! WARNING !
This post contains explicit images of Systainers being harmed!
You read this post at your own risk!
This post is to share a project I have been working on the last couple of days.
I currently store my hand tools in an old mobile drawer unit and a whole bunch of plastic containers. After discovering Systainers (and finding an adress where I can get them at a good price
) I am gradually moving all my tools (both electrical (non-Festool) and hand tools) to Systainers.Problem however is trying to fit the longer stuff like long drills, levels and hand saws. Some will not fit at all, others only fit diagonally but mess up the rest of the space.
So I came up with a cart holding two T-Loc Systainers 2 joined sideways with the two touching walls removed.
(Sorry for the grainy pictures; I didn't have access to the good camera for these two shots.)
The cart has 4 swiveling casters of which the front two can be locked and braked. The lids of the Systainers can be opened individually.
The depth of the cart is 4 cm larger then the depth of the Systainers so I can park the cart against a wall and still open the lids and it also helps to prevent the cart tipping over when a whole stack of other Systainers is added.
The cart is a torsion box made up from an 18mm sheet of poplar plywood on top, a 9mm bottom sheet and 9mm ribs in between:
Left: ribs glued to the top sheet.
Right: bottom sheet glued to ribs (in the top sheet the nuts for caster attachment are visible as well as the holes that I routed for the Systainer feet).
Next step was to remove the corners of the bottom sheet with a router and apply a coat of primer:
For those that will suffer from nightmares after witnessing Systainers being cut: this is the time to look away!
I cut the touching sides out of two Systainers size 2 with a jigsaw and then cleaned up the edges with a sharp knife:
Next I sanded the sides of both Systainers (what's left of it
), applied some two part epoxy glue and clamped them together overnight:
Then I cut some reinforcement strips from the two side panels that I removed earlier and glued those across the seem to both corner posts of the joined Systainers:
I then screwed the assembled Systainers to the cart and filled the gap in the bottom with knead-able two part epoxy.
(I found it more difficult to give it a smooth finish as I had hoped but it does what it's supposed to do; prevent tools to snag and crap to collect in the gap.)
I used small wood screws with washers to spread the load on the Systainer bottom and 4 long screws that go thru the hole in the front four corner posts of the Systainers.
I am very happy with the result.
My long tools have found their place in 'The System' and I can wheel around a whole stack of Systainers to wherever I need them!
Final addition to the cart will be an adjustable top shelf that will sit on a stack of Systainers at exactly the same height as the workbench that I will build so it can serve as support for cutting long pieces.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this long post and if you have any questions please shoot...
