I am looking for opinions. I have a double bay Matco box and a HF 5 drawer cart. Both are to the point where they can't take much more. Should I go out as in get a 3 or 4 bay box or should I go up as in get a top box for the one I already have? I do like the the HF cart and have nothing against HF but if I get a new box it will be a truck brand so please don't recommend a HF box.
What to do when the box is full?
- Thread starter zengarage
- Start date
rsanter
Well-known member
add a matching side box to the matco?
bob
bob
You can borrow my drawer stretcher if you like. 
On a serious note. What do you value more, floor space or a top work surface? That will probably determine if you go wider, taller or even deeper.
Additionally, post up some pics or take a good look at your current setup. Do you actually need everything that you have in the box? Is it arranged in a space efficient manner?
On a serious note. What do you value more, floor space or a top work surface? That will probably determine if you go wider, taller or even deeper.
Additionally, post up some pics or take a good look at your current setup. Do you actually need everything that you have in the box? Is it arranged in a space efficient manner?
Hpozzuoli
Well-known member
Not a big fan of side boxes or top boxes. I like the top open to work on. Side boxes look like the houses with tons of additions.
I don't mind side lockers because they give you a great option for bulk storage.
I would save until your wallet was ready to let you get a 3bay or 4bay box. If you settle for a band aide you will be mad at yourself down the road.
I don't mind side lockers because they give you a great option for bulk storage.
I would save until your wallet was ready to let you get a 3bay or 4bay box. If you settle for a band aide you will be mad at yourself down the road.
You can never have enough space right? I am not new but nowhere near retirement and not really a mechanic. I build assembly and test equipment. The problem is that depending on the time or day I could be wearing many different hats so I need a fairly diverse collection of tools. I am mostly interested in knowing if anyone has done one or the other and loved it or wished they did the other. I like to be able to use the top of my box as a bench but I see some of the other guys with top boxes and wonder if that is better. I do have some redundancy but I have been weeding it out as I am starting to hate digging for tools.
RRmech
Well-known member
I ended up selling my Kennedy roll cab, along with most of my larger size tools when I retired from the RR.
I have a small Kennedy box for regularly used tools, and plastic storage containers for the rest.
I have a small Kennedy box for regularly used tools, and plastic storage containers for the rest.
I have seen guys buy hang-ons just so its one unit, however they are expensive new, and you could buy a used box for the same money. even better if you could buy same box as what u have and park side by side. You will regret going with a top and not having the space to work on.
ZRX61
Well-known member
Just buy another rollaway... & fill that one too 
I have 6 or 7, mostly devoted to particular skills. One contains all the welding gubbins, another is for my tin knocking tools, 3 autobody/detailing & one is full of mechanicing tools etc. Small ones are used for other pursuits, one is used for electrical tools for instance.
I have 6 or 7, mostly devoted to particular skills. One contains all the welding gubbins, another is for my tin knocking tools, 3 autobody/detailing & one is full of mechanicing tools etc. Small ones are used for other pursuits, one is used for electrical tools for instance.bobcatdan
Well-known member
I have nothing against side boxes, but I have looked into it a couple times and this is what I found. When adding a side to a double bay, you basically have a triple bay. In wheeling a dealing, you can pretty much always get a new triple cheaper then the matching side. As to adding a top box, think long and hard about how and how much you use the top of your current box and would you miss it. I have two things to throw out there. If you box is a shallow model, 21"-24" and you have the room, jumping up to a 30" deep double could be pretty cheap and will add a surprising amount off room. The other is what I did. My SO 1022 was getting pretty full and was in kinda the same boat as you. Before I could make any deal on anything else, I found and got a screaming deal on a kra 62c road chest. I have that box siding on top while still having some room to work on top of my main box with the added storage I needed.
crewchief888
Well-known member
ive gone every way possible for expansion.
added top box, mid boxes, side boxes and additional roller cabs as needed.
personally i've kept (individual) boxes no wider than 36".
much easier for me to move when i have to, easier to reorganize, and locate, as neccesary.
i dont have all my tools in one location, some are at work, some in my service truck, some in the garage, and more in the house.
all depends on the type of storage you need, drawers space, or bulk storage and available space for your toolbox.
added top box, mid boxes, side boxes and additional roller cabs as needed.
personally i've kept (individual) boxes no wider than 36".
much easier for me to move when i have to, easier to reorganize, and locate, as neccesary.
i dont have all my tools in one location, some are at work, some in my service truck, some in the garage, and more in the house.
all depends on the type of storage you need, drawers space, or bulk storage and available space for your toolbox.
Dirty Diesels
Well-known member
This all depends on what you specialize in ! I've got a 3 tier 26" stack with an end cabinet & 2nd 26" topbox unit that stands on a bench alone & a roll cart, also two small 4 & 3 drawer boxes for the electrical equiptment & these are all chocker, but I've no need to further expand storage at the moment because I'm upto date with my gear, okay saying that I've been contemplating a 40" series kra 2 tier stack but I'm happy with what I have, the choices are endless, okay is room to add additional storage available ? if so go for more, but again do you really need to ?
first thing i might do is consolidate.. see if there are tools you don't really use that much or redundant and get rid of them. i recently did that with a lot of my SAE tools that came with a set and I never really use them. if I think I might need them some day, i'll put them in storage.
James_B
Well-known member
I ran out of room in my 26" Craftsman base and top box. I did a lot of research into mid-boxes and side-boxes, and quickly discovered that a second Craftsman 26" base unit was cheaper than a side-box, and was only fractionally more than a mid-box. The second base cabinet offered me almost double the space of the side-box and almost three times the space of a mid box. As soon as the weather is less frigid in the garage, I'll look at bolting the 2 base cabinets together.
sberry
Banned
I just went thru and stripped a bunch of stuff off in to a 5 gallon bucket, stuff finds its way in to a box and often doesn't get used for a long time. I found 8 or 9 1/2 drive 9/16 sockets had worked their way on my cart, I need 1 chrome on occasion.
theoldwizard1
Well-known member
I need to buy a middle box. Then I need some 4x6s to stand on so I can look into the top of the upper box !
Wamsutta
Well-known member
Usually it's the other way around like this:
"if I get a new box it will be an HF box so please don't recommend a truck brand."
Wayfastwhitie440
Well-known member
Brownsfan
Well-known member
I didn't read any of the replies. The obvious answer is buy the biggest box you can afford. Then buy more tools then a bigger box again. Its a endless cycle.
^^^This^^^ I have three 5 gallon buckets full of tools in my garage that I brought home from work because I never use them.
MattPersman
Well-known member
It usually is cheaper to buy a larger box with yours as a trade in than buying an add on. You just need to figure out what size you want, double, triple or quad bay you can get large doubles triples or quads usually have narrower drawers all depends on your needs.
Just put a bug in your tool driver of choice and say give me a deal on one of these boxes x y or z
Just put a bug in your tool driver of choice and say give me a deal on one of these boxes x y or z
FunkyfullWidth
Well-known member
Call me crazy, but i'm not tossing any of my tools into a bucket. I worked hard to get all my tools and use most all of what I have. Side cabinets are great if you have alot of specialty or testing equiptment that is in a case. If your box is at work, it's good to keep different aerosols locked up, masks, tape, abrasives... you get the point. I like having a work surface on my box just so I can plop my tools on when I'm wiping em all down. Plus a place for my lunch box, phone some magazines a note pad... etc..
A deeper box of the same size grants you much more room than you'd think.
A deeper box of the same size grants you much more room than you'd think.
Lil Toe
Well-known member
Consolidate/reorganize/better placement.
I thought I had my 72" Montezuma chest/cab/lockers completely full already, went through and got rid of some cases, moved other items around, got a couple of things out and threw them up on top (couple cheap but big cased slide pullers). Moved a bunch of cased items stacked into one drawer (rather than layed out in separate drawers). More wrench organizers, more trays.
Guess what, I now have three empty and a couple more partial empty drawers.
I thought I had my 72" Montezuma chest/cab/lockers completely full already, went through and got rid of some cases, moved other items around, got a couple of things out and threw them up on top (couple cheap but big cased slide pullers). Moved a bunch of cased items stacked into one drawer (rather than layed out in separate drawers). More wrench organizers, more trays.
Guess what, I now have three empty and a couple more partial empty drawers.
James_B
Well-known member
The cased/un-cased option is a decision that I am soon going to have to make, but I'm going to put it off as long as I can. It really is astounding just how much wasted space the air in a blow-molded socket set case chews up.
I remember when socket sets came in metal cases, and there really wasn't any wasted space in there. These days, the tools seem to be packaged more for how they look on the shelf of a big-box store than for actual tool storage.
James_B
Well-known member
I'm 6'4", and without a mid-box, when my top box lid is open, the lip is just 15 inches below my eye level. I did some experimentation and came to the conclusion that my eye level needed to be a minimum of 6 inches above the lip for that section of the top box to be comfortably usable. That meant that I could fit a mid-box that was no more than 11" high, or I'd need to add platform to stand on in front of the cabinet.
cburnscrx
Well-known member
Maybe look into strictlytoolboxes?
bobcatdan
Well-known member
I use to say my box isn't full until I can't see the bottom of the drawers. Well that came and passed. I just piling on top now. I'm a caster kicker, but with my boxes long paid for, I just don't want to buy a new one.
Lil Toe
Well-known member
I've also gone through and cut the lids off cases I wanted to keep the bottom half of for organization and even gone as far as chopping up the bottom portion or other plastic organizers to maximize area.
Here's an example, big wrenches and 3/4" sets before:
All together now, along with an extra set of jumbo wrenches and some other misc stuff:
James_B
Well-known member
Yes, I have considered the cut and shut of the blow moulded cases, but for some reason, they seem to like making cases these days that lay the sockets down, and the space there isn't much savings using those cases.
As I have a LASER cutter/engraver amongst my home tool arsenal (one big enough to do a full drawer insert for the drawers of my 26" wide by 18" deep cabinets), I am considering creating some custom drawer inserts and wrench holders that will maximimise my tool storage.
Since I joined this site, I have rapidly and greatly outgrown my craftsman roll cab/mid/top box setup. A couple weeks ago I ran across and bought a set of parts drawers similar to this for $30:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LYON-PARTS-CABINET-TOOLING-CABINET-STORAGE-CABINET-HARDWARE-CABINET-24-DRAWER-/181308306887
It's great for duplicates and rarely used tools. A little time with a label maker and I can find anything very quickly. It's surprising how much its has allowed me to clean out and organize my box.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LYON-PARTS-CABINET-TOOLING-CABINET-STORAGE-CABINET-HARDWARE-CABINET-24-DRAWER-/181308306887
It's great for duplicates and rarely used tools. A little time with a label maker and I can find anything very quickly. It's surprising how much its has allowed me to clean out and organize my box.
sberry
Banned
The top of an upper chest becomes an extra clutter catcher for me and I don't like looking down or want to climb stairs to look in. There are a couple drawers with specialty wrenches we use but most of that is extra duplicate sockets tossed out of the way.
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sberry
Banned
Doug B
Well-known member
When I read your posts,I read the punctuation as you write it. It sounds like a bad impersonation of William Shatner....
fatfillup
Well-known member
I went from a 26 triple stack and side to a double bay top and bottom (used) and am happy. I have a work bench right beside my box so work area isn't a problem.
As far as side boxes, if it matches the box, they are just fine.
I didn't see if you were interested in only new or used would be acceptable.
As far as side boxes, if it matches the box, they are just fine.
I didn't see if you were interested in only new or used would be acceptable.
Well I have made up my mind and am in the market for a triple or quad bay. Probably a triple because quads are few and far between. I will most likely buy a used one but if nothing turns up after a few weeks of looking I will just bite the bullet and talk to the drivers about what they can come up with new.