I recently purchased three Craftsman ball bearing storage products recently, during a decent clearance sale. I’m fairly certain that Waterloo produced these items, but I may be mistaken.
Purchased were: two 2-drawer ball bearing intermediate chests, and one 6-drawer Griplatch ball bearing chest. Thus far, I’m less than fully satisfied with all three units.
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One intermediate chest arrived with a good portion of a rear corner lip (a full-length and depth tabs that provides a stop for top chest units) deformed and bent inwards. Okay, not a big deal, some work with vice grips bent it into something that resembled the right shape. Also, this does not appear to be shipping damage, suggesting that the chest left the factory this way.
The second intermediate chest has an imbalanced top surface. Somehow, the rear right-hand corner and the front left-hand corner are not level, causing serious wobbling. Yea, okay, I’m certainly going to place a 100 lb top chest full of tools on an intermediate chest with about 1/4″ wobble movement. This chest is going back to the store for a refund.
Now there’s the 6-drawer GripLatch chest. My complaint about this one is minor, but nevertheless frustrating – there are defects in the powdercoat of the top lid edges? Yes, yes, I know I’m nitpicking, but for over $250, I expect a but more quality control efforts. Not only are these burs a minor finger-safety hazard, the pileup of powder coating around them can lead to flaking or chipping in the future. There are a few other minor instances of powder coat defects as well, and two or three dark burn-like comet-tail defects.
C’mon Craftsman, Waterloo, these things shouldn’t be happening!! Next time I may just wait for a sale on the AXS units. Although I’m not a fan of that much plastic, maybe they’ll less prone to manufacturing defects.
Edit: The 6-drawer chest also appears to have a warped bottom beam, creating a relatively large gap between the chest and any surface the chest rests on. A third 2-drawer intermediate was picked up, and this one had sharp burs along both side lips! How’d I find this out? With a deep scratch across the back of my thumb. I am NOT amused!
Will says
It is disheartening to hear about these QC issues. I know that recent Craftsman tool storage units have become lighter and “flimsier”, but 3 out of 3 certainly is not a good sign.
I was looking at a Husky BB intermediate chest recently at Home Depot, and it seemed to be well constructed. Perhaps sourced from a different OEM than Waterloo, or maybe just to a higher specification.
Thanks for the info. I am actually in the market for an intermediate chest or two and will certainly keep your review in mind.
Stuart says
Bear in mind that when I wrote this post, I was in “rant mode.” Still, while I am known to be a nitpicker, I’m not asking for perfection.
I flipped over the intermediates and took a straightedge to them. There are contours! A high spot on the left, and huge low spot in the middle. The different intermediates have different degrees of severity, ranging from livable and dampenable, to fearfully wobbly.
The fact that the GripLatch has an asymmetrically concave front support concerns me slightly as well. Since it’s asymmetric, I doubt that it was intended to be that way.
I’ve toyed with both Kobalt’s and Husky’s storage units, and they’re quite nice as well. I won’t strike Craftsman off my list (hey, I love a great value), but will definitely try to buy in-store units next time so that exchanges can be made easily. Returning a catalog item in-store at Sears is not exactly a cakewalk.
SharkBreath says
I’ve noticed that Craftsmans QC leaves something to be desired when it comes to their chests. Although I like most of their hand tools, I prefer Grizzly for metal chests and bench top power tools.
SteveR says
Stuart–If you’ve got a QC issue, I wouldn’t go back into the Tool Dept. at Sears. If you picked them up at the Catalogue Pickup Area (i.e., the warehouse loading dock, far from the madding crowd), I’d simply go back there. I did this to get my 26″ Craftsman SS ball-bearing 8-drawer storage unit. The first one was trashed, probably in the warehouse (Dropped? Or was it speared by a forklift operator?); my brother and I didn’t know this until it was unboxed at home. We went back to Sears and reordered it from the Catalogue Pickup guy. The second time we were smarter; we opened the box there and found it had also been dropped. l refused it, and re-ordered before we left the warehouse. The third one was also opened there, and we finally had one that was a keeper.
The moral of the story? If it’s too large to be picked up in-store (and carried out), you’ll be miles ahead by at least partially opening the box at the Catalogue Pickup Area to make sure it’s okay. This goes for lawn furniture, barbeques and anything else of considerable size or weight. It may be inconvenient, but it’ll save you a return visit and the attendant frustration.