Festool Sysport Clone

[Matt Meiser]

Since I've recently more than doubled the size of my Systainer collection, I've decided that I don't like storing them on top of the vac. Instead of paying a lot of money for a Sysport (and I would have needed 2) here is my solution.

The carcase is 3/4" melamine which I had left over from a cabinetry project I just finished. I used Dominos (unglued) for alignment of all the box parts and held everything together with Confirmat screws. The drawer slides are from Gliderite and I definitely would use them again--including shipping a box of 10 sets was about $50, so the slides for this project were only about $25. The drawers themselves are leftover 1/2" baltic birch with leftover 1/4" melamine covered MDF for bottoms. The fronts are (you guessed it) leftover 1/2" MDF. I splurged there for a quart of color-matched paint in Festool green to make it fun. The casters I have on it for now are inexpensive ones from Harbor Freight that I had around, but I plan to replace them with some locking casters later.

Edit: I need to add that all of the ideas for this were shamelessly stolen from a thread over on the Festool Owners Group site where several members have made their own Sysports.

[Tim Thomas]

Nice! I really like the extra touch of the color matched paint. It sounds like you already had most of the materials on hand, leaving budget room to splurge on the details. How much do you think you saved by building this yourself? (I don't have any Festool stuff, but I do know that all that great quality comes with a price.)

Thanks for the tip on the drawer slides too. There is a kitchen remodel in my future and I will be needing a LOT of those things.

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Looks great Matt! And the fact you used the Domino to construct even better. I think the almost $500 they charge for their version is ridiculous!!

[Matt Meiser]

Yep, they are $490 and I spent about $70, including enough slides and paint to build another or for some other project. I'll still probably spend a fair amount on some nice casters. I would have had to get into a second one to hold what I already have. So I saved about to $900. Oh, that and my marriage

All my other tools with the exception of a couple I always use out of the shop are no longer in their cases. They waste a lot of room, its hard to tell what is in them, and the different sizes and shapes are a pain. But the systainers are easy to use and store neatly, plus it is convenient to move several of them out of the shop on top of the vac when I need them in the house or on the road. This just makes accessing them in the shop easier.

I knowingly built it with no spare capacity as I didn't want to make it any taller. It could be tipped if I tried and making it taller would have made that easier so I'm glad I didn't. I don't have any plans for more Festool stuff, but we all know how THAT goes! If I do get more I'll have to build another one.

[Chris Padilla]

Nice job, Matt! I do need to do something similar with my collection of F stuff/boxes....

[Al Garay]

Matt,

Can you give details about the Festool paint - what brand, color?

thanks,

Al

[Mike Spanbauer]

Nicely done! I've been contemplating a similar build, although it wasn't as fancy :P

I've about 5.5' of systainers currently, which when on top of the CT33, is taller than myself (6'3")

Plus, the accessibility ease of any container without removing the stack would be very nice indeed.

mike

[Chris Padilla]

Matt,

Can you give details about the Festool paint - what brand, color?

thanks,

Al

I'd take a piece of the green portion of the systainer to the local paint mixer and see what the comptuer can do with it.

[Matt Meiser]

I just grabbed a bunch of paint chips in the green range while at one local hardware store that carries Benjamin Moore several weeks ago and found an perfect match. Then I carried it around in my truck for a few weeks and kept forgetting to get it so I had Ace just match the color off the chip one day when I was there. Since I didn't get the exact paint I threw away the chip when I got home. Chris's way would have been easier and the latches come off easy enough.

My stack was approaching my height. My wife got me the Hose Garage for Christmas which requires you to remove the Systainers to store the hose so I started just stacking them on the floor. This was a necessity, but it was a fun project.

Now here's the gloat: My wife came out to see it tonight. She asked where I was going to put the next Systainer when I get it. Not if but when. She suggested that I build the next one, I can build all the drawers for the next one and just put the first in so that when I get more I set the drawers where needed. I like her thinking.

[Dave Hale]

She sounds like a keeper to me!
Have to ask, though, once we've 'broken' their defenses this thoroughly, is it as much fun??
I kind of enjoy the 'prep' work to properly 'immunize' SWMBO before a major expenditure.

Nice job, BTW. Now you've got me motivated to get my 'tainers off of the CT22.
Been wanting to put the ClearVue Mini on the CT22 anyway.
Thanks, Matt, for another distraction.

[Doug Shepard]

Very cool. Made me think of the 70's R&B/Funk band Tower-Of-Power

[Matt Meiser]

Sorry Doug, about the only thing I remember from the 70's is Sesame Street and Kindergarten

[Doug Shepard]

I didnt catch them until the 80's and their live show was one of the best I've seen. Them and Robert Cray together in a very small club was almost too hot to handle. You've probably heard at least a few of them without knowing it. Their horn section has played on scads of other peoples albums. About the only tune of theirs that got them their own airplay was What Is Hip?. Looks like they're still alive and kickin.
http://www.towerofpower.com/2007/

[Joe Mioux]

When did you buy a Domino, Matt?

I thought you went the other route and purchased a DowelMax.

Anyway, the new cabinet looks very nice.

Joe

[Matt Meiser]

When did you buy a Domino, Matt?

I changed my mind about 2 weeks ago.