Rolling tool cabinet - shopping for one

[matthewsx]

My leveling castors just plain stink. They allegedly are way overrated, like 1000 lbs each. They were clones, and bad ones at that. The screws aren't wide, and the pads are just squishy. Went through a lot of effort to mount them, and it wasn't worth it. (Like a dope I installed them on an already full cabinet, which made it hard!) Next time, I will buy better ones. Lesson learned the hard way.

Same here, definitely one of those things where spending the extra $$$ on the real ones is the only way to get the results promissed.

JOhn

 

[Aaron_W]

The US General are an exceptional value. When I bought mine (26", 44" and 5 drawer) a couple years ago there was really no competition at the price. Things change, the US General are still a great value but the prices have been rising, HF sales less frequent and I've noticed some of the competition like Husky is beginning to offer some higher quality tool chests in addition to the cheaper, lighter weight ones they have had for awhile.

Icon is in a completely different price class, nearly 3x the price of US General. The Yukon tool chests look like decent tool chests at a price more comparable to most of the smaller Craftsman and Husky tool chests.

The Husky tool chests are not bad, but quite a bit lighter (and cheaper) than US General. I didn't really look closely at Craftsman but they seem similar to Husky. I am considering a Husky 46" as a wood working tool chest, and have a 26" with top box, so I don't think they are junk.

BTW look closely at drawer layout, I think this is something many overlook on their first chest, I know I did. I really like the layout of the US General for machine tools, lots of shallow drawers work well for my machine tooling. Some of the others have fewer deeper drawers. That is a reason I'm looking at Husky for a wood working tool chest, instead of another US General. The deeper drawers on the Husky will work better for power tools.

 

[mikey]

My leveling castors just plain stink. They allegedly are way overrated, like 1000 lbs each. They were clones, and bad ones at that. The screws aren't wide, and the pads are just squishy. Went through a lot of effort to mount them, and it wasn't worth it. (Like a dope I installed them on an already full cabinet, which made it hard!) Next time, I will buy better ones. Lesson learned the hard way.

Get Carrymaster casters; you'll like them. We had a guy with a huge lathe mounted on them. I don't recall who it was but the lathe was massive and he loved that he could move the lathe around all by himself.

 

[WobblyHand]

Get Carrymaster casters; you'll like them. We had a guy with a huge lathe mounted on them. I don't recall who it was but the lathe was massive and he loved that he could move the lathe around all by himself.

They are on the upgrade list. Unfortunately, they do assume a nice, modern, hard smooth floor. Need to work on that part. Part of the infrastructure improvements I'm looking at for the coming year. Being able to easily move stuff around would help improve my shop, especially since it's in a small space.

 

[Aaron_W]

There does not seem to be apples to apples but a 36x25 ICON weighs about 500 Lb. and a 44x22 GENERAL weighs 340 Lb. Must be thicker metal. I suppose the extra depth can come in handy. My back is cringing about handling either one...

I was able to get 44" USG out of the back of my truck by myself, barely. I put the wheels on in the driveway and got it into my shop, but my back was angry at me for about a week.

 

[mmcmdl]

I plan a countertop across the top of a couple of these. What is the height of a GENERAL without the wheels?

Nice , they make a great workbench , hold on for the height without castors .

 

[Surprman]

I posted this in 2020:

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/what-did-you-buy-today.55645/page-343#post-737962

I like my HF US General cart.

Rick

 

[Shootymacshootface]

My 72" USG box should be in on or around 1/22. I got it to replace my old Craftsman box at work. It's overloaded and the drawer slides are not the roller bearing type, so it basically sucks to work out of all day.
I'm not planning on a top box. I will have a piece of 3/16" sheet sheared to fit on the entire top and will weld a 3/4" plate on one corner to mount a 5" swivel vise. This will be my primary work surface because I work with slobs and every flat surface is piled with junk. I casually mentioned that I was getting a bigger tool box. They have no idea that I have this monster coming, ha ha ha.

 

[Reddinr]

OK, decision made and toolboxes bought! Thank you all for the input.

I went to HF, drooled over the ICONs and went with GENERAL. The quality seems good and tough enough for what I have in the drawers. The staff there were all excellent and friendly to work with (South Hill, WA store). That is a nice bonus. One was a scratch and dent they gave me 25% off. And I got 20% off the second one for joining their inside track club. It got dark so I'll be clearing a spot and unloading tomorrow.

 

[NCjeeper]

What color did you go with? I really like their blue ones.