When I made my homemade sys ports ($30 ea!), I decided to keep the sides tight to the systainers. I didn't want to have sides on the drawers, which would leave a gap between the sides and the sustainers. Mostly, I was thinking about spiders in my shop..... [eek]
But this left it difficult to secure the sustainers on the drawers, which are mounted flush to the drawer slides. I thought about using the dowel between the feet approach, but thought that would be difficult to remove them. I also designed a cleat to be 3D printed, but since I don't have a printer of my own, it was going to cost $5/ea to have them done on shape ways.com, and that would add up pretty quick.
So I decided to make some simple 1/4" MDF retainers with cutouts for the front systainer feet to trap them in place. I started making these using a template routing jig, but I didn't have much success - it was too difficult to keep the template double taped to the workpiece.
About the time I got frustrated with that, I decided to start building my own CNC machine (for much better reasons!) and after I got proficient at the 3D CAD, I realized that I could design a totally custom fit recess for the systainer feet to lock into. A quick test run showed that the pocket came out very nice! I would love to have just cut the recesses into the drawer bottoms, but I used pocket screws and there was too great a risk of hitting them. (if I make more sys ports, I'll design around these so I can recess directly on the drawer).
So this weekend, I got around to making all the cleats for my T-LOCs (most of them). I still have to do 7 of the classics, which is a different design, but overall it came out great and I'm very happy with them.
Here is the design showing one side. Just a simple rectangle with radiused corners and 45 degree slopes on two sides to match the feet:
View attachment 1
Below is a video I made of the process.It's not quite up to par with Mr. Parfitts vids, but I did put it to music so you wouldn't have listen to the router run for 7 minutes straight.
CNC Systainer Cleats
But this left it difficult to secure the sustainers on the drawers, which are mounted flush to the drawer slides. I thought about using the dowel between the feet approach, but thought that would be difficult to remove them. I also designed a cleat to be 3D printed, but since I don't have a printer of my own, it was going to cost $5/ea to have them done on shape ways.com, and that would add up pretty quick.
So I decided to make some simple 1/4" MDF retainers with cutouts for the front systainer feet to trap them in place. I started making these using a template routing jig, but I didn't have much success - it was too difficult to keep the template double taped to the workpiece.
About the time I got frustrated with that, I decided to start building my own CNC machine (for much better reasons!) and after I got proficient at the 3D CAD, I realized that I could design a totally custom fit recess for the systainer feet to lock into. A quick test run showed that the pocket came out very nice! I would love to have just cut the recesses into the drawer bottoms, but I used pocket screws and there was too great a risk of hitting them. (if I make more sys ports, I'll design around these so I can recess directly on the drawer).
So this weekend, I got around to making all the cleats for my T-LOCs (most of them). I still have to do 7 of the classics, which is a different design, but overall it came out great and I'm very happy with them.
Here is the design showing one side. Just a simple rectangle with radiused corners and 45 degree slopes on two sides to match the feet:
View attachment 1
Below is a video I made of the process.It's not quite up to par with Mr. Parfitts vids, but I did put it to music so you wouldn't have listen to the router run for 7 minutes straight.
CNC Systainer Cleats
