Craftsman Tool Boxes
Craftsman Tool boxes come in all shapes, colors, brands, and features. One of the first things you need to decide on is brand as many toolboxes fit into a system and often staying with one brand of tool box can allow for further expansion and easy purchase of toolbox accessories.
Craftsman Tool Boxes
One my the most common brands of a tool box is Craftsman. They have been making them for years and literally have every shape and grade or quality avaiable. When shopping Crafsman toolboxes, you need to decide on how often you will use it and how much you plan to load into it. Their homeowners grade can be a good by and is decently made for light use or light weight tools. It uses just a regular draw slide and is made from a pretty light weight sheet metal. If you plan to load your toolbox down with heavy wrenches or sockets and plan to open and close it on a pretty regular basis, this is going to be too light duty for you. The slides don't tend to open and close well under a lot of weight.
The next step up is the Craftsman Quiet Glide tool box. The construction tends to be slightly more rigid with a thicker metal shell and upgraded slides. This line is the sweet spot on price to quality for the average home mechanic or tool enthusiast. Still not happy with the quality, then the ball bearing tool box drawers are for you. Another round of quality upgrades and a smooth drawer that can handle some pretty impressive weight. When in sears, make sure to checkout the show models as there tends to be one drawer with a steel block simulating the weight of a drawer full of tools. We think the position of the block tends to under simulate the performance but it still helps when comparing quality. Finally we have the Craftsman Professional tool boxes. These are really made quite nicely but you'll pay too.
Griplatch is an option that is typically found on Craftsman tool boxes in the Quiet Glide line and up. This innovative feature locks the tool drawer in the closed position until the grip "handle" of the drawer is lifted up on. This feature can be helpful if you regularly wheel around your tool box and it is loaded with heavier tools. In general, unless it's a personal preference, this seems to be a less popular tool box option.
Craftsman also recently release their AXS toolbox. This model features a pullout tool light and a digital information center that reports time, tempature, and other information of little or no consequence. Our advice, spend your money on a professional grade box before splurging on the AXS tool box.
Craftsman also have finally come out with a silver faced aluminum toolbox that closely resembles a Kobalt offering. Very nice toolbox and we'd reccomend this one. It really dressed up any garage or shop.