Still working on ideas for the tool tote/chest that I am going to make.
It will have drawers in the bottom section and a bin and maybe a tray
up top. The box will sit on the counter most of the time but needs to
be portable.

My first attempts at designing a door to keep the drawers closed were
no good but I was thinking of the door being above the drawers and
needing a slot to slide into. Checking out some hardware showed me a
better way would be to have the door slide in under the bottom drawer.
Anyone have experience with this hardware or something similar?
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?O...Select=Details
I would need two since this 'portable' box will probably end up
being around 30" wide.

Or I could have no door and use a gang lock to hold the drawers closed.
The hardware from Rockler says it only needs a 5/32 groove, great!
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?O...Select=Details
I wouldn't need to install the drawer clips; I could have the pins go
into slots cut into the slides when unlocked and into slots in the
drawer sides when locked. The drawers and slides will be similar to
these
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home...16.html?page=1
Difference being I will have two drawers per row so would need two of
the above locks. Even better would be if I could figure out a way to
spring load them open and allow the lid to close them.

I would like to hear from anyone who has tried either of these pieces
of hardware, has helpful suggestions, or just wants to ridicule me.

RayV wrote:
Still working on ideas for the tool tote/chest that I am going to make.
It will have drawers in the bottom section and a bin and maybe a tray
up top. The box will sit on the counter most of the time but needs to
be portable.

My first attempts at designing a door to keep the drawers closed were
no good but I was thinking of the door being above the drawers and
needing a slot to slide into. Checking out some hardware showed me a
better way would be to have the door slide in under the bottom drawer.
....

No experience w/ any of the indicated products, but have done two over
the years...

Unless it's to be an elegant piece, the first one I ever made that I
still use 30 yrs later simply had an added brass ring on a swivel
mounted on the bottom of the tray front support rail and a matching
hole w/ brass insert in the bottom. A rod simply dropped through the
ring and into the hole...

Second for a friend was nice walnut chest...for it I simply routed a
groove for the door hinge pins and the front panel lays flat and slides
in w/ nothing more than the pins dropping into a vertical groove at the
front--raise the panel 1/4" or so, then lay it down and slide it back
into the space under the drawer...used a piece of the thin, pressure
sensitive plastic to make it stay slick. As far a I know it's still
functional but haven't seen it for 10 years or more...

dpb wrote:

No experience w/ any of the indicated products, but have done two over
the years...

Unless it's to be an elegant piece, the first one I ever made that I
still use 30 yrs later simply had an added brass ring on a swivel
mounted on the bottom of the tray front support rail and a matching
hole w/ brass insert in the bottom. A rod simply dropped through the
ring and into the hole...

Second for a friend was nice walnut chest...for it I simply routed a
groove for the door hinge pins and the front panel lays flat and slides
in w/ nothing more than the pins dropping into a vertical groove at the
front--raise the panel 1/4" or so, then lay it down and slide it back
into the space under the drawer...used a piece of the thin, pressure
sensitive plastic to make it stay slick. As far a I know it's still
functional but haven't seen it for 10 years or more...

What method did you use at the top of the panel to keep it from tipping
forward?

RayV wrote:
dpb wrote:

....
Second for a friend was nice walnut chest...for it I simply routed a
groove for the door hinge pins and the front panel lays flat and slides
in w/ nothing more than the pins dropping into a vertical groove at the
front--raise the panel 1/4" or so, then lay it down and slide it back
into the space under the drawer...used a piece of the thin, pressure
sensitive plastic to make it stay slick. As far a I know it's still
functional but haven't seen it for 10 years or more...

What method did you use at the top of the panel to keep it from tipping
forward?

Really, really, high tech....

Button catch(es) gave it a little satisfying click and aligns it.
There was an inset handle to grasp that left the front surface flush
that was sufficient since the catches weren't terribly strong. It
isn't a solid locking arrangement, though, obviously. It was, however,
pretty simple to make and works fine for the casual move/use, but may
not hold against an actual spill or drop if the contents are heavy. If
are looking for either a security lock or for an actual work site
portable box so that were necessary I'd probably have gone with the
inset lock or made a ledge enough that I could have had a drop-thru
rod. The rear drop rod or bar is another possibility, of course. I've
seen one where the drawers were made w/ about a 1/2" inset in the
middle at the rear and a plate inset in the bottom with a slot in it to
receive the locking plate that was a 3/16" x 1" or similar strap. One
can get carried away and include that w/ a hinge and mimic the
self-locking toolchests, but I've never really liked them as it
requires opening the top tray lid to open a drawer, hence my choice of
the button on the front or the manual drop rod.

HTH for at least some ideas...I'm sure there are a lot of much more
exotic/fancy/impressive solutions...

Fri, Nov 3, 2006, 7:20am (EST-3) (RayV) doth
sayeth:
snip The box will sit on the counter most of the time but needs to be
portable. snip this 'portable' box will probably end up being around
30" wide.
snip I would like to hear from anyone who has tried either of these
pieces of hardware, has helpful suggestions, or just wants to ridicule
me.

I'm just curious. What exactly is "your" definitin of "portable"?
'Cause I've seen "portable" tool boxes before. It usually meant it was
carried around in the back of a pickup, after two men, or more, wrestled
it up there, often meaning it wound up being slid up a couple of planks,
because you were risking serious injury ifting the damn thing. At 30"
wide your version doesn't sount any lighter.

If it was me, making a chest to hold tools, and be able to wrestle
into the back of a truck to take to a job site, I'd make something along
the line of what my grandfather had. It was a large chest, probably
about 4' wide, about 3' front to back, anc probably something over 2'
high. Locking top. Inside the tools were in rectangular boxes, that
slid back and forth on lips or ledges, about 3 layers of them. This let
you have access to every tool in the box, even those on the bottom. the
saws were held in the top. All the tools were hand tools, but it would
work with power hand tools. It wasn't light, but it was "portable", and
it didn't set on a bench, it sat on the floor.

Again, if it wss me, I'd make several "totes, that one man could
handle by himself, making multiple trips from the shop to the truck, the
truck to the job site, and reverse when done. I'd just load the tools I
needed for that particular job, and when in the shop I'd keep them in
some non-portable location, wheher a chest, hanging on the wall, on a
whelf, whatever.



JOAT
If you're not making a rocket, it ain't rocket science.