I'm beginning to dislike systainers

[Bikeboy80]

Well just the fact of trying to find more space in my van for them!

I have been adding to my arsenal since I bought my first Festool in November of 2011. Unfortunately for my van just about all of the tools have not replaced others but added to them. It seems like every time I get everything set I pick up another tool and have to try to consolidate again! [blink] I've already gotten rid of most of my inserts and combined tools in systainers. RO90, ETS125, RAS115 in one. Planer, PC belt sander, trim router, multi tool in another. I've made up a divided systainer to fit paper for all three sanders. Tried to combine other hand tools into job specific systainers, all of which are packed fairly tight at this point. Everything is fairly tight in the van right now....until this week [crying]

Got a deal on a lightly used 1010 that I couldn't pass up and have a job that the customer changed their mind on size of crown I am installing and my current miter saw won't handle it so I bit the bullet and have a Kapex on it's way. [eek] So I have to find more room again, guess there are worse things right?! [tongue]

Those of you that have your Festool's mobile what are some things that you have done to make more room to fit your next purchase? Anything I'm missing?

 

[Alan m]

i bought a new van.
i hate putting multiply tools in one sys. i like them being seperate and i can bring only the ones i want.
i think it might be time to reconsider the other tools in the van and how they are stored

 

[NERemodeling]

This is obvious im sure and you may have already done this but all i can think of is going vertical, custom shelves up the walls of the van.  Maybe build the shelves so the systainers slide in the deep way ( would save you around 4" width on each bank of shelves. You could then fit 4 stacks in the place of 3 currently).   On another note,  do you happen to have a pic you could post of your custom abrasive systainer?
Hope this helped
John

 

[Bikeboy80]

i bought a new van.
i hate putting multiply tools in one sys. i like them being seperate and i can bring only the ones i want.
i think it might be time to reconsider the other tools in the van and how they are stored

That might happen in the next year or two but not right away unfortunately [tongue]

I don't mind combining tools as long as they make sense together. The sanders I almost always use more then one on a job and the same with using the planer and trim router together. It usually saves me a trip out when I realize I need the other one.

 

[Bikeboy80]

This is obvious im sure and you may have already done this but all i can think of is going vertical, custom shelves up the walls of the van.  Maybe build the shelves so the systainers slide in the deep way ( would save you around 4" width on each bank of shelves. You could then fit 4 stacks in the place of 3 currently).   On another note,  do you happen to have a pic you could post of your custom abrasive systainer?
Hope this helped
John

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I have just about maxed out the stock shelving units. They have actually worked quite well and each shelf can fit two systainers wide with only about an inch of space between them. But like you said they are the other way, Tlocs facing out and there is only maybe one inch of extra space front to rear. But the shelves are plastic with thick front and rear lips, using more plywood shelves may give the extra depth to turn the systainers.

I'll take some pictures tomorrow of what I have now, maybe that would help with ideas.

 

[NERemodeling]

Pics of your current setup would be helpful.    I think i u want to max out your storage, your gonna have to ditch your stock shelving and go purpose built custom plywood.    U will be amazed at how much more you can fit and how much easier it will be to find/replace all your tools.  Customers will love how organized it looks also.     
Thanks for the abrasive sys pic.  Looks great.  Is that a sys 2?

 

[Bikeboy80]

Yes it's a sys 2. The 5" & 4.5" abrasives fit perfect and the 3" and delta I put some foam in to make them easier to get out.

 

[Bikeboy80]

I did find one picture of the custom bulkhead I came up with to make a permanent home for my MFT, Slides in against the bulkhead. Raised it up off the floor so I can slide 12' lumber in.

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Edit: You can see I have gotten creative with space to store Zip poles and the plywood box at the top of the picture stores my TS rails.

I'll get pictures of the rest.

 

[Holzhacker]

I tend to organize my Sys based on work types. Since I don't do straight rehab anymore, more specialized type stuff it's easy. X task, X Sys stack; Y task, Y Sys stack.
When I was doing more straight rehab I would only take what was needed that day or two. Can't keep too much in the vehicle around here just in case.

 

[3PedalMINI]

Ive measured, remeasured and measured a 3rd time and unless im not forgetting a simple measurement I can custom build a rack with the same foot print as my adrian steel shelf that all my systainers are on +- 1" and get every single one on that side in there own cubbies (or drawers) + the sys 1 the C15 comes in. I know your busy but building your own shelfs are definitely the way to go to get the van under control. When i got my Nissan i got the bin package, now im wishing i had just went with the ladder rack and built my own shelving. the dividers and shelfs to make them actually efficient from adrian would be over a grand.

Now i just need to find the time to make my own shelfs to get MY van under control  [tongue]

 

[Bikeboy80]

The van is a little dirty but you get the idea...

The empty spot behind the driver seat is where my current miter saw goes, though I know the Kapex won't fit there.

On the Right side I was in progress of getting rid of the stock drawers.

In the last picture there is a spot further back on the driver side that a sys4 normally goes with caulk and glue(when it doesn't freeze at night)

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[festooltim]

I bought a bigger van I just couldn't cram anymore tools in the truck. So I went big, Sprinter van 14' bed 6' 4" ceiling. The downside is then you buy more Festools to fill it up. But what ever you have organization is key. And it is never ending.

 

[johninthecamper]

when I used to do tree work full time,it takes three trucks do do it right.instead of buy more tools, to get more jobs done, to make more money, to buy more tools.it was trucks.I was so jealous of the other contractors, who showed up with everything, all in one,and no extra drivers

 

[Tinker]

when I used to do tree work full time,it takes three trucks do do it right.instead of buy more tools, to get more jobs done, to make more money, to buy more tools.it was trucks.I was so jealous of the other contractors, who showed up with everything, all in one,and no extra drivers

John, I am a landscaper and slowly working my business into history.  Two years ago, my helper (at the time I was down from 6 or 7 a few years before) had gone back to Brazil and i was in process of hiring/firing newbys at rate of about one per week.  The last one i tied had been working with a tree company.  i had called his previous employer and found out he was trying to play the unemployment compensation game.  I had already decided to let him go before i had the liability.  He ended up saving me the problem as the next day, he did not show up and i never saw him again.  On this particular day, my "tree man" was taking down three trees on one of my yards.  The ground was soft but instead of driving across the lawn, or instead of dragging the brush and logs across the lawn (about 100 to 125 feet up hill) he was dragging by the winch that was part of his chipper.  He was working with one assistant but the job was going very efficiently and very quickly with no chance for injury when several large limbs were being fed into the chipper all at once. The two men were standing, as the winch was doing the feeding, well away from spreading limbs so there was no chance for either of  them to get caught and to become fodder for the machine.

As we arrived to check the job, my newest soon to be gone, employee looked at the operation and his first words to me were, "You can tell that guy is no tree man."  It seems his problem with my friend was the winch.  "Any self respecting tree man would not use such rediculous equipment."

Oh well, when my friend was finished with the job, i was left with NO cleanup AND NO LAWN REPAIR. My friend and his helper were hardly sweating and they ended up taking care of another job that evening for me.  I doubt they could have done anything after dragging those trees by hand.  His equipment is sort of akin to contractors buying Festoys.  Very usefull and very efficient.
Tinker

 

[johninthecamper]

I tried to start the "cub scout" in weed abatement season, if they made it threw that, they were worth teaching arborculture. five to ten guys( some women) every year.almost every single person I knew,worked for me at one time or another,including my father.labor issues don't miss them at all

 

[NERemodeling]

Hey Bikeboy    thanks good pics of the van setup.    i havent gotten to study them but it does look like there is some wasted space that could be utilized by dtiching the stock shelves and building you own out of plywood.    i would make both sides aprox 16" deep instead of 12" so you could fit the systainers in rotated 90 degrees from what they are now saving you on the width.  i would just tell you to plan plan plan.  make a list of everything that needs to go in there, try to group them near like tools, sketch it out on graph paper or sketchup, measure 10 times (its alot easier to change the layout on paper than with wood). you will no doubt make adjustments as you go but no matter what you will have a much better system than you have now.    there are alot of great setups out there if you do some searching. look at the ron paulik ultimate mobile workshop (i think thats what it is called) 

quite honestly it is a time and money investment but it will really pay off in the long run with efficiency.  im sure you could pop those old shelves on craigslist and make a few bucks anyway

im in a similar boat as you, it seems that you do a little of everything therefore need all sorts of tools with you at all times.  do you use your ct36ac and your planex all the time or are those items that could be stored at home and then brought in when needed??  think about that for all your tools

another benifit of rebuilding is your kapex will fit!  gotta get that in there!!!!    i'm jealous

John

 

[Bikeboy80]

Ugh, it is so tough thinking about building from scratch. It took me a good bit of time just to do the bulkhead.

I agree, it is tough being able to do a bit of everything on jobs, all the different sets of tools.

I'd say I'm using the Planex on 60% of my jobs since I got it and the 36AC even more. In fact while running crown moulding today, I tried to only bring my Mini in and after a few times of switching out hoses (between the Kapex and Ras), I brought in the 36. Seems like I am using more then one Festool per task more and more, so having more then one DC really helps.

As a temporary solution for now I figured out the mini fits where I had my miter saw. Then if I set the Kapex on the floor facing towards the bulkhead I can actually slide it forward enough to fit 8' lumber and sheet goods in. It my just have to stay that way until I can get to trying to do something custom.

 

[NERemodeling]

Ugh, it is so tough thinking about building from scratch. It took me a good bit of time just to do the bulkhead.

I agree, it is tough being able to do a bit of everything on jobs, all the different sets of tools.

I'd say I'm using the Planex on 60% of my jobs since I got it and the 36AC even more. In fact while running crown moulding today, I tried to only bring my Mini in and after a few times of switching out hoses (between the Kapex and Ras), I brought in the 36. Seems like I am using more then one Festool per task more and more, so having more then one DC really helps.

As a temporary solution for now I figured out the mini fits where I had my miter saw. Then if I set the Kapex on the floor facing towards the bulkhead I can actually slide it forward enough to fit 8' lumber and sheet goods in. It my just have to stay that way until I can get to trying to do something custom.

i hear you, it does take a good bit to time to do it right but the reward of more organization and less time searching for tools will be worth it, not to mention being able to have all the tools you need with you. 

if you can try to take a few days between jobs, do the planning before hand at night and then bust it out.  you might even try to blend the days off into a weekend to get more time.

the setup you have now seems quite nice,  maybe you just spend some serious time rearranging what you have to fit better, maybe even a few custom plywood boxes to contain loose items like your cordless stuff so its not so spread out (or of course more systainers  [big grin] )  just visualize every empty space no matter how big and brainstorm how you can fill it

do you ever have a passanger with you?  could you use the front at all for storage?

good luck with whatever you come up with.    make sure to post after pics if you get around to doing something new

another sidenote;  what are your thoughts on the size of the 36 for on site work?  i always thought i should go 36 but recently i have heard some good arguments for the 26  (36 being too big).  i am a remodeling contractor and would want to use it 99% of the time (all but the worst demo)  that would mean up and down stairs, in and out of finished homes and in and out of the trailer.    thanks

John

 

[Bikeboy80]

Having a two year old at home negates me from using weekends to do it! [tongue]

Seems like the layout of my racking is not too bad compared to some of the systems I've seen. I will probably work with the uprights as they are now, there isn't too much waisted space width wise. I had a couple empty sustainers arrive today, I will probably order a few more to get more things to a uniform size.

As for using the front seat...see answer #1 [wink] Though I may plan a systainer or two to sit on the floor under his feet.

I had a bit of time this afternoon so I started moving a few things around, but mostly standing there staring at everything.

If it weren't for the Planex I would probably go with the 26. The 36 is not all that bad to move around but taking it up stairs is not something I would want to do everyday, especially for smaller jobs, that's why I got the Mini. I guess it really is not bad if the bag is empty but when it gets about half full it gets a little cumbersome. I don't think you'll miss the few gallons of extra capacity. I have been using the 36 since the end of November and am on my 5th bag, that was using it on a weekly basis for doing general clean up(the real heavy demo clean up we are still using the Ridgid) and 3 of the bags were filled with textured ceiling from the Planex.

 

[skids]

If the purchase of that Kapex is making you feel financially vulnerable and want to sell that 1010, let me know.