Craftsman box without wheels on wood frame?

[mercracing]

Hey guys, I need to increase my tool storage in my garage. I have a 52” craftsman top and bottom box that are full. Due to space issues I was thinking of buying another 52” or 60”, taking the wheels off and trying to build a thin 1x1 frame under the box so it would fit under my work bench. Is it strong enough to do that without screwing up the sheet metal?

 

[rust in the eye]

Why the wood frame? If isolating from a concrete floor why not just a sheet of plywood? If it is to remain stationary just slide it into place while empty, it'll be fine.
If you must attach something I'd suggest using the existing holes from the casters as those areas were intended to bear the weight.

 

[mercracing]

My thought process was a small frame to get it up off the concrete a little. A piece of plywood would work well too.

 

[Jgaz]

I don’t know how much height you you have available under your workbench.
If there is enough room I would recommend putting the tool box on something like a cabinet base with a toe kick.
I think you will be more comfortable standing in front of the beach unless you have enough room to recess the tool box back from the front edge of your workbench.

This is how an installed my old Snap-on box in the miter saw/storage bench I built along the back wall of my current shop. Under construction pic.

 

[Citation]

Hey guys, I need to increase my tool storage in my garage. I have a 52” craftsman top and bottom box that are full. Due to space issues I was thinking of buying another 52” or 60”, taking the wheels off and trying to build a thin 1x1 frame under the box so it would fit under my work bench. Is it strong enough to do that without screwing up the sheet metal?

How much clearance do you need? I had a box I wanted to fit under a lab bench. The bench was perhaps 1-2" too short. I found a set of lower profile casters on McMaster that were both sufficiently strong (we didn't load the box up with heavy tools) and direct bold-ons.
Really all you need to support the box correctly is something that holds it up where the casters are originally attached. The box doesn't care if it's sitting on casters or wood. I suspect many boxes wouldn't be happy if you removed the casters and didn't replace them with something. I think many boxes have a lip that extends below the caster attachment point. Thus if you set the box down on a completely flat surface the load isn't going into the caster attachment points.

 

[rsanter]

To preserve the bottom edge of the box I would to a metal strip or plywood.
I would not plate the whole bottom but rather I would do two 6” wide strips, one on each side.

The box is pleanty strong

 

[JeepYJ]

Why not use steel? It’s much stronger.

 

[mercracing]

Why not use steel? It’s much stronger.

I would have to double check my measurements, but the distance I need to bring it up off the floor is very little.

 

[Toold_up]

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

Cheap and won't damage anything. Better than wood since it won't absorb water.

 

[alinc100]

My thought process was a small frame to get it up off the concrete a little. A piece of plywood would work well too.

I would not use a solid piece of plywood as I would be concerned about moisture/rust airflow. Plywood strips. 1x strips,hardwood strips, leftover flooring planks,etc. A novel thought would be to use UHMW plastic and you MAY be able to slide the box in/out for cleaning,not that any of my boxes ever move or get cleaned behind/under.

To preserve the bottom edge of the box I would to a metal strip or plywood.
I would not plate the whole bottom but rather I would do two 6” wide strips, one on each side.

The box is pleanty strong

^^^This^^^

 

[Steve_P]

The Cman boxes I have use two "beams" that go across the front and rear of the box; the casters mount to them. When you remove the casters, you'll be able to see what you need to do. The simple answer without us seeing the bottom of the box is to put a spacer about the same size footprint as the caster base at each former caster location.

 

[Toold_up]

I would not use a solid piece of plywood as I would be concerned about moisture/rust airflow. Plywood strips. 1x strips,hardwood strips, leftover flooring planks,etc. A novel thought would be to use UHMW plastic and you MAY be able to slide the box in/out for cleaning,not that any of my boxes ever move or get cleaned behind/under.

^^^This^^^

The link I posed from McMaster Carr is for HDPE plastic break away leveling shims. You can get them in different thicknesses (1/16" - 1/2"). A 1/2" thick 10" x 10" square is ~$30 (+ shipping). That should be everything he needs + material left over.

 

[TurnipTruck]

I found this old stainless steel bench top from a bakery and welded vertical angle to it, bolted to the floor. After pulling the wood tops and wheels off, I slid the toolboxes under on a pallet jack and rest the sides of the boxes on steel platforms scribe fit to the floor.


Nothing is bolted to the boxes. The tool boxes are behind the vertical legs. I left a six inch gap behind for the conduits and so the waterline won’t freeze.

 

[milky2k]

I used cedar 2x4 to make a base for a Craftsman box to bring the height down. The 2x4 fit in the beams/ c channel mentioned above sandwiched between the box and the casters. As long as you are supporting your base on those beams it should be fine. Don’t forget to use wood suitable for contact with concrete.

 

[finn]

I’ve been using oak dunnage for things like this. Some is 3/4” thick, from the pallet my small compressor was shipped on, and some was from 2”x4”x4’ dunnage. It cleans up well.

All you need is a short piece at each corner.

 

[619DioFan]

Refrigerator rollers , 25.00 for a pair on Amazon. They are about 1.6 inches tall.will handle around 700 pounds. Then you can move it in and out if needed.

 

[Old Man Roger]

As mentioned above, use the part of the box the casters were bolted to. It’s designed to support the weight of the box.

Some cheap polyethylene cutting board material can be counter sunk and screwed to the bottom of the wood, so it can easily slide out from under the bench if needed.

 

[2oolhound]

Yep, where the casters were is where you need your supports but there is a thin metal skirt that hangs down all around the bottom of the box that you don't want to put any weight on. The caster supports are higher than the skirt so you need thick enough wood to go slightly lower than the skirt. Using wood all around will prevent screws etc from rolling under the box where it will be hard to retrieve them.

 

[PoorUB]

I would not use wood. Certainly not treated wood. Plastic, PVC, steel woulf be about the only things I would use.

Think of moisture and possibly getting wet, Wood will hold moisture and perhaps cause the box to rust. I would not just set it right on the floor for the same reason.

 

[mercracing]

I wonder if o can get some composite deck material and cut it to thickness.

 

[toolenthusiast]

why not just a sheet of plywood?

For an air gap. Might not matter in some climates I guess? But in a lot of places that will end up being a soggy sponge under a metal toolbox

 

[ZRX61]

I wonder if o can get some composite deck material and cut it to thickness.

It's probably already the perfect thickness. (Trex etc)

 

[the shifty jesus]

I just knocked together quick frames from kiln dried 2x4s. I was more concerned about bench height than most anything else. They support the plates where the casters were. It’s not pretty, but it works well. I do live in a dry climate though.

 

[Chris_Hamilton]

This reminds me of the debate car guys have over storing crankshafts. If the box is strong enough to have the weight of it concentrated on the 4 casters then it's strong enough to sit on the floor without them provided it's flat across the bottom.

 

[Old Man Roger]

A lot of boxes have the casters counter sunk, so there‘s a much weaker lip lower than the mounting point for the casters.

 

[Qualitytools]

I found this old stainless steel bench top from a bakery and welded vertical angle to it, bolted to the floor. After pulling the wood tops and wheels off, I slid the toolboxes under on a pallet jack and rest the sides of the boxes on steel platforms scribe fit to the floor.


Nothing is bolted to the boxes. The tool boxes are behind the vertical legs. I left a six inch gap behind for the conduits and so the waterline won’t freeze.

I like the drawer layout of those boxes. Looks great