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The ultimate machinist tool box combo (beach upper/lower) in Bowmanville, on

On a further diversion from the original thread, my basement work desk, my lathe (the Myford) and mill have surplus, free-standing 3 drawer metal desk units beside/under them. Great for uncluttering the surrounding surfaces and only an arms reach away. The mill unit even has castors and even better 2 of 3 were scrounged freebies. Free running ball bearing slides too.

I too have Beach/Craftsman/CTC toolboxes/rollers but they’re mostly holding mechanic’s tools.

The last couple of days though (well, this is more applicable to the cardboard box thread) I made use of my stash of corrugated cardboard creepers and doing like @Susquatch I grabbed a small tool box (cardboard box) to corral the tools I was using, going side to side to change the front springs on the S.O.’s #$&*&@ Audi A5.

That’s 3 of 4 springs on that thing that have broken from stress & corrosion. You’d thought that they would have a handle on that by now……. Oh, and what about the steel bolt passing through a couple inches of aluminum, what could possibly go wrong there in a road salt bath?!

Nice driving car but a pain to maintain.

D :cool:
 
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Gerstner is a nice looking machinists box but I don't think they'd would take a pounding in a service truck like my beach did.
True, that! But some things are desirable for 'not just' their practicality! :)
A long time ago, I tried to convince my wife that a decent Gerstner would make a great Jewellery box. Dunno what she had in mind (she never did actually out and explain it), but that wasn't what she wanted, so she did without...

I have three top boxes that I paid little or nothing for, one was actually a brand new box that was destined to be scrapped, one from a Garage sale, and one that I bought at a Bike Swap meet. One is a Union box, one is a Beach, complete with a three draw intermediate box, and the other is, I think, a Kennedy, with brown crinkle finish.

I did score a couple 3 foot high or so Rousseau modular 4 draw units, on CADC, that I planned to make a Desk/ Work Bench out of, using them for the pedestals, so as to be able to sit and have a bunch of the stuff i needed at hand, but that has not happened yet.
 
Here's my Beach b95
beach b95.jpg


I now need to somehow fit all the important stuff from my lower into my upper (that's already full), so I can take the lower home.....Should be a fun afternoon project as I wind down my week heading into a much needed holiday.
 
Crown assests distribution center I believe, they are responsible for selling off federal surplus and unused equipment.
Ayup, that is they!

Everything from crappy office furniture on up to rail cars and RCMP reject Horses. I have been second place bidder on a LOT of stuff there, over the years. First place on a bunch more, too! :)
Broad range of stuff, from surplus Military stuff, to Ag equipment off the various research farms. Some Customs seized good too.

Here out West the other two that I watch pretty regularly are the BC Auction site https://www.bcauction.ca/open.dll/welcome?language=En aand the Alberta Surplus sales site https://surplus.gov.ab.ca/

Pretty much every province has a similar one, or they use one of the online services like GovDeals, to clear out surplus.
 
Broad range of stuff, from surplus Military stuff,

Some guys soup up cars and, trucks as a hobby. I did it for a living so I'm not interested anymore.

But I would LOVE to put a 3pt hitch on a tank and work dirt with it.......
 
I used to frequent their sales back in the day in Regina, their popularity wasn't that great and you could get some great deals my best was a box of ibm printer ribbons I got for $0.01 and sold it for $110US on ebay. After that the guy told me I had to bid at least $1 so I would place $1.01 bids on a bunch of stuff and whatever I got was bonus. In Ottawa I thought the prices were high, generators going for same price as new so I haven't been checking it lately. The stuff they sell sometimes is really weird I remember they were selling a fully functional helicopter with spare parts.
 
Ayup, that is they!

Everything from crappy office furniture on up to rail cars and RCMP reject Horses. I have been second place bidder on a LOT of stuff there, over the years. First place on a bunch more, too! :)
Broad range of stuff, from surplus Military stuff, to Ag equipment off the various research farms. Some Customs seized good too.

Here out West the other two that I watch pretty regularly are the BC Auction site https://www.bcauction.ca/open.dll/welcome?language=En aand the Alberta Surplus sales site https://surplus.gov.ab.ca/

Pretty much every province has a similar one, or they use one of the online services like GovDeals, to clear out surplus.
 
Some guys soup up cars and, trucks as a hobby. I did it for a living so I'm not interested anymore.

But I would LOVE to put a 3pt hitch on a tank and work dirt with it.......
Closest "I" have seen to tanks coming up there was when they had listed a bunch of M-113 Carriers, back around 2000-2001. My Brother-in Law had submitted bids on most of them, as apparently, once you stripped the armor (mostly magnesium) off of them, the chassis' were of use to some of the guys making specialized oil patch equipment.

They were pulled from Sale, and the offered reasons seemed a little suspect and wishy-washy, even to the CADC Rep. Suspect it boiled down to hand-wringing over 'what if?', rather than any real world concerns...

Later in life, I saw a BUNCH of them, being stripped of useful parts (the engines, transmissions and drive axles, apparently could sub in on our newer gear) before they were unceremoniously dragged out on to the Air Weapons Range in Cold Lake, to be used as Targets...
 
Today I saw a beach upper box like the original one posted for $50. Still kicking myself for not grabbing the one in the OP, I sent a message to try and pick it up, but was a couple guys too late to grab it. Ad was only 30 minutes old too.

A couple weeks late, but I brought my work bottom box home. Was a bit of a sliding block puzzle to get it in there...
NbmlYN6.jpg

OtvdZga.jpg


It may have caused a bit of a cascading re arrangement though......I think I want to slide that entire bench out from the wall 8-10" or so. That might cause some other tools to get re-arranged. I have a bunch of work and figuring to do tomorrow.....

I'm up to 12 boxes now, but I think I can pare it down and better organize stuff. Especially tooling which I have in a few different spots right now. I did get rid of one last summer and think I could ditch one more too.....maybe. Probably that stainless hospital crash cart that has my surface plate on it. I have two of them, and the other one is in the basement. It really just doesn't "fit". I might build a tool cart for vises/rotary tables etc for that spot, that also has the surface plate on it.....

I wish I just had a giant shop with lots of space.
 
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