My tool collection ever expands by the month, as is correct and normal - I have gotten by over the years on many different sizes and shapes of plastic boxes, mostly themed around each kind of tool/task (one for electronics, one for electrical, a separate one for cabling obviously, one for cars/bikes, one for decorating and building etc) and will probably continue in that vein when I need portability. But the main workshop/garage needs something a bit more substantial.
I am considering one of these trolleys with lots of drawers, there are many on the market, and I know you two will have researched this and bought the right thing. Please help. I need something roughly like this pictured, that is large, sturdy and isn't a zillion pounds.
It's good - but it's not the best. They're sturdy enough, but really just made of thin sheet metal. They hold my tools and the drawer bearings are nice, but they're not that big. I do wish I had paid more for the heavy duty ones (literally called Clarke HD), but they were significantly more expensive. My units have lasted a decade in a shed, so they're not bad, but they don't have that quality feel. I recommend them for the price - but if you have a larger budget, go for the pricier options. But you can't go wrong with Clarke/Machinemart.
I was also extremely impressed with the set Costco sell -
Every time I'm in there I wistfully open and close the drawers. They're very well built.
I would say the most important thing is to actually go look at them before you buy. Only you know what size/draw layout is right for you, and even with measuring I find it's hard to 'know' if it's going to work for your tools without eyeballing it, and obviously if you look at them in person you can see how well they're built.
In the end, it's just a metal box with drawers, I think unless you're buying the dodgy ebay ones that come with 'free tools' you'll be good.
>>2778 Oh lad - we're far too similar. I was in Costco THIS evening wistfully looking at SIX HUNDRED POUNDS worth of tool chest thinking, how can I squeeze this in the car and justify it to the missus. I literally went there to look at these because I remember they had them recently, but I thought they had slightly smaller / cheaper ones.
I have also found machinemart - brother tell me about that bottom cupboard - what is in there? I'm leaning toward something that is more ALL DRAWERS as I simply don't need another cupboard and I'm more of a BIG DRAWERS kind of guy.
Picture is entirely gratuitous, my apologies I couldn't help it.
I just have a fuckload of those naff little screwdrivers from when I used to work at Maplin.
And to think people turned me down when I had to flog them for a quid at the till. Your loss, smart arse, those little bastards are handy. I've got one in every room of the house I think.
My justification for when I eventually buy the Costco one is that it'll last me a lifetime - I'm sure your missus will roll her eyes at that, but then also nobody other than people like us actually know how much these tool chests cost - tell her it was a hundred quid, she'll believe it, and probably still be shocked at the price.
When I bought the Machinemart one, the cabinets were probably worth ever so slightly more than my entire tool collection - these days I have thousands of pounds worth of tools, plus a lot of stuff inherited from my grandad which is priceless to me - I feel like spending a little more (okay a lot fucking more) on a space to keep them organised and safe makes sense. But I haven't been able to take that plunge yet.
>brother tell me about that bottom cupboard
The bottom cupboard is where I keep my 'sometimes' tools that come in those black plastic cases - it's mostly air compressor tools, The Biggest Drill We Have, and the sort of quite specific tools I don't use very much like angle grinders etc. It's nice to keep them all in one place, and when I was working in a small shed was perfect - now I have a big garage with shelving units, it makes a little less sense, but still is probably more useful than another three shallow drawers, at least for my purposes. I think BIG DRAWERS is probably a more sensible way to go, just in terms of organisation and practicality. There's nothing my bottom cupboard does that a plastic tub couldn't also do.
I use the two units purely for my car tools now, having everything in a rolling cabinet I can take out into the yard is just really, really nice. But that Costco one really speaks to me.
Also, whatever you do, make sure you buy a label maker alongside your tool chest - preferably one of those old style manual ones that punches the letters in, but an electric one is fine too - if we are as similar as you claim, you will find nothing in this world more pleasurable than spending an evening organising and labelling your new tool drawers.
I don't work in healthcare but even a cursory glance at that and I can see the forms are in the wrong order. Why are the nightly checks so far down and so far away from the daily ones? Why are turn charts and bed rails not next to each other, and much further up as they're clearly used more frequently than, for example, the restraint forms?
This reminds me of when I started my most recent job and they had the daily equipment checks eight drawers lower than the weekly vehicle checks. Absolute psychopaths.
>>2781 >buy a label maker
Sort yourself out, you know me better than that. Picture is related.
>>2780 I am so sorry lad. Those little screwdrivers are useful, but you're not gonna need a tool chest for those. I wasn't expecting complete agreement, there are only three of us here after all.
I should have known. I bought an electric one recently, a Brother. It's fine, but I feel like it wastes a lot of label with blank space due to the design of it. You can do icons though, that's fun - now everyone knows my fusebox has dangerous electricity in it.
>>2786 >If I had to guess this is from an elderly or ICU ward. Grim stuff - that's a haunted filing cabinet if I ever did see one.
Better than one from the children's ward, you'd never get any work done without being interrupted by a ghostly "Now then, now then".
Oh - I completely forgot to mention, I was talking to one of my Car Friends the other day, he owns a Snap-On tool chest - it was something like three grand new. If that's not enough to make the Kirkland one seem reasonable, I don't know what is.
Please accept a disgusting picture of my chest in a sadly departed shed.
Now then (now then) - there is clearly something else at work with Snap-On as I have heard the same thing from Car People.
I know that they come round in a van and sell you it, like a super over-engineered Avon lady? Is it all on tick? Does it come with tools? Are they the Apple of tools/chests and have every single socket size known to man? Or were they simply the first in this market and everyone is trying to ape them and their beautiful Ferrari-red boxes?
There must be a reason and I can't fathom what it is.
This is my latest shed renovation - created a new internal skin on a rotten, rat-eaten piece of shit. I won't be working in it as I have a garage now, but I do intend to store stuff and sit and read my Kindle sometimes as its the warmest part of the garden. I also insulated the walls and ceiling, so I could sleep in it. Needs another coat of paint around the details but is almost done.
I think I should have made it a sauna tbh but pretty happy with how it turned out.
I still haven't worked it out. They're nice - really nice - but I can't say they feel any sturdier or smoother than the £600-1000 range of chests I've seen. They are bigger, they have a warranty (though god knows how that works here in the UK) but really I think the brand is the reason - you might be right in thinking that they're the Apple of tools, but more the current day Apple than the late 2000's Apple if you know what I mean.
As I understand it, their tools aren't particularly amazing, either, I've heard a lot of horror stories - though I've noticed our engineers at work all use Snap-on grease guns, no idea why. But if it's good enough for Britain's finest 737 engineers...
I don't think you'd have been welcome here anymore - that's just beyond the pale. A shed at least needs at least to be somewhere you could feasibly repair at a bicycle (at the minimum), no matter how plush it is.
I'm thinking about a summer house style shed now too, mind, as I also have migrated to the garage for work. There's also been thoughts of something big enough to be called a barn - I have a lot of car and bike plans, and a council that doesn't mind rubber stamping some planning permission.
I should also say that I've never in my life seen a professional car mechanic use Snap-on stuff, presumably it makes little economic sense even if they are hard wearing. So I was very surprised to see our engineers using them, even if it was out of the company budget.
I've bought various US-Pro stuff over the years, and it's been good. I partiucularly like the workbench - like this but all drawers rather than a cupboard. It's bastard heavy when fully loaded, mind. Only just fits through a regular door, so getting it into the house was tricky, and I'm not looking forward to moving it into my new mega-shed, but it's got to be done.
It's irrelevant since it's now ILLEGAL to go to Costco, but I noticed they're cheaper than they used to be. They're also listed as sold out on the website - does this mean they've stopped making them? If so I'm definitely going to have to panic buy a set.
>>2800 I saw they were down to one set at my local one when I went yesterday, but the price was still the same.
I opened and closed all the drawers approvingly. It's a shame, the bottom half of the set would suit me down to the ground, a bit like that pictured in >>2799
