Recent content by Microship

Follow-up: I went to Sears and played with GripLatch. Much too wimpy (beer-can-like, I believe someone said). Also, the lid had no gas springs... They had a new Montezuma product, a 26" top chest (not crossover). I liked the feel, it was $100 less, and there is room to drill the side rails for...

Thanks so much for the input... you've provided new info. Walking-in-the-front-door web searches for this sort of thing are nigh impossible, and there's no brick-and-mortar with a decent selection anywhere nearby. I was not aware of International... though there appear to be big differences...

Thanks... this is really frustrating. I need a 26" wide box that sucketh not, and that is proving to be a challenge. I called a Sears down in Seattle to find out about the Viper and the guy barely knew what tool boxes were... the big box stores are no help... and I've been looking online at...

Has anyone here seen the John Deere stainless 26" top box? I'm still on a quest for a stainless chest for my boat, and keep coming back to the Viper... but there are some pretty convincing negative reviews. Here is the Deere product page. The hard part, of course, is actually seeing these...

Very interesting - thanks for the comments! I don't have room for it on my boat, at least not without removing the vise from the base (44' steel pilothouse sailboat named Nomadness), but I have been planning to have a vise in the standing work area across the hall from the lab. The default for...

Hi folks... This was in my father's shop all my life (near Louisville), and I know he brought it down from Erie in 1955. He passed away in 2005, and when I shut down the old homestead, this one of the items I brought back to the Pacific Northwest. It's just... cool... though I personally...

Good to know about the compatible cage nuts; thanks. I'll keep that in mind if I drop back to stock units... I doubt I would need to reconfigure very often. The temptation to go custom with stock square tubing is strong, since there are some rather weird requirements here... including a...

Update from the Nomadness lab... I'm now looking at homebrewing the five rack cabinets, letting me optimize them for the available space and panel-hinging needs (while saving about a kilobuck, though spending way more time...). I was close to one commercial product line, which come as kits, but...

That's a neat idea. I like the rack space for the full tool "library," but there's also a small standing workspace across the hall with a vise, shop air, and vacuum port... that would be a perfect spot for a little fold-out sloped enclosure with cutting/grinding tools that I would not want to...

Jeff - there will be some migration, but the inventory packaging in the trailer would never work in the boat. All that little stuff will make its way into zip poly bags sorted into binders, bins, and packs... Key tools, yes... though the space and power constraints of the boat require a few...

Middle Atlantic is looking good. Anyone have any experience with the Starcase aluminum units? I'm thinking of 5 sloping desktop units now, with added "skins" of plywood and smoked-plex gasketed doors. All have to be tiltable or hinged for service... tricky installation. Here's a photo of the...

Mmm, yes, I like the door idea. I'm thinking of a family of cabinets with exterior doors anyway (lexan gasketed would be ideal, given the environment when things get a little crazy... even from crew galumphing through the cabin with wet foulies). I just grabbed the Middle Atlantic catalog...

DWM... I am smiting myself on the forehead. Of course! perfect fit with all the rest. I have not used Middle Atlantic stuff yet, but of course know of them... tempted by their pull-out and rotate assembly. Seriously... that is the right approach, and was in front of me all along. Thank you! Steve

Route246 - I do like bags for travel and have a CLC, though random stuff seems to get lost in the rather arbitrary pockets. For lab bench use, I think I prefer smoothly operating open spaces. (Those are nice, though!) Steve - thanks for the tips. Anodized aluminum trays with foam lining, or...

Good point, Steve. Steel makes me nervous, though robust and padded Stainless would feel good. But wood is, well, warm... the same thing I like about the boat interior (and all the framing around the console systems will be wood). I had not considered custom cabinetry optimized for the...