Sometimes I feel like I'm always the last to find out about ____ (and fill in the blank with whatever the hot topic is! :)
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A post on here a few weeks back mentioned that there is a Husky brand cantilever toolbox sold at Home Depot that is an exact clone of the Kreg ToolBoxx. Apparently this is well known throughout the woodworking community. Well, it was the first I heard of it. I almost bought Kreg ToolBoxx just to keep everything together, even though I already have acquired the contents of it separately. At some point Kreg offered their toolbox empty, well, I guess I missed the boat on that one too! :)
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So after a trip to Home Depot to pick up the Husky toolbox - FYI, but you probably already know this, they have two versions of this toolbox, the difference is in the depth of the bottom box and how many removable trays come in the top tray (the shallow bottom version has 15 top compartments, the deeper version has 11). Get the deeper version, if you haven't already, it will hold the K3 mounted on a board - with the shallower version the K3 alone will have to lay on it's side to get the lid closed. Then I made another stop at Lowes to get some Kreg screws to fill out the compartments I now have my own version of the ToolBoxx...
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I have in it 3300+ screws, the K3, a Micro, a Rocket and HD jigs, (2) right-angle clamps and (2) face clamps along with a Kreg shelf jig I picked up on a whim...
The older Kreg screws are brown in color, but it appears that all new Kreg screws are now zinc coated. The washer part of the zinc screws is also slightly larger then the older brown colored screws. I don't know when this change was made, as it's been a while since I purchased any pocket screws.
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The toolbox holds everything nicely, albeit fully loaded it's heavy! Those boxes of HD screws add a bit of weight to that side. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with it... I can see why Kreg choose this toolbox design; the screws are easy to get to and there's also enough room in the top tray for a few extra drill bits and square bit drivers.
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My one complaint (because nothing's perfect!) is that there's no room in the bottom for a drill....
That's a 1/2" Milwaukee Magnum and it's just a bit too large to fit.
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Or even a 3/8" drill...
That's a 3/8" Black&Decker Holgun (probably one of the first 'profession grade' tools I bought back in the mid 70's) and while it looks like it fits from that angle in reality the lid won't close. It sticks about an inch above the bottom compartment and keeps the lid from closing.
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If there was a way to get a drill in there, then it really would be a complete grab-and-go pocket hole toolbox. Now I guess I could take out the boxes of HD screws from the bottom, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having everything altogether in one location! :)
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The empty remnants from about 2,500 screws...
