Show your systainer

[Coen]

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Well, it is not a Systainer but I guess you could very well do the same in a Sys³ Organizer L, the M size being too small I guess, but I'm waiting for someone else to try it, hehe. My drills are all Bosch too (except a TDK 15.6 ..) so this is more likely to connect to other boxes going on that job anyway.

This is a Bosch G4 L-Boxx 102 with small boxes and lid foam (the whole bottom is ever so slightly ribbed by default so that bins cant move sideways, so no inlay required!). I got this as a promotional deal after buying a Bosch 18V tool for about 220 euros.

It holds all sizes Fischer DuoPower (9), DuoBlade (1), DuoTec (2) and DuoSeal (2) plugs with associated screws and bolts. The empty areas are for the panhead screws for the 5x25, 6x30, 6x50, 8x40 and 8x65, they are currently elsewhere.

The DIY dividers in some bins are solid smooth cardboard and was previously pyjama packaging.
I might change things around a bit, but so far it looks pretty good. The weight balance is also surprisingly well, with the absence of the panhead screws the center if gravity is now slightly to the rear, which is good anyway in combination with the front handle.

I guess this marks the end of buying plugs based on 'cause I need this different size xxy now'.

99% of walls here are brick, concrete, limestone or aerated concrete so I don't stock the huge drywall anchors. For aerated concrete the 6x50 plugs actually hold more than the 8x40 ones.

Wallplugs supplied with furniture are usually junk, so I tend to throw those away in favor of the Duopower plugs.

 

[semenza]

Good info on Fischer wall anchors.

                  Topic is now here ---->  Fischer wall anchors

Seth

 

[gwendal]

Systainer for Bosch angle grinder.

The inserts are made of 2'' and 1'' cross-linked polyethylene 4LB foam, with a holder for the disks.
The ginder has a plugit connector.

 

[hdv]

I was tired of always having to search all over the place for the right bit and didn't want something fixed to a wall. So I made 3 systainers for my router bits. Just a few bits of ply shaped so that they would fit, a few strips of plastic for easy affixing labels, and a number of plastic bushings in different sizes CMT make for their router bit organizer (https://www.cmtorangetools.com/eu-en/systems-and-accessories/organizer). Those bushings fit perfectly in holes made with a 22 mm Forstner drill bit. I am quite happy with this solution. It is uncluttered, flexible, and easily accessible. Maybe not the most efficient with space, but I purposely made the gaps between the bits a bit larger so that I can grab a bit without cutting my fingers.

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[Crazyraceguy]

[member=66485]hdv[/member] I really like that. The attention to detail of adding the labels, with dimensions and even item numbers, is incredible. Are they really all CMT? Is that a serious preference for you? or just best/yet easiest to get kind of thing?
Mine are a bit haphazard. Many of them are Amana (all of the insert type are) but quite a few are Whiteside too. There are a few "for one particular project" cheap ones in the mix also.
Because of my over-the-top router situation and having bits setup in each of them, this is kind of the overflow/backup and specialty stuff. The Systainer has all 1/4" and 1/2" shank bits and the drawer of shame houses the 8mm. I really need to make something similar to what you have there for them. Most of my 8mm come from Lee Valley and they all have a plastic bushing mounting thing in the package. Even if I don't go the whole Systainer direction, I could make a drawer insert and use them.
Thanks for the inspiration.

 

[cpw]

I dont' have a systainer, but use a SYS-AZ drawer for my bits and router accessories with half of it piece of plywood (nothing for labels, just a pencil on the wood) and the Rockler inserts.  It definitely makes it much neater than a pile of Whiteside bags.
https://www.rockler.com/rockler-rou...FmHjlgF8YoZTUAJFXyma75rIDMSyOvZRoCKrAQAvD_BwE

 

[hdv]

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] : not all of them are CMT, but most of them are. I do have quite some Festool bits as well. Apart from those 2 brands I have some individual bits from LMT Onsrud, RvS, and ENT.

That ugly green thing in the photo is some no-name large radius concave bit I bought from Amazon for a specific job. I found that such bits are quite hard to come by here in Europe. Ah well, it did the job it was bought for. CMT does have that type of bit on your side of the pond, but I couldn't get it here.

All in all I do like CMT. For what I do the price-performance ratio is good. And they do have a broad range of bits. The Onsruds were bought because I needed empirical sizes and Amana / Whiteside were too hard to get at the time. If I can't get CMT for what I need, my first alternative usually is ENT.

The labels were added so I could easily pick the bit I need. I chose to put them on plastic strips, because that makes it easy to tear them of and put them in another place. The lid has a sheet of paper in a transparent sleeve with more detailed information for each bit. The product codes were added to make it easy to order a replacement when necessary.

If you decide to make something like this I can recommend to use a thin piece of CNC-ed ply for the bottom. On top of that I used strips of plywood that are 18 mm thick and 50 mm wide. The holes have a 22 mm diameter with a 40 mm spacing between the centers. I used 18 mm ply because the plastic bushings are 15 mm high. CMT have them in all the usual empirical and metric sizes.

The reason I recommend strips of ply instead of just one large piece is because it makes it a lot more flexible. I use double-sided tape that is not too strong so that I can take out or rearrange strips when the need arises.

 

[4nthony]

[member=66485]hdv[/member] I really like that. The attention to detail of adding the labels, with dimensions and even item numbers, is incredible.
...
Thanks for the inspiration.

I agree with CRG...your bit systainer looks really great. I think I've found inspiration for my weekend side project. [cool]

 

[peacefulandpatriotically]

[member=66485]hdv[/member] I really like that. The attention to detail of adding the labels, with dimensions and even item numbers, is incredible. Are they really all CMT? Is that a serious preference for you? or just best/yet easiest to get kind of thing?
Mine are a bit haphazard. Many of them are Amana (all of the insert type are) but quite a few are Whiteside too. There are a few "for one particular project" cheap ones in the mix also.
Because of my over-the-top router situation and having bits setup in each of them, this is kind of the overflow/backup and specialty stuff. The Systainer has all 1/4" and 1/2" shank bits and the drawer of shame houses the 8mm. I really need to make something similar to what you have there for them. Most of my 8mm come from Lee Valley and they all have a plastic bushing mounting thing in the package. Even if I don't go the whole Systainer direction, I could make a drawer insert and use them.
Thanks for the inspiration.

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] how do you like those amana insert type bits? I've been looking into that style of cutter as it would seem to offer a great benefit of replaceable knives ensuring easy maintenance for best performance.  Which types of cutters do you use with replaceable inserts?

 

[hdv]

[member=75283]4nthony[/member] : maybe this is useful to you for your weekend project.  I did not drill holes in the ply wherein I could insert the bits directly. Using the plastic bushings fixed 2 issues for me. First, this way I could drill uniformly sized holes and rearrange the bits as needed. And second, if you are in an environment where moisture levels are high, then having wood and steel in direct contact for a longer time might not be a good idea if you want to reduce the risk of corrosion on the shanks of the bits.

 

[hdv]

I have Festool bits with replaceable knives (e.g. 491082) and think they are great for material that is very hard on your bits. However, I tend to use them more on the heads for my shaper. Especially when I need custom profiles.

 

[Cheese]

All in all I do like CMT. For what I do the price-performance ratio is good. And they do have a broad range of bits. The Onsruds were bought because I needed empirical sizes and Amana / Whiteside were too hard to get at the time. If I can't get CMT for what I need, my first alternative usually is ENT.

The labels were added so I could easily pick the bit I need. I chose to put them on plastic strips, because that makes it easy to tear them of and put them in another place. The lid has a sheet of paper in a transparent sleeve with more detailed information for each bit. The product codes were added to make it easy to order a replacement when necessary.

Nice job...that's yes vote #3.  [thumbs up]  I have the original Festool router bit Systainer with the foam inserts and after some time the bits are very difficult to remove because the foam grabs them so tightly. It's far easier to remove them if you rotate the bit first and then pull it out. I may have to follow your example.  [big grin]

How do you secure the plastic to the ply?

I'm also a very big fan of CMT router bits and have more than my share although in recent years the Whiteside and Amana bits have become more popular as have the recent Woodpeckers carbide spiral bits.

 

[Coen]

I like the CMT bits too, but they are somewhat hard to find. It doesn't help that they use dots in their product number.

 

[hdv]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] : the plastic bushings fit nice and tight in a hole made with a 22 mm Forstner bit. I need to use a bit of force to press them home. No need to glue them. They will stay put if you take out a bit with a twisting motion. I have had it happen a few times that I pulled out the bushing if I did not twist the bit. No problem there. It is easy enough to put it back in.. My Forstner is from  Famag, but I suspect 22 mm is 22 mm.

Or did you mean the strips whereon I stick the labels? Those were fixed with LLPT double-sided tape for woodworking. But other brands will likely be good enough. It is the same tape I use to fix the plywood strips to the bottom inlay. But for that I held the tape against a piece of cloth first. Takes makes them stick with less force and allows me to lift an individual strip out of the systainer if I want to. The labels are standard 19 and 12 mm Dymo labels.

[member=8955]Coen[/member] : take a look athttps://www.mobiltecnica.com/en In most cases they are the cheapest and they are dependable. They certainly are cheaper than Borenco or ToolNation. In my experience orders are delivered in a few days. Up to now I am a happy customer of theirs.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] : not all of them are CMT, but most of them are. I do have quite some Festool bits as well. Apart from those 2 brands I have some individual bits from LMT Onsrud, RvS, and ENT.

That ugly green thing in the photo is some no-name large radius concave bit I bought from Amazon for a specific job. I found that such bits are quite hard to come by here in Europe. Ah well, it did the job it was bought for. CMT does have that type of bit on your side of the pond, but I couldn't get it here.

Aren't CMT bits made in Italy? and there are bits we can get in NA but you can't in Europe? How does that work?

The inserts can be a bit hit or miss. The Lee Valley ones are nice, the slide well, but the ones I have in a Freud box-set are horrible. A year or so ago I got a set of round-over bits with 1/2" shanks, but the box is just a disaster. They are all mounted to a pivoting block, but it has a limit stop which only allows a very minimal travel, so they are awkward to grip in the first place. Then the inserts are so tight that the bits are nearly impossible to remove.

My Systainer is not the official Festool offering, since it's a SYS1. Those Amana insert bits are 50mm cut length, so they wouldn't fit. I bought a foam insert an empty SYS2 to gain the vertical space.
The foam is nice, it holds well, but is not tight at all. However, I don't want to force 8mm shanks into them. It might work, but I'm not doing it.

I like the CMT bits too, but they are somewhat hard to find. It doesn't help that they use dots in their product number.

Does that make them harder to search for? Hafele does it too, as well as Blum.

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] how do you like those amana insert type bits? I've been looking into that style of cutter as it would seem to offer a great benefit of replaceable knives ensuring easy maintenance for best performance.  Which types of cutters do you use with replaceable inserts?

The ones I have are both lengths of the Flush-trim and Pattern (top bearing and bottom bearing)
They are sold as 30mm and 50mm cut length. I keep each of the 30mm ones one a Milwaukee 5615 router and they rarely ever change. That was sort of the genesis of my dedicated router to bit problem. I need the 50mm once in a while, but I'm not comfortable with leaving them in all the time. IMHO, a bit sticking out that far (unnecessarily) just causes problems. Clearence is one, safety is another, and why wear-out half of the insert if you aren't using it all? I use the long ones when needed, and right back in the box they go.
I like them for most of what I do. Plywood, particleboard, MDF (sheet goods in general) and solid surface are all good candidates. "Real" wood though, is not so straight-forward. They are straight-knife, so you have to be mindful of grain direction. As long as you can cut down-hill, they are great and that is primarily why I have both top and bottom bearing models. But some things that I do are awfully big to turn over to get the template on the other side. That's why I have that compression double-bearing bit in there too. It is not always long enough though.
They are the only ones I have at this point, but I am thinking about getting into some 1/4" shank ones for the Shaper Origin.

 

[hdv]

Aren't CMT bits made in Italy? and there are bits we can get in NA but you can't in Europe? How does that work?

Yeah, they originally are from Italy. But they do have a factory in the US too (a.o.). I think it is in Noth Carolina? When you compare the US and the EU catalogues you'll see there are differences. I presume they must have thought "Well, if we must adapt our machining for shank sizes, then why not adapt our program to popular bits over there as well?".

The inserts can be a bit hit or miss.

I have noticed that some bushings can be a bit tight. Sometimes I even pull one out of the ply. But I have never had one that couldn't be easily pulled from a shank by hand. What helps is to use a bit of sanding paper to rough up the outside of the plastic ring. That often is enough to fix the "problem" of pulling the bushings out of the ply. And I have had cases where I didn't want to buy a set of bushings just for one or two bits. When that happens I widen the core from either 6 mm to 1/4" or 12 mm to 1/2" with a sharp drill bit. I just put the bushing in a handscrew (do not overtighten, otherwise the plastic will deform) and resize the hole for the router bit on the drill press. Works like a charm. This plastic is very cooperative when it comes to machining it.

 

[Cheese]

Aren't CMT bits made in Italy? and there are bits we can get in NA but you can't in Europe? How does that work?

Here's the 2020 CMT catalog for the offerings in Europe. Notice the solid carbide bits on page 146, shank diameters of 6 mm, 8 mm & 12 mm along with 1/4" & 1/2"offerings.

Another interesting thing not common in the US is that the cutter diameter is not always the same as the shank diameter. This has been the case with CMT since at least 2014. I always thought it would behoove CMT to offer some of these metric cutters in the US...I've been wishing for over 9 years now.  [sad]
https://www.cmtorangetools.com/downloads/6712/693/03.60.3002_CAT_IT_2020.pdf

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Me too Cheese. It's not like some of us are capable of using metric dimensions and would like to purchase bits that go along with it. They may not sell a ton of them, but they will sell.

 

[hdv]

Are there specific bits you need? I might be able help out, if you want me to. I have done so before in past for other members of this forum.

 

[peacefulandpatriotically]

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] how do you like those amana insert type bits? I've been looking into that style of cutter as it would seem to offer a great benefit of replaceable knives ensuring easy maintenance for best performance.  Which types of cutters do you use with replaceable inserts?

The ones I have are both lengths of the Flush-trim and Pattern (top bearing and bottom bearing)
They are sold as 30mm and 50mm cut length. I keep each of the 30mm ones one a Milwaukee 5615 router and they rarely ever change. That was sort of the genesis of my dedicated router to bit problem. I need the 50mm once in a while, but I'm not comfortable with leaving them in all the time. IMHO, a bit sticking out that far (unnecessarily) just causes problems. Clearence is one, safety is another, and why wear-out half of the insert if you aren't using it all? I use the long ones when needed, and right back in the box they go.
I like them for most of what I do. Plywood, particleboard, MDF (sheet goods in general) and solid surface are all good candidates. "Real" wood though, is not so straight-forward. They are straight-knife, so you have to be mindful of grain direction. As long as you can cut down-hill, they are great and that is primarily why I have both top and bottom bearing models. But some things that I do are awfully big to turn over to get the template on the other side. That's why I have that compression double-bearing bit in there too. It is not always long enough though.
They are the only ones I have at this point, but I am thinking about getting into some 1/4" shank ones for the Shaper Origin.

thanks for your response, I appreciate it