Can MDF Slatwall hold a Gladiator 30" toolbox?

[jerkychew]

Hi everybody,

I purchased a pair of the Gladiator 30"x 30" x 12" wall-mount toolboxes on sale. I also purchased a few sheets of MDF slatwall on Craigslist that I plan on installing in a corner of my shop. The Gladiator boxes come with slatwall mounts (Naturally they want you to only use the Gladiator GearTrack stuff) and I've confirmed that they fit in my panels. However, I'm concerned about weight. Should I be worried that these things are going to one day rip off a slat and come crashing down on my workbench? I don't plan on putting anything ridiculously heavy in the boxes, but I am wondering what the cutoff point would be for a disaster.

I see that you can buy slatwall with aluminum inserts, and you can buy inserts separately, but it looks like you can't install the inserts in standard slatwall slots - Is this true?

Open to any and all suggestions. Thanks!

 

[Kevin54]

If the toolbox is going to have any amount of weight to it, if it were me, i would say do not do it. You'll come out some morning and find things all over the floor.

If you really want it on the slatwall, I would build some sort of a frame that will fit into some more of the slats to help carry the load. On the frame, and the bottom shelf especially, you would want some sort of a 45 degree support under the bottom shelf and going to a lower slat. It wouldn't have to necessarily be a 45 degree angle, but you want the front of the shelf where your most weight will be, to be carried down and pushing back into the wall. Without bottom support, everything will be pulling out from the wall instead of pushing in to the wall.

 

[jerkychew]

Thanks - One thing I failed to mention, which might change things, is that it actually has two brackets on the back - One at the top of the box and one at the bottom. Perhaps this would help distribute the load a bit.

One other thing I'm thinking of if I do mount these - After hanging them on the wall, I could use some decent-length lag bolts or screws to go through the back of the box into where the slat meets the studs.

 

[Kevin54]

Thanks - One thing I failed to mention, which might change things, is that it actually has two brackets on the back - One at the top of the box and one at the bottom. Perhaps this would help distribute the load a bit.

One other thing I'm thinking of if I do mount these - After hanging them on the wall, I could use some decent-length lag bolts or screws to go through the back of the box into where the slat meets the studs.

That would help immensely in distributing the load. I don't think you really want to drill the back of the box do you? I know I wouldn't. In going back and reading your first post, you said the boxes are 12" deep, so that is the same as the cabinets. With both brackets on, and if the brackets go all the way across the back, or almost all the way, which the brackets are more than likely the same for the overhead cabinets, then using both brackets you should be fine as far as weight is concerned.

For some reason, I was thinking that the brackets were only a few inches wide.

Once you get the toolbox up onto the slatwall, you should be able to judge what the slatwall will handle. One thing you could do if you think that the slatwall won't hold, is to buy the Gladiator PVC slats, and hang them over the top of your slatwall. The PVC wall supports will be a lot stronger than the MDF slatwall panels. And that's if you plan on having a few hundred pounds in the toolboxes. But if you load things withing reason, you should be fine. That is as long as the brackets on the boxes go almost all the way across the back.

 

[jerkychew]

Yes, they go all the way across the back. Sorry, I wasn't clear in my initial post. I'll see if I can get some pictures up once there's some room in this disaster

Good idea about using the combination of PVC and MDF. I'll see how things hang and report back.

 

[rice rocket]

There's predrilled holes for direct wall mounting, you don't have to use their GearTrack stuff. From what I remember, if you use the GearTrack, there's a 400 lb weight limit. If you direct mount, it's unlimited (at least until your fasteners pull out).

I'd anchor it properly to whatever's underneath the MDF slatwall.