What To Do With My Empty Power Tool Cases?

So Crew, what do you men do with your power tool boxes and cases that you don’t store you power tools in? I think the cases are sturdy and well contructed, but they are often cast molded in the inside and are not made for other tools. I think I am going to cut out the molding and use them for something else. Does anyone have any better ideas? Are they worth selling? What have you done with yours?

Most I recycle but I kept a few I cut the dividers out of a dewalt box and stash all my batteries, kaizen foam can make it very useful too


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I’ve thought about cutting up the insides to reuse them, but the biggest problem I’ve got with them is that they’re ALL different sizes.  The chaos that is created when you try to stack them or even sit them on a shelf isn’t worth the savings.  I’m not quite to the point where I’m willing to shell out the $3,000 for a wall of systainers, but it’s very appealing, I’m not going to lie.

Anyway, right now, the boxes that hold rarely used tools hold the tools to protect them and keep them out of the way.  The boxes for regularly used tools get stacked on a shelf.  I should probably do something with them, but I can’t quite get to the point where I’ll throw the into recycling.

khariV wrote:

3 hours ago, khariV said:

I’ve thought about cutting up the insides to reuse them, but the biggest problem I’ve got with them is that they’re ALL different sizes.  The chaos that is created when you try to stack them or even sit them on a shelf isn’t worth the savings.  I’m not quite to the point where I’m willing to shell out the $3,000 for a wall of systainers, but it’s very appealing, I’m not going to lie.

 

Anyway, right now, the boxes that hold rarely used tools hold the tools to protect them and keep them out of the way.  The boxes for regularly used tools get stacked on a shelf.  I should probably do something with them, but I can’t quite get to the point where I’ll throw the into recycling.

Funny you mention that, the only tools I kept in the boxes they came in are an L-Boxx and a Systainer, personally I prefer the sustainer over the L-Boxx even though the prices are less attractive lol

JimboS1ice wrote:

7 minutes ago, JimboS1ice said:

personally I prefer the sustainer over the L-Boxx even though the prices are less attractive lol

I am with you on this. The L-Boxx just don’t stack and unstack as easily as the systainer. Especially if you put a bunch of weight in them.

JMG wrote:

Just now, JMG said:

I am with you on this. The L-Boxx just don’t stack and unstack as easily as the systainer. Especially if you put a bunch of weight in them.

I feel like a good drop will tear the box up too

I’ve cut the inside out of a couple and repurposed them, but I usually hide them somewhere for 3-4 years before I finally convince myself to throw them away.

Conductor562 wrote:

7 minutes ago, Conductor562 said:

I’ve cut the inside out of a couple and repurposed them, but I usually hide them somewhere for 3-4 years before I finally convince myself to throw them away.

ya no shit, I’ve tripped over a few a few times before I gave them away…..

Good idea for a thread, and I’m sure there are some interesting uses out there to be shared.

The move toward these LBoxx and Systainer type cases is something that should have happened years ago. There is always the occasional tool I prefer a hard case for, but I typically preferred the bags because they were at least usable for something if you weren’t storing the tools in them. 

Conductor562 wrote:

7 minutes ago, Conductor562 said:

Good idea for a thread, and I’m sure there are some interesting uses out there to be shared.

 

The move toward these LBoxx and Systainer type cases is something that should have happened years ago. There is always the occasional tool I prefer a hard case for, but I typically preferred the bags because they were at least usable for something if you weren’t storing the tools in them. 

Most boxes, especially them evil blow molds Ive tossed out, I wish all tools just a came in a systainer or really a box that would interlock with all other brands, i know thats a long shot at best but id hold onto it for that reason

What about hollowing the inside plastic and adding gray or black foam rubber. Out line your favorite handgun and mags, use a hot knife to cut out the outline and presto, change O, you have a cool gun case disguised as a power tool.  Hmmm, I may have to try this idea out.

metaljunkie wrote:

What about hollowing the inside plastic and adding gray or black foam rubber. Out line your favorite handgun and mags, use a hot knife to cut out the outline and presto, change O, you have a cool gun case disguised as a power tool.  Hmmm, I may have to try this idea out.

Perfect JimboS1ice.  Didn’t know about them.  Oh goody, another project the wife will be happy about.

metaljunkie wrote:

Perfect JimboS1ice.  Didn’t know about them.  Oh goody, another project the wife will be happy about.

Looks like they will work good for making a gun case. Like I need another one, but maybe able to make something useful out of the cases.

They go in recycling. Unless they come in a modular box. Realistically everything should come in a tough box/ systainer/ lboxx etc. Milwaukee blow molded cases look so flashy in the store but are so bulky and useless. 

Claeg wrote:

12 hours ago, Claeg said:

So Crew, what do you men do with your power tool boxes and cases that you don’t store you power tools in? I think the cases are sturdy and well contructed, but they are often cast molded in the inside and are not made for other tools. I think I am going to cut out the molding and use them for something else. Does anyone have any better ideas? Are they worth selling? What have you done with yours?

I’m always looking to buy Milwaukee hard cases for my tools if your selling any I don’t have. 

Following, I like this Idea, I myself love those hard cases, I use them when I’m transporting my tools to make sure they don’t get bashed around (I know I know they are tools and suppose to get bashed around) but I it’s more of a love hate relationship as I like the case but to store your tools in them takes up so much room, so they end up empty in a corner somewhere to be forgotten about until the day I’ll need one and can’t find them.

Yeah, they are so specific to the tool, the only ones I have are for the m12 Propex tool because of the multiple heads I want to keep together, and my inspection camera, because of the cable on it I don’t want it messed up.

Now that I think about it, i could easily put the pex tool and heads in a smaller case to take up much less room and add whatever else I wanted.

Everything else is in the Ridghid cart stack… I bought so many tool only that very few even came in cases, So I really didn’t have many cases to begin with…..

I think there are much nicer cases out there to bother with the ones the tools came in

I’ve tossed most of mine. The exceptions are for my Dewalt 20v framer. Most of my tools are housed on shelves or in cabinets and most of my power tools have been relocated to systainers for ease of movement and storage. I have all of my life boxxes away to my brother. I liked those but I had maybe eight or nine as opposed to the multitude of systainers and when it came to moving from our last home in Rochester it made my decision easier. Personally, I like l boxxes but they don’t stack quite as easily as my systainers. I have a Dewalt tough system box that houses my…eeeek…..gasp….cough…..Milwaukee Sawzall, and yes, it is an awesome American made tool and I kept one l boxx which houses my Bosch ROS65VCL router which is one of the best made routers out there. I started keeping my soft sided tool bags too. They are fantastic for hand tools and especially my lathe tools. I keep them in metal cabinets and my chucks and tools stay nice and protected in them.

I have heard some people be critical of systainers and l boxxes and truthfully they aren’t Dewalt Toughsystem boxxes but I have never had one break or crack, even when dropped on the floor or thrown in the back of my truck. They are quite good and store most everything.

So this weekend I will be taking out all of the Christmas decorations and putting them around the house. So it jumped out at me, perhaps I’ll use them to store the Christmas breakables. Red boxes for Christmas, right. Other than that from what I see they are selling for $10-20 on ebay. I’m not sure if that is worth my trouble for just few boxes. I do like the gun case idea, I think at least one of my boxes has a loop where a padlock can be put on it. Thanks for all the suggestions.

I don’t really hide things from the wife, but if I did it would be a great place. >:D

So, because I’m a masochist, I put together a spreadsheet with systainer prices and dimensions to play with different configurations and to see how much it would cost to convert my wall o’ red boxes to systainers.

Well… lets just say that I’ve got better things to spend $3000 on right now.  I think systainers might be one of those things that you buy one or two of a month and build up your collection.  I do confess to wanting to buy some anthracite boxes and putting red latches and handles on them because if you’re going to spend that kind of $$$ on storage, you might as well have it look bada$$.

That’s why I went with toughboxes. Basically bombproof and they go on sale for cheap enough that they don’t put you in the poorhouse lol. 

I have had good luck selling them on eBay. I have gave some to the CREW that are looking for them. Then if they are still sitting around for 6 or so mounts they go in the recycle bin. 

Maybe there should be a standard system each company uses for boxes that could connect with competitors boxes. Get a Ridgid box and you would be able to fit it on all your L-boxxes. Too many Systainers? No problem, swap one out with a tough box and have no compatibility issues between the 2 systems. Is your L-boxx too small for your DeWALT hammer drill? No problem pick up  the medium size Ridgid box. 

Jronman wrote:

16 hours ago, Jronman said:

Maybe there should be a standard system each company uses for boxes that could connect with competitors boxes. Get a Ridgid box and you would be able to fit it on all your L-boxxes. Too many Systainers? No problem, swap one out with a tough box and have no compatibility issues between the 2 systems. Is your L-boxx too small for your DeWALT hammer drill? No problem pick up  the medium size Ridgid box. 

Great idea! I wish it would happen, but getting the companies to agree is likely not easy. And if some one tries you would probably end up with this…

regopit wrote:

On 12/11/2016 at 0:59 PM, regopit said:

I have had good luck selling them on eBay. I have gave some to the CREW that are looking for them. Then if they are still sitting around for 6 or so mounts they go in the recycle bin. 

I agree, if you dont use them sell it or give it away. Sooner or later the company stops making them and sells the tool with a fabric bag. Those things are like man-purses.

grampage wrote:

I agree, if you dont use them sell it or give it away. Sooner or later the company stops making them and sells the tool with a fabric bag. Those things are like man-purses.

It would be nice if tool companies gave you the option to buy the tools with blow mold, fabric bagels/totes, or no case at all and knock the price off for not buying a case.

You could probably save a ton of money buying Hilti tools without the case. I remember about 15 years ago when Hilti had a section in the depot they sold the regular size case for like $90.00. 

Thats a crazy amount of cash for a cheap ass case , IMO 

MikeyB wrote:

It would be nice if tool companies gave you the option to buy the tools with blow mold, fabric bagels/totes, or no case at all and knock the price off for not buying a case.

You could probably save a ton of money buying Hilti tools without the case. I remember about 15 years ago when Hilti had a section in the depot they sold the regular size case for like $90.00. 

Thats a crazy amount of cash for a cheap ass case , IMO 

I store fresh shop air in mine

comp56 wrote:

13 minutes ago, comp56 said:

I store fresh shop air in mine

No sawdust?

Claeg wrote:

33 minutes ago, Claeg said:

No sawdust?

haha no sawdust is everywhere else….

I like the man purses also, they make great range bags.

JimboS1ice wrote:

7 hours ago, JimboS1ice said:

Bosch is pretty good you can get l box kits, bare tool or blow mold kits


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more companies should do that. some tools are stationary some are mobile.I def like the option to have a choice

I like the cases over the man bags.  But I like the fack with the man bags, you can always store more stuff in them such as accessories.  With the cases, they are easier to organize, but very limited on what else you can put in them.

Only problem with cases if you are tight in space there is a lot of void space that tools could occupy


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So what do you keep your tools in if you are getting rid of the boxes? I got a drill/driver set and love the fact it has the hard plastic case. I have the tools in it and it sits on a shelf in my garage. 

eddie1976 wrote:

2 hours ago, eddie1976 said:

So what do you keep your tools in if you are getting rid of the boxes? I got a drill/driver set and love the fact it has the hard plastic case. I have the tools in it and it sits on a shelf in my garage. 

Stacking cases like the DeWalt tough system. I use Ridgid’s pro cart and stacking boxes. I have way too many tools to have a case for each one.

eddie1976 wrote:

9 hours ago, eddie1976 said:

So what do you keep your tools in if you are getting rid of the boxes? I got a drill/driver set and love the fact it has the hard plastic case. I have the tools in it and it sits on a shelf in my garage. 

Steel toolboxes.  Sometimes canvas bags for carrying lots of odds and ends. I refuse to pay an arm and a leg for fancy stacking stuff.

most benefit of the mold cases is not having a heart attack when you drop it compared to the man purses.

most of my power tools were bought way back when, when they came in steel cases.

whomever the engineers are, who designed plastic cases, that the cord must be tucked in exactly ‘so’, so you can close said plastic box, should be lined up against a wall and shot.

ive tried to hollow out plastic cases. usually wind up throwing them out.

the tool bags kits come in, arte generally useless.

i pick up steel cases wherever i can, and homak still makes steel boxes, made in USA.

phffter wrote:

1 hour ago, phffter said:

most of my power tools were bought way back when, when they came in steel cases.

whomever the engineers are, who designed plastic cases, that the cord must be tucked in exactly ‘so’, so you can close said plastic box, should be lined up against a wall and shot.

ive tried to hollow out plastic cases. usually wind up throwing them out.

the tool bags kits come in, arte generally useless.

i pick up steel cases wherever i can, and homak still makes steel boxes, made in USA.

Good point, I forgot about the stupid cord in just right before you close the lid thing…. That was definitely a big reason as well to get rid of the cases….

By the way, I have an empty Milwaukee case of anybody wants it to pay shipping. I dislike them myself, but I can see why someone might want them. It came with my Surge impact and will fit the fuel impacts

All my tools that I use on a semi regular basis do not go into there cases if they came in one. They take up way too much room for my liking. And if I get a bare tool, well thats is that much less garbage I have to put out!

I just bought some more cases. 

3 Large Dewalt Tough Systems

2 Small “””

1 Dewalt Tough System Mobile Base

ChrisK wrote:

6 minutes ago, ChrisK said:

I just bought some more cases. 

3 Large Dewalt Tough Systems

2 Small “””

1 Dewalt Tough System Mobile Base

By mobile base do you mean the DS450?

DaveJr. wrote:

1 minute ago, DaveJr. said:

By mobile base do you mean the DS450?

Yessir

The DS450 plus a large and a small for 109.

then I noticed the price on all three had gone down so I bought two more large and one small Toughsystem cases. Makes sense as I gave my brother all of my l boxxes when my Wife and I sold our home over the summer and bought another.

ChrisK wrote:

Just now, ChrisK said:

Yessir

 Nice! I recently got one and love it! Im really starting to fill up those tough system cases using a system that works for me.