Outlaw,
should we be expecting to see your patent for a perfect toolbox now that you know the measurements and drawer placement that works perfectly for you and probably a lot of the rest of us???
I can't imagine 18" being perfect for too many people. That's hardly half of a real tool box
in a prior post of Outlaw's he was hoping it was a 23 incher which is what I was thinking he should patent. the 18 was not what he hoped for and I don't think you could use either. the basic design with some tweaks and we all probably have our own version of what works best for us.
Perfect for who? I like to have more shallow drawers for things like wrenches and drivers; others prefer deep drawers...
The Proto box from the front is close. I'd like to see one grow to 44 tall and 44 wide and 24 deep overall. add two more shallow drawers, or one more mid drawer, the bottom deep drawer might need to be made a touch shallower to accommodate, or the bottom framing changed as with the added depth front to rear, you could have a frame skirt partly cover the casters and still not hit them.
I'd like all the drawer heights setup so they were completely modular as to position. This is not rocket science, the main frame 19" rack folks figured that out decades ago.
You would have a 4-1/2 or so depth full width drawer on top w/double slides, and stiffeners to keep the bottom from flexing. The rest about like you see them now, with the wide drawers a bit wider soaking up the extra inches. If a person wanted they could custom order any drawer configuration they desired so long as the total filled the vertical space. The deep drawer would get two slides each side by default, the rest, except for the shallows, could also get double slides as an option.
The problem the tool box manufactures have is their history with the old standard drawer sizes from the older designed tool boxes. If they make a two bay, what do they do? Take the drawers from a 26, and go two bays wide, or the drawers from a 26 and something less than a 20, and go two bays, The only thing new is the full width drawer...
To get something truly flexible requires a clean sheet approach, and a willingness to make some new tooling to get the thing to work.
Patent it? You can't; every concept I've described other than the abandonment of the std widths has already been, and gone one way or another.
I actually started drafting plans for this a year or so ago, but got busy with other things in life, and it would have been an academic exercise anyhow... 15 years ago I could have worked out the drawings and built this as a one off at an old friend's sheet metal shop, but he's passed away and I have no easy access to the required tools anymore.
I'm pretty sure it is ~42" x 18" deep. It is pretty much a HF box but with a different drawer layout.
Is it a friction slide box? Agree with Outlaw, looks like a nice drawer layout.
That looks great! Its the perfect mix of shallow drawers, and deep drawers.
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