glued (with 3m 90 spray adhesive) felt to the roof. The stuff I bought was very stretchy and contoured really well. It’s at least an idea.

That's actually a good thought because I figured anything I soaked the tray in would like eat whatever the inside material is or at very least make it kinda ugly. This would be a good solution and I have some black thin felt from another project. I might try this, thanks!

 

[RTM]

Natures Miracle, misted on over several days, might help with the smell.

 

[JradM]

I would probably abandon the trays and switch to a thin liner and organizer trays. E.g.:



At the end of the day, even if you found replacement trays you'd probably still want to organize the tools they held anyway right?

The trays are neat, but chewed up stinky... no thanks.

You can find trays like that for organizing drawers. Not tool-specific. I think you would just waste a ton of time searching for things in precisely the right dimensions to fit the drawers. I suppose most of the drawers are the same width and depth, so maybe it would be easier than I think.

 

[Skyd]

I would probably abandon the trays and switch to a thin liner and organizer trays. E.g.:



At the end of the day, even if you found replacement trays you'd probably still want to organize the tools they held anyway right?

The trays are neat, but chewed up stinky... no thanks.

You can find trays like that for organizing drawers. Not tool-specific. I think you would just waste a ton of time searching for things in precisely the right dimensions to fit the drawers. I suppose most of the drawers are the same width and depth, so maybe it would be easier than I think.

Right, and in my roll away I've got 1/4,3/8, and 1/2 socket organizers already. The top chest had alot of machinist's tools in it from when my dad owned it, and I used to do machining at the same company he worked for for a while. I'm not overly attached to them it was more like hey these are kinda cool I wonder if I can replace them. I'd be curious to know where they came from, if craftsman sold them, or if they came in the box.

I like the idea of having some "soft" felt style drawers for calipers, mics, etc so I might try and save a few of the smaller ones. 2 big ones are chewed and those will probably get tossed