Is there anyone who sells it for an option or has anyone heard of it before on a tool box ? I love how easy my Matco box drawers open and close but now It seems like once a week I have to move all my tools back to the front of the drawer. Unless I slow down the drawer way down when it shuts, tools end up in the back after awhile. Not a big deal but I was wondering why I have never seen soft close drawers like kitchen drawers. Not even sure how they work but it must not be too complicated, and it would be nice.
Soft close drawers for tool boxes ?
- Thread starter 53chevy5
- Start date
fitz11
Well-known member
The Milwaukee tool boxes have soft close drawers.
Yup, didnt realize it had them when I ordered, surprised to see it. Guess it helps keep tools from shifting when closing but I like how it keeps all the drawers fully shut.
Overall I am very impressed with the Milwaukee quality on the tool boxes.
Overall I am very impressed with the Milwaukee quality on the tool boxes.
Wamsutta
Well-known member
It sounds to me like that Matco box has some very firm detents on the slides. It takes quite a bit of a yank to overcome the retentive force of the detents and then once you get past that, the drawers go flying open and the tools slide to the opposite direction the drawer is traveling. The cure for that is softer detents.
R_einan
Well-known member
I have one of the Craftsman chests with the soft close drawers they came out with recently. I am pleased with everything about it EXCEPT the soft close drawers. They require a ton of force to open and on a top chest with mostly lower weight tools I have the same issue. In an attempt to minimize this I lined the drawers with 1/8" industrial neoprene rubber, which helped, but it still occurs. I am still hoping that as it breaks in it will get easier to open.
I was in the market for a new chest for my garage a week ago, and checked out the same CM Soft Close chest----I felt the same way about how hard they were to open, and opted instead for the Premium Heavy Duty. Picking it up today...
R_einan
Well-known member
I ordered it sight unseen at a huge discount. I have the 41" top chest sitting on my work bench. The construction is very good and the slides are smooth and solid, it's only the soft close feature that isn't great. I have a 52" professional series bottom chest with the grip latch drawers that I have under the bench. The slides are not as solid or as smooth but they open easier.
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lazer50
Well-known member
I have a matco custom i ordered in 2004. At that time it was the best that they made. The box was in a factory for several years now in my shop.ive never needed to do anything to the slides or anything the drawers are full and have opened easy and smooth the same since it was new.i have the drawers loaded fairly heavy but i never need to shift tools.
ryan20021982
Well-known member
The Matco detents are adjustable, there is a little thing on the front of the slide you adjust with a screwdriver to tighten or loosen them.
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My detents are all on the lowest setting, the drawers open very nice with very little pull and close very nice but things slowly move to the back. On the bottom drawer I had all my 3/4 drive sockets stacked against the front and now I finally lined them up in the back instead. Its just mainly things that are not in a case such as punches,extention's , crescent wrenches and such. Not a big deal and wouldn't trade the box for anything but more just curious if any one offers it, and it appears they do with so-so reviews on it.
R_einan
Well-known member
I'll have to take a look and see if the detects on the craftsman are adjustable or could be modified in some way. I'll try and post a pic of the slides today or tomorrow.
Wamsutta
Well-known member
That brings the drawer liners into question. You should be able to place a wrench on the drawer and not have it move no matter how fast you move the drawer.
You could try to retro fit some soft close dampers, typically used in kitchen cabinets?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BNVAYCE/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Not sure how well they would handle 50lbs+, but a cheap experiment.
Also these...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/INDAmatic-A...619064?hash=item3a790736b8:g:E3IAAOxySOlR9reP
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BNVAYCE/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Not sure how well they would handle 50lbs+, but a cheap experiment.
Also these...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/INDAmatic-A...619064?hash=item3a790736b8:g:E3IAAOxySOlR9reP
Pitalplace
Well-known member
I played with the new craftsman with the soft close drawers at a store the other day. Closing was very nice but they were pretty tough to open.
I've got an Extreme Tools 56" toolbox that has detent style drawer slides, and a set of New Age Pro cabinets that have the soft close drawer slides. I don't know about you guys, but I really prefer the soft closure slides over the old style detents.
Sorry to revive an old thread but did you look into it? As I’m hesitant to buy Craftsman tool chest just because of the strong resistance in opening the soft close drawers.
txvwnut
Well-known member
I bought a 27" C-man roller to keep next to the mill and hold tooling and such. It has the soft close drawers and mine aren't that hard to open. The only negative I have is they don't like a lot of weight so a heavily loaded drawer won't close on its own.
Paul_The_Builder
Well-known member
Most of the newer Husky brand toolboxes sold at Home Depot have soft close drawers now. At first when I played around with the drawers in the store, I didn't like the soft close feature.
Now that I own a couple of them, I really really like the soft close feature. Its much smoother once the drawer is loaded up, and I find that I can work faster since I can just push the drawer shut instead of trying to ease it shut to avoid the tools jostling around. Now I get really irritated when I have to get something out of the 1 toolbox that I have which doesn't have soft close drawers.
Now that I own a couple of them, I really really like the soft close feature. Its much smoother once the drawer is loaded up, and I find that I can work faster since I can just push the drawer shut instead of trying to ease it shut to avoid the tools jostling around. Now I get really irritated when I have to get something out of the 1 toolbox that I have which doesn't have soft close drawers.