Bott Full Extension Systainer Drawers Vs. Festool Sy-AZ Drawers

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edwarmr

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Feb 21, 2019
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I have seen Bott Systainer drawers in various photos and they look really nice and superior in many ways to the Sys-AZ drawers.

[attachimg=1]

I wanted to see what everyone else thinks. The benefits of the Bott drawers I see are the following:

1.) The Bott full extension Systainer drawers fit in the same width cabinet that fits Systainers with the normal Bott rails (see photo below). On the other hand, when combining Sys-AZ drawers and Bott rails in a homemade Sys-Port you need to shim the Bott rails to be the same width as the Sys-AZ drawers.

[attachimg=2]

2.) A Sortainer can be placed in the Bott drawer and all the drawers can be opened without adding a piece of plywood below the Systainer to raise it. The Sys-AZ drawers on the other hand are so deep they require a plywood spacer to open a Sortainer drawer so it can get passed the lip (I realize in the picture below it is the Mini Rack Sortainer but the drawers of the other Sortainers would start in the same spot). Although the Bott drawers don’t have a slot for a Systainer label/PVC card they are low profile enough that the label on the front of the Systainer would be easily visible.

[attachimg=3]

3.) The drawers come in both M and L sizes.

[attachimg=4]

Despite being able to see these drawers in many Bott photos I cannot for my life find them listed in their catalogue (they aren’t in the US or German catalogues that I have seen). Why are these drawers seemingly so secret? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since Bott had made the rails alone so difficult to get for those of you in Europe (I don’t think I even saw the regular rails in the German catalogue). But they would be a perfect solution for drawers when making Sys-Ports in combination with Bott rails. Do any of you in Europe know more about these drawers?

Thanks in advance! 😊 I also sent an email to [member=68900]Systainer.Store[/member] and Tim is going to look into it. He is always so helpful.

Michael
 

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edwarmr said:
..
2.) A Sortainer can be placed in the Bott drawer and all the drawers can be opened without adding a piece of plywood below the Systainer to raise it. The Sys-AZ drawers on the other hand are so deep they require a plywood spacer to open a Sortainer drawer so it can get passed the lip (I realize in the picture below it is the Mini Rack Sortainer but the drawers of the other Sortainers would start in the same spot). Although the Bott drawers don’t have a slot for a Systainer label/PVC card they are low profile enough that the label on the front of the Systainer would be easily visible.
...
Click to expand...
Not really comparable. The botton of SYS-AZ is very thin, it adds only few millimeters to the systainer height. The drawers almost do not "consume" vertical space.

The Bott one seems to have a pretty thick bottom, guessing it is to make it more universal. In a shop setting, plywood board with full-extension slides on the sides seems preferable to me.

ADD:
Also, SYS-AZ is not rated for vehicles while the Bott one definitely is. So +1 for Bott there.

Would be nice to have options, though do not see the Bott drawers /at an expected high price/ to be all that enticing outside vehicle use.
 
mino said:
edwarmr said:
..
2.) A Sortainer can be placed in the Bott drawer and all the drawers can be opened without adding a piece of plywood below the Systainer to raise it. The Sys-AZ drawers on the other hand are so deep they require a plywood spacer to open a Sortainer drawer so it can get passed the lip (I realize in the picture below it is the Mini Rack Sortainer but the drawers of the other Sortainers would start in the same spot). Although the Bott drawers don’t have a slot for a Systainer label/PVC card they are low profile enough that the label on the front of the Systainer would be easily visible.
...
Click to expand...
Not really comparable. The botton of SYS-AZ is very thin, it adds only few millimeters to the systainer height. The drawers almost do not "consume" vertical space.

The Bott one seems to have a pretty thick bottom, guessing it is to make it more universal. In a shop setting, plywood board with full-extension slides on the sides seems preferable to me.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response 😃 I get what you’re saying but even if it takes up a little more vertical space I personally would rather have a drawer that didn’t require a 3/4” plywood spacer to allow me to access my bottom Sortainer drawer. Just my personal preference. I also just like the professional look of the Bott drawers vs. building my own. I’m sure they would be mighty spendy 😬 but worth it for me.

[attachimg=1][attachimg=2][attachimg=3]

The old Sys Port 1000s had a drawer design that didn’t interfere with Sortainer drawers so I don’t know why Festool didn’t do something similar with the Sys-AZ drawer. They just needed to lower the front lip and eliminate the card slot which is already on the individual Systainers. I suppose they would have to eliminate or redesign the drawer lock if they did that though. I’ve tried putting the new Sys 3 Org Systainers in Sys-AZ drawers and I can barely turn the T-Loc latch because of how short the Systainer is and how tall the Sys-AZ drawer lip is.
 

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The Sys-AZ drawers can also be used with a grid piece that holds the containers that go into the Sortainers, so the card slot is intended for those types of uses.

I personally have all of my Sortainers on either Sys-Rolls or Sys-Carts and stacked on each other.  One stack of classics and one of the T-Loc generation.  The only Systainer I have with a drawer that is also in a Sys-AZ drawer is a single Sys-Combi for my RTSC.
 
For me the biggest benefit of the Bott drawers would be that you can combine them with the Systainer rails in the same cabinet or Sys-Port. Since Festool is supposed to work well as a system it’s just so bizarre that when Tanos worked on the Systainer rails they didn’t make them slightly thicker at the very least so they share the same width as the Sys-AZ drawer.
 
I think that is a question for Bott, want me to call them on Monday and find out?

Although, honestly, I'm 99.9% sure I know what the answer is. These won't be for sale separately/ outside their crash tested and certified car racking modules. And since you don't necessarily need locking drawers in a shop environment, they won't be in that catalog either. (I did look however, nothing.)

Maybe a dealer/ van racking fitter can order these as repair/ spare parts - since I guess they could break in the life of a professional user.

But that would be to answer for someone selling Bott van racking & fitting them. I could call such company as well on Monday.

And the next issue, if these were obtainable, It could be that they have a "proprietary" interface to fix them inside the modules. (The slides for the drawers in my workbench which I got from an industrial supplier, are such an example. Not that they couldn't be modified if that is the case, but just another obstacle.)

But again, I gladly find out for you, directly from Bott. :)

Kind regards,
Oliver
 
six-point socket II said:
I think that is a question for Bott, want me to call them on Monday and find out?

Although, honestly, I'm 99.9% sure I know what the answer is. These won't be for sale separately/ outside their crash tested and certified car racking modules. And since you don't necessarily need locking drawers in a shop environment, they won't be in that catalog either. (I did look however, nothing.)

Maybe a dealer/ van racking fitter can order these as repair/ spare parts - since I guess they could break in the life of a professional user.

But that would be to answer for someone selling Bott van racking & fitting them. I could call such company as well on Monday.

And the next issue, if these were obtainable, It could be that they have a "proprietary" interface to fix them inside the modules. (The slides for the drawers in my workbench which I got from an industrial supplier, are such an example. Not that they couldn't be modified if that is the case, but just another obstacle.)

But again, I gladly find out for you, directly from Bott. :)

Kind regards,
Oliver
Click to expand...

[member=61712]six-point socket II[/member]

Wow, that is super kind of you Oliver! If you would be willing to do that I would really appreciate it 😃 Thanks so much!

You may be right about a proprietary way to mount them. I am also 99.9% sure they won’t sell them separately 😬 It is interesting though how many pictures of those drawers I have seen online and yet they are listed nowhere in Bott’s catalogues. It would be really nice if Tanos/Festool came up with a solution like this to make rails and drawers work together. Maybe a Sys³-AZ Drawer 😁

Thanks again!
 
edwarmr.
Why would you put a sortainer in a sys drawer or a Bot drawer? Why not just put in a couple of spacers and a small lip at the front.
They are after all drawers already and there is not top cover you need to open.
 
ackmartin said:
edwarmr.
Why would you put a sortainer in a sys drawer or a Bot drawer? Why not just put in a couple of spacers and a small lip at the front.
They are after all drawers already and there is not top cover you need to open.
Click to expand...

[member=81463]ackmartin[/member]

Good question. The initial thought on all of this is I wanted to be able to lock all my Systainer drawers in case someone broke into the garage. The Sys-AZ drawers allow the addition of a lock.

You’re right that since they are drawers themselves you don’t really need to put a drawer in a drawer 😁

The other part is purely appearances. I am admittedly obsessive with that. I like the idea of having everything stored the same way with official Festool drawers… OCD… I know, ridiculous 😬

 
I'm noticing another potentially superior feature of the Bott ones versus the Festool AZ drawers... having a thick bottom and no sides means that it might be possible to mount a larger width systainer to the top of the plate and let it hang off of the sides (similar to a Systainer XXL on the new SYS-RB rolling base). Not particularly helpful in a van-racking situation, but I've been eyeing up how to possibly make an MW-1000 type of cart with cantilevered drawers that accepts the L and XXL sizes. This could be the ticket if it were available and latched onto the Systainers, though it appears that they might just kind of sit in the drawer loose instead of being latched into the front clip.
 
This is a good conversation.  Thank you [member=70011]edwarmr[/member] for starting it.

The drawer you are referencing from Bott is from their vario3 line up.  If I'm not mistaken Bott has three different kind of fitouts for vans.  Vario3, Module3 and the third is escaping me.  The item is called the Vario3 Service Case Sliding Shelf. 

In the USA Systainer Systems sells the Module3 lineup of products.  Unfortunately this sliding shelf, I'm told, isn't compatiable with the Module3 and at the moment isn't available in the USA. 

I think the points of height and accessibility are valid.  It would be nice to see an evolution in the SYS-AZ or another drawer option for fitouts in the workshop.
 
[member=68900]Systainer.Store[/member]

Thanks for looking into this! You are awesome Tim! Hopefully in the future they will become available. Maybe this discussion will help set things in motion with Systainer Systems North America 😁

[member=61712]six-point socket II[/member]

Thank you so much for all your help looking into the details of this system! You are awesome as well Oliver 😃
 
nvalinski said:
I'm noticing another potentially superior feature of the Bott ones versus the Festool AZ drawers... having a thick bottom and no sides means that it might be possible to mount a larger width systainer to the top of the plate and let it hang off of the sides (similar to a Systainer XXL on the new SYS-RB rolling base). Not particularly helpful in a van-racking situation, but I've been eyeing up how to possibly make an MW-1000 type of cart with cantilevered drawers that accepts the L and XXL sizes. This could be the ticket if it were available and latched onto the Systainers, though it appears that they might just kind of sit in the drawer loose instead of being latched into the front clip.
Click to expand...

[member=67061]nvalinski[/member]

It appears the drawers do have sides, they are just much lower than Sys-AZ drawers. See the photos below of what the drawers look like in 3D imaging. This should help you see if they will work for what you were thinking.

The photos also confirm these drawers are the exact same width that is required for a cabinet using Bott Systainer rails.

[attachimg=1][attachimg=2]

 

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It would be nice if they could all line up. I’m planning a rolling tool cart that will have a Sortainer on the bottom. Then one or two Sys AZ drawers and then Sys3 rails at the top.
I want it to be as light as possible so thats why I’m only going to use 1 or 2 sys AZ drawers.
I’ll put fillers in the Bottom to hold the sortainer and I’ll have to put spacers behind the Sys3 rails.
The Bott drawers and the Sys AZ drawers have made different trade offs. in the Sys AZ drawers you don’t use up almost any height by putting the drawer slides on the sides but in the Bott drawers they tucked the mechanism under the drawers instead creating a dead space underneath.
For my application it will be nice not to use up any height as I want as much space as possible under a 900 mm worktop.
I get wanting it to all work out a little neater but life is full of compromises!!
To me the Sys AZ drawers are the best for my use as you can pull them open and access the contents without have to take it out. The only downsides being weight and cost.
 
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