HF Icon Tool Storage - Huh?

Probably the new guy in the shop, wants to look like a pro but has a baby at home and already has two car payments.

or,

The old guy with a massive pole barn and every tool imaginable.

He can afford the Snap-on but he's just cheap ;)
 
In 1980 I decided I needed full size rollaway and at that time HF carried Waterloo as their toolbox. Both the SnapOn and Mac man had nothing bad to say about it because they often used weight to help quantify how good a box was. And the Waterloo weighed the same, not so with Craftsman. And while the same size box was around $1200 for SnapOn or Mac I paid $235 for the Waterloo. Where I was quickly frustrated by running out of room was air tools and test equipment.

My solution was make a clamshell side cabinet that the inside all my air tools hung up and in the door all my test equipment could hang. I also ended up getting a deal on a small SnapOn cab for measuring tools etc and integrated the whole on a sub frame. Every tool mans who ever saw it said they were going to steal the idea but never did. Because it's welded on and nobody makes this setup and I got out of working on cars my homemade tamale cart will probably last toolbox.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    1.4 MB · Views: 26
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    759.4 KB · Views: 28
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    736.1 KB · Views: 27
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    680.5 KB · Views: 27
I think it’ll be a hard sell, but I don’t figure they’d have gone to the trouble of making it if they didn’t think it’d be a slam dunk.

The best SnapOn story I have: My coworker just came in with an adjustable wrench off the truck. He explained how the sales guy had used a Craftsman adjustable wrench for comparison. He put a bolt in a vise, and gave it a good pull with the Craftsman. The bolt head rounded off. He replaced the bolt in the vise, grabbed the SnapOn adjustable and twisted the head right off. My coworker reckoned that was the sign of a better wrench, and bought it on the spot. I gently suggested that it may be better to have a bolt with a rounded off head, than a bolt with no head at all buried in a machine. To each his own I suppose.
 
I think it’ll be a hard sell, but I don’t figure they’d have gone to the trouble of making it if they didn’t think it’d be a slam dunk.

The best SnapOn story I have: My coworker just came in with an adjustable wrench off the truck. He explained how the sales guy had used a Craftsman adjustable wrench for comparison. He put a bolt in a vise, and gave it a good pull with the Craftsman. The bolt head rounded off. He replaced the bolt in the vise, grabbed the SnapOn adjustable and twisted the head right off. My coworker reckoned that was the sign of a better wrench, and bought it on the spot. I gently suggested that it may be better to have a bolt with a rounded off head, than a bolt with no head at all buried in a machine. To each his own I suppose.

They've tried things before that didn't work out, they don't sell full size machine tools anymore. They even sold a surface grinder and a CNC version of the X2 for a very short while. Time will tell if this works out or not. Also, I wouldn't trust a demonstration done by a salesman to begin with. Bolts might not be the same, or could have been tampered with before the demonstration.
 
When I first started turning wrenches the older mechanics had little bitty top and bottom boxes while most of the younger guys just had stacks of same width boxes but with two or three center add on boxes. They needed a ladder to get to the top of their box.
I purchased a set of those below and thought I was the cats meow. Paid 700.00 for first set and eventually purchased a second set from Snap On for 625.00 because the dealer wanted to empty his mini storage. He had purchased some 20 sets of them because they were promoting them at Snap On.
Basic boxes which have served me well. And the Beauty is I can move them myself in my compact pick up truck.
Now.... go to any dealership and half the guys have boxes which are massive. Insane. And they need to call a flat bed wrecker when they switch jobs. Just too damned big.
A7E550DF-89E1-485C-9817-BD547E33A157.jpeg
 
I had a guy who worked for me briefly, when he left the wrecker had to haul his box away.
 
My box unfortunately has become where things I don't have storage for seem to end up. But most places I worked there were no benches so my box was my bench. It's why I never went with top boxes. Moving has always been a problem until I inherited my FIL's ultra low trailer he built along with a 6' aluminum ramp that all packing houses used to have lying around. I can load my toolbox by myself. Done it more times than I can count. I also have a 10' aluminum ramp. Between the two ramps and that trailer I can literally move a ton of stuff.
 
I bought a Home Depot roll around and a US General 46” box.
So far the US General seems to be a better quality box.
Easy gliding soft close drawers are great on the hf unit.
Yeah, those 6 foot boxes are ridiculous
 
I use a 42" Vidmar in at work equipped with castors and 2" shoptop . I have a Kennedy large mechanics box on top of that . Both are fully loaded as I need both machinist and mechanics tools . At home , the 3 62" Vidmars carry most of the load . The 4 42" US Generals handle some woodshop things and harry homeowner usage tools . I have sold my 5 Kennedy roller , mid and top box machinist sets in the midst of downsizing . That big box on the first post looks pretty but I can't see it as being useful .
 
My main box is an Equipto (like a Vidmar I guess, made for parts storage rather than tools originally). I also have various Craftsman and other no-name boxes. I suppose if I was going to work at another shop I would need to buy something big and lockable but what I have now works and it's paid for. I can move the Equipto by myself if I take the drawers out, or by forklift if I ever get another one. I also have a bench with big drawers, an old blueprint file for small tools, and more stuff like bolt bins in storage not to mention my 20' shop trailer out west. I guess I've got enough tools now, maybe....
 
Back
Top