Fabricating a custom side cab from a Harbor Freight 7 drawer side chest

I am an up and coming aviation mechanic and am looking to make another custom side cabinet, this time focused on holding airframe specific tooling.

I recently made a custom side chest modeled after the Snap-On KRL1099PBO for holding all of my power tools.
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I am getting to the point of maxing out my current setup and would like to make room for more airframe specific tooling. I plan on taking out a few tools here and there, but even with that, I know that I won't have the room to house what I want, so I am looking to modify another Harbor Freight 7 drawer side chest to hold pneumatic tools, clecos, bucking bars, etc.

I currently plan on leaving the top 3 or 4 drawers for smaller tools ( clecos, cleco pliers, bucking bars, countersinks, microstop, sanding / scctchbrite pads, chip chasers, etc.). I would like to take the bottom 3 or 4 drawers and make a custom drawer for holding a rivet gun, pneumatic drills, die grinder, microshaver, etc. I plan on mounting a couple of Lisle 49960 Locking Air Tool Holders within the drawer to hold the tools.

Lisle 49960 Locking Air Tool Holder



I plan on usingKaizen Foam to organize the top drawers, but I am thinking of using a piece of stall mat on the bottom of the pneumatic tool drawer.

I already have power and USB in my powerbank cabinet, so I don't think I will be adding power to the drawer. I would love input on anything anyone thinks I should add to the box.

First post!
I'm keen to see what you do after being so impressed with your power cabinet

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Are you making any cleco holders or just a bin for each size? I've got a 20 or so bucking bars spread out in a drawer, waiting to be polished back to former glory after rusting for a few years before I found them. All the little sheetmetal tools take up space if you need to get to them quickly and efficiently.

It ***** to shuffle through tools to find what you are looking for when you've got proseal on your finger and didn't realize your glove ripped.

StevenMorgan said:

Are you making any cleco holders or just a bin for each size?

It ***** to shuffle through tools to find what you are looking for when you've got proseal on your finger and didn't realize your glove ripped.

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I haven't quite figured out what I am doing for clecos as of yet. Most guys I've seen just have bins for each size, but I also want to be able to quickly and easily inventory tooling, so not sure if I want to sit and count each cleco each time to inventory them, or if I just want a holder where I can visually see if one is missing.

If I go the bin route, I will probably go with Schaller bins. They are cheap and pretty configurable so I can pretty tightly fit my drawers with a variety of bins.

The concern with using a cleco holder is that it will take up more room than just having a bin.

I definitely hate shuffling through tools, especially after moving a box from one side of the shop to the other, which is why I absolutely love Kaizen and have used it throughout my toolbox.

BreeStephany said:

I haven't quite figured out what I am doing for clecos as of yet. Most guys I've seen just have bins for each size, but I also want to be able to quickly and easily inventory tooling, so not sure if I want to sit and count each cleco each time to inventory them, or if I just want a holder where I can visually see if one is missing.

If I go the bin route, I will probably go with Schaller bins. They are cheap and pretty configurable so I can pretty tightly fit my drawers with a variety of bins.

The concern with using a cleco holder is that it will take up more room than just having a bin.

I definitely hate shuffling through tools, especially after moving a box from one side of the shop to the other, which is why I absolutely love Kaizen and have used it throughout my toolbox.

Click to expand...

Are you making any progress on this yet?

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