Rousseau Tool Cabinets

[kngelv]

I have the Tekton 60" with full length drawers. I thought I would love them but they do have some drawbacks. As @Pexto said you have to step back from a wide space every time you open a drawer. Also I can only open one drawer at a time where if I had a split bank I could open one on both sides. I'm still undecided as it's fairly new and every other box I've owned has been a split bank.

James

 

[whateg01]

Is there a point that a drawer is so wide it loses rigidity/strength? Or do the HD/double slides make up for the wide reach?

Most have extra ribs for her pleas support in the middle of some sort of extra structure. But it's still a wide drawer so putting a 200# chunk of osmium in the center could probably cause some toolbox drawers to sag in the middle. Better boxes have better support. Better boxes also do a better job of drawers closing parallel to the box. Bal bearing slides really improved this, imo, but I've not seen a 54" box with friction slides.

 

[fsts2k]

Do you have lights mounted under the upper cabinets and if so, can you share which ones?

 

[ItsNemo]

Do you have lights mounted under the upper cabinets and if so, can you share which ones?

Yes I do, and it's the one from Rousseau...you can see it in the video I linked previously.

 

[dr_clyde]

Most have extra ribs for her pleas support in the middle of some sort of extra structure. But it's still a wide drawer so putting a 200# chunk of osmium in the center could probably cause some toolbox drawers to sag in the middle. Better boxes have better support. Better boxes also do a better job of drawers closing parallel to the box. Bal bearing slides really improved this, imo, but I've not seen a 54" box with friction slides.

If you look carefully, these industrial cabinets use a totally different style of drawer slide compared to a traditional toolbox.

They use ball bearing rollers inside of a track instead of a linear ball bearing slide. This allows them significantly higher load capacity at the expense of space and complexity.

Friction slides really aren't a factor anymore, I don't know anyone who uses those.

 

[whateg01]

If you look carefully, these industrial cabinets use a totally different style of drawer slide compared to a traditional toolbox.

They use ball bearing rollers inside of a track instead of a linear ball bearing slide. This allows them significantly higher load capacity at the expense of space and complexity.

Friction slides really aren't a factor anymore, I don't know anyone who uses those.

I've not actually touched a Rousseau/tekton but I assume it's really no different than a lista or vidmar. The slide mechanism doesn't affect what happens to the drawer itself if you put a lot of weight in the middle.

Fwiw, I like the slide mechanism of these better than the more common cartridges used.

 

[dr_clyde]

I've not actually touched a Rousseau/tekton but I assume it's really no different than a lista or vidmar. The slide mechanism doesn't affect what happens to the drawer itself if you put a lot of weight in the middle.

Fwiw, I like the slide mechanism of these better than the more common cartridges used.

Yeah, it's pretty much identical to Vidmar.

The drawer design is different on the heavier boxes, partly due to the way the slides are incorporated. It's almost a "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" scenario. The drawers are heavy duty, therefore they have a heavy duty slide mechanism. But part of the reason they have that slide mechanism is because the weight rating of the drawer needs it.

You should be able to put the full load rating anywhere in the drawer and still open it and close it.

I know I put lathe chucks and extremely heavy tooling in the center of my Vidmar cabinet drawers and they don't behave any differently than a drawer loaded evenly. A 12" steel lathe chuck weighs over 150# pretty easily.

A wider drawer might encourage a person to overload a drawer perhaps.

That's a lot of words to say I basically agree with you.

 

[Markoos]

I just bought some

Very good purchase, they will last a lifetime.
Were rubber drawer liners not included?

 

[ItsNemo]

Very good purchase, they will last a lifetime.
Were rubber drawer liners not included?

These drawer liners were included, they're the "PVC" ones, but they have a few different options including 1/4" foam ones and the multi-layer ones you can cut to do outlines. These ones in particular allow for the use of bin cups and the partitions with the drawer liner still in place...the other option won't let those fit, hence why I went with this style.

 

[whateg01]

Yeah, it's pretty much identical to Vidmar.

The drawer design is different on the heavier boxes, partly due to the way the slides are incorporated. It's almost a "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" scenario. The drawers are heavy duty, therefore they have a heavy duty slide mechanism. But part of the reason they have that slide mechanism is because the weight rating of the drawer needs it.

You should be able to put the full load rating anywhere in the drawer and still open it and close it.

I know I put lathe chucks and extremely heavy tooling in the center of my Vidmar cabinet drawers and they don't behave any differently than a drawer loaded evenly. A 12" steel lathe chuck weighs over 150# pretty easily.

A wider drawer might encourage a person to overload a drawer perhaps.

That's a lot of words to say I basically agree with you.

The issue, or question asked my somebody else, I think was more about the middle of the drawer sagging on longer drawers

 

[tarbellb]

The rigidity of the drawer box itself is what keeps wide drawers from racking (and sagging), and as pointed out by Dr these drawers are super beefy

 

[Yarpo]

When I was still working kids would stand on these drawers fully loaded with tools to get things from off the top of the hutch we had.
Also see people sitting on them to take their break (even tho they have a stool nearby)
Handling the weight is a non issue for these things, tanks.

 

[ItsNemo]

The issue, or question asked my somebody else, I think was more about the middle of the drawer sagging on longer drawers

As already mentioned, the sides support the main weight of the drawer across the span. The other thing with the Rousseau cabinets is the centers where the tools are is MUCH thicker steel than normal toolboxes, I'd guess 14 or 16 gauge? I know parts of the box are 12 gauge as well. The other thing is, their cross dividers can screw into the bottoms of the drawers and offer even more support, so if you really were going crazy with a wide drawer and weight, a couple dividers screwed in and those bottoms aren't going anywhere.

 

[ItsNemo]

Soooo, finally getting around to posting this (have had these build for a month or two)...but I custom made a desk and workbench to match up with the Rousseau cabs in the new shop.

 

[frijoles]

Soooo, finally getting around to posting this (have had these build for a month or two)...but I custom made a desk and workbench to match up with the Rousseau cabs in the new shop.

Looking good!