We knew that Milwaukee was coming out with a new ball bearing storage combo, which is mentioned in our 2014-2015 new Milwaukee tools outlook, but official details and specs and finally available.
Matt sent in an early morning heads-up:
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Stuart, not sure if you’ll be as excited about this as I am but Home Depot has just listed the new Milwaukee Tool Chest on their website. Looks awesome and can’t wait for the release!
Yep, I’m definitely excited, especially after seeing everything that the chest and cabinet offer.
Both the chest and cabinet are 46″ wide and built from heavy duty welded steel.
ETA: May/June 2015
Milwaukee 8-Drawer Ball Bearing Tool Chest (MWTC4616B2OU)
Milwaukee’s new ball bearing chest comes “loaded with features and extras,” and from what we can tell, this isn’t an exaggeration.
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The chest offers a 10.5″ top lid area that’s large enough to hold your power tools, 7 storage drawers, and 1 pull-out work surface drawer.
The ball bearing drawers are soft-closing and rated to 100 pounds per drawer. They come with precut drawer liners, and there’s also a top mat. The drawer pulls are full-length and made from black anodized aluminum.
On the inside, there are gas struts for holding the top lid open, built-in pegboard wall for vertical tool storage, and an AC power bar.
On both sides you get large recessed handles, and there’s also a handle on the lid for easier opening and closing.
Drawer Sizes
Left Side
- 2-drawers 25.8″ W x 15.9″ L x 1.8″ H
- 2-drawers 25.8″ W x 15.9″ L x 2.8″ H
Right Side
- 2-drawers 13.5″ W x 15.9″ L x 1.8″ H
- 2-drawers 13.5″ W x 15.9″ L x 2.8″ H
The UL-listed 6-outlet power bar can be used for cordless tool battery chargers, corded tools, or AC accessories.
There are two barrel locks – one for locking the top chest, and another for a personal valuables storage drawer. Both work off the same key.
Price: $299
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
Milwaukee 8-Drawer Ball Bearing Tool Cabinet (MWTC4616B2OD)
The 8-drawer rolling cabinet also offers some nice goodies.
To start, there are 8 100 lb ball bearing drawers – 1 full-length drawer (~42″), 3 large drawers on the left side, and 4 smaller drawers on the right side.
On the top, there’s a nice-sized extra-thick matted work surface, for users who won’t be attaching the ball bearing chest, and there’s a large pull handle on the right side. It’s unclear as to whether you can swap the handle to the left side.
The cabinet has (4) industrial-grade polypropylene 5″ x 2″ caster wheels (2 swivel, 2 rigid), and a total weight capacity of 1,800 pounds.
Although there’s no picture of it, the bottom right drawer features a removable power tool storage organizer that can fit cordless drills, drivers, impact wrenches, and Milwaukee battery packs.
Drawer Sizes
Top
- 41.7 in. W x 15.9 in. L x 3.9 in. H,
Left Side
- 25.8″ W x 15.9″ L x 2.8″ H, Top
- 25.8″ W x 15.9″ L x 6″ H, Middle
- 25.8″ W x 15.9″ L x 10.2″ H, Bottom
Right Side
- 13.5″ W x 15.9″ L x 2.8″ H, Top (2)
- 13.5″ W x 15.9″ L x 7″ H, Middle
- 13.5″ W x 15.9″ L x 10.2″ H, Bottom
There’s a UL-listed 6-outlet power bar on the right side, and tapped mounting holes where you can mount Milwaukee M18 and M12 multi-voltage chargers.
It might be possible to mount other chargers from the same holes, and if not, you should be able to easily mount some kind of DIY attachment board for mounting other brands’ chargers.
Bumpers on the bottom corners help to protect the tool cabinet and environment from dings and scrapes, and the swivel casters feature large paddles for easy foot operation.
There is a barrel lock that locks up the cabinet, and it’s important to note that the keys do NOT match up with top chest locks.
Price: $399
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
There’s also now a combo available, for $698. The chest and cabinet separates are sold online and in-store, the combo is only sold online.
Buy Now(Combo via Home Depot)
First Thoughts
It wasn’t too long ago that Dewalt entered the ball bearing tool storage market, with the claim that they would “reinvent the product category.” Then, over the holiday season, the prices were slashed twice. At the time I thought this reflected poor sales, but maybe Home Depot wanted to shoo the Dewalt products out to make space for Milwaukee’s.
Milwaukee’s ball bearing chest and cabinet look pretty decent to me. They look very well thought out, and I love the extra thought that went into the designs. Built-in backwall pegboard? Sounds like a great idea! Mounting holes for M18/M12 multi-voltage chargers? I would definitely use them! Built-in outlet power strips in the chest and on the side of the cabinet? Useful accessories if you ask me.
The price points are pretty low – $698 for the combo. That’s very good for a 46″ combo, especially with 100 lb ball bearing drawer slides. Hopefully the construction is up to snuff, but I don’t think Milwaukee would risk entering the ball bearing tool storage market with sub-quality products.
One thing I’m iffy about is the work surface shelf. What I’m hoping is that the shelf part is a removable insert that could restore full storage functionality to the drawer if a shelf isn’t needed. On the other hand, that’s definitely a feature I would use at least some of the time.
Clayton M
I am hoping the work surface drawer might use the ‘work surface’ part as a lid. In Home Depot’s description it says “Easily use and store your laptop computer with the innovative pull-out work surface drawer.” – which would imply that maybe you can store the laptop inside of the the same drawer.
Aside from that, these look like really attractive storage combos with some great features. As I was reading the description I was expecting them to be twice as expensive as they are quoted, so I am slightly worried about quality, but I agree that Milwaukee likely won’t risk subpar performance.
Chris
Don’t expect much at this price point
Tim Albrecht
Clayton, You are right, we will not sacrifice quality! Tim @ Milwaukee Tool
@SendChris
I have been eyeing the chest combo for the last couple weeks since I spotted it at Home Depot. Over those 2 weeks I have checked out some other stores like Lowes, Sears, and Harbor Freight. No one has some close to the quality and value of the Milwaukee Tool Chest combo. I bought mine tonight and I’m extremely pleased with it.
Benjamen
This tool chest is really well though out. I really like the newer style chests with the flat work surface on top, but Milwaukee seems to have gone the extra mile with the power strip, pegboard, and pull out work surface.
Larson
I like the features, but can anyone confirm if the pegboard is metal? Would be such a shame if it was just painted red
Tim Albrecht
*I’m a Milwaukee employee. Yes, the pegboard is metal.
jacob
Where can you find the pegs to mount your chargers on the board?
Brad
Yes its metal
CB
I would love to see this box be successful but after last year when I did a lot of research and hunting around for new boxes I became very disenchanted by what I saw and measured on the current market. Boxes that look good but are as durable as a tin bread box at best with rated shelf weights not to be trusted.
The Milwaukee price is good for a box this wide and I like the layout although he bottom drawer some really big deep drawers.
The really big question will be the thickness of the sheet metal, if the edges are rolled and if they are doubled walled.
The wall thickness and the thickness in the drawer metal heavily signifies the quality and durability of a tool chest. This is where Craftsman is seriously lacking even though they still quote 100lb. rated drawers. When you walk into a Sears and see them, they really look the business but after handling them you know they are as solid as a beer can. While the craftsman have a great locking mechanism, the rest of the build quality is far from good and heavily overpriced.
A very good indicator to how sturdy the Milwaukee is to know the total empty weight of the chest and compare them to similar chest from the likes of Snap-On, Mac and then compare it to Harbor Freight US Pro chest’s and the highly rated Menards Masterforce series.
Actaully I found the Harbor Freight US Pro chest’s (red ones) to be excellent despite them coming from Harbor Freight. They get excellent reviews, Search Garage Journal and other places for reviews.
The Milwaukee chests set is priced similarly to Harbor Freight.
The total weight of the bottom chest of the 44″ US Pro chest is 276 lbs, the drawer thickness is .052″ with rolled edges and has a total weight capacity of 2633 Lbs.
The Milwaukee weight capacity is 1800 lbs., not necessarily a good sign.
Also looking at at the pic of the Milwaukee caster mounting base, it looks quite light weight and not as sturdy as the harbor freight version.
The bottom Milwaukee chest has some pretty big and deep drawers, Do they have double sliders to handle the extra weight?
Can’t wait till these come out and someone can give an independent review and comparison to similar priced and well reviewed chest’s.
CB
Just to add,
Here is a link to a good thread and reviews of similarly priced tool chest’s. The first page is really informative and will give you a good idea on how to compare chest’s (apples to apples). The following 11 pages also has good info.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153445
Pablo
Given that you’ve taken time out of your day to search for info about toolboxes, I don’t think you’re really the target market for these.
Just look at how many boxes of pure garbage a Craftsman with no merit except brand value.
Will
I work part-time at Home Depot and can tell you that, yes, these are sturdy chests. Everybody’s been drooling over these and we can’t keep them in stock for very long.
We also sell the set in-store.
I’ve been setting aside some dough from each paycheck to get this in order to store my Milwaukee power tools.
Timothy
The tool box is actually under rated and works extremely well I bought mine about 6 months ago and I love it
SteveR
One thing I noted is that the paint is pretty “rough” (orange peel), which will retain dirt and grease; a gloss finish would clean up more easily. Dan Maxey over at TIA indicated that the locks for the top and bottom cabinets are different (and can’t be changed out), which slows down someone trying to steal tools from you.
Stuart
I mentioned the same thing above – the two locks in the chest are keyed alike, but the chest and cabinet keys aren’t.
If someone wants to steal your tools, they’re not going to let different locks stop them. If one can pick or break one lock easily, they can break two.
Logan
Different locks might be because you can buy the units individually.
Chris
My current box is the same… don’t expect tool box locks to really keep away thieves, easily broken and any thief really wanting tools would get in
CB
These locks and locks on almost all tool chest’s are just to keep honest people honest.
mike aka Fazzman
Curious who is making these for milwaukee.
CB
It looks very similar to SPG International Value Series tool boxes.
http://www.spginternational.com/client/page_large.asp?page=2508&clef=830&clef2=23#value
rhyino
Stuey-
I was looking at the pics on Home Depot’s website. By zooming in on the image that shows the left side of the roller chest, it looks like Milwaukee provides four mounting holes to relocate the pull handle.
Boyd
Too bad it’s not a little deeper. 18.2 just isn’t enough
John
…..that’s what she said
glenn
I am just about to buy a tool cabinet/trolley and this would be ideal. I am looking for an all in one solution for hand and power tool storage and this is the closest I have seen to filling my needs. It has the mix of drawer sizes I am wanting and as a bonus, some extra features such as the power boards, ease of mounting chargers etc.
I also like the slide out drawer setup, I have an old ’67 Falcon that is supercharged and has aftermarket EFI & wideband O2 which needs the occasional tweak, so this is where the laptop would live. The bottom drawer looks deep enough to store the mitre saw as well.
Ideal as it is, its a shame that it most likely wont be available over here. And if it was it would be twice the price anyway. eg; the upcoming M12 circular saw that has a USA retail of $149, same saw here has a retail here of $299. The vac that is $59 there is $129 here. Absolutely absurd and in no way justifiable. I have already let Milwaukee Australia know that I will be importing mine from the USA.
You guys get the good stuff and at the right prices!!!!
Chris
Looks like a very entry level box and cabinet, not something I’d dare want to use in an industrial/mechanic style setting… For this price point I wouldn’t expect much. Don’t get caught up in little “gimmicky” things like power outlets and a pegboard, you need quality and the newer milwaukee and even dewalt ones are just basic storage and the price point reflects that
Chris
I know the bigger 52″ wide dewalt is good for 2000lb and uses 6 rubber casters and has a 200lb dual slide bottom drawer I believe
miss franciene
Very nice, well thought out. I love Milwaukee tools. Would work well in a garage/workshop. But I’ll pass on this one.
Jerry
These look to be nice units, if they are sturdy. I like the idea of the electrical socket bars, and pegboard. They might seem gimmicky to some, but if you look at the pictures, it shows the top compartment to be tall enough for cordless tools to stand up in, so it makes perfect sense to have a place for a charger, as well. If I already did not have a cabinet for my most used cordless tools, I would definately be checking these out. While things like L boxes are great for storage, some people use cordless tools daily, or nearly so. To have them easily accessible, yet covered to stay clean would be a great thing.
MattP
Is it just me or do these look VERY similar in construction to the DeWalt ones?
Stuart
It looks similar, but there are many brands that sell tool storage in this size and shape.
Nathan
Damn smart on their part. In fact I almost wished they made the one drawer with either a removable liner, or some form of piece and it’s own power plug specific for use with a laptop/tablet. they are more and more a tool of the trade for some of us.
nice piece – Hope to see a Dewalt, MAC Snap-on and perhaps Cromwell device like this.
T
Better to grab a good used premium box at this price point instead. Better construction, more room, etc… This is a 40y/o design with a power strip and some punched sheet riveted on, far from innovative, imo. Heck, hotroding a tool box is half the fun of ownership anyway. Pick up a couple premium power strips and bolt them onto a nice used Snappy or whatever box and youre golden. Milly seems to have put a bit more thought into their offering than Dewalt, maybe they had two employees emailing the Pantone red paint colour to the box manufacturer instead of one. Generic is still generic regardless of label and what sort of universal plastic bling (corner guards) are tacked on.
Karl
Storing power tools in the top would be ok if you never moved the box. I suspect that tools would be raining on your feet when you open the top, after even a short trip on a less that perfect surface.
Jon
HD pulled this from their site.
Toolfreak
It’s too bad DeWalt and Milwaukee didn’t go higher end with these, making them the top of the line boxes available at HD.
They would probably sell well, especially to the fanboys who have monster collections of their power tools, and what hand tools they offer as well.
Swing and a miss, again, but at least Bosch hasn’t followed suit.
Mike
Been doing some research, if you look at the Husky tool boxes at Home Depot you will find them very similar to the Dewalt tool boxes.
Stanley tools owns Dewalt and owns Husky Brand. Stanley tools also owns Matco tools/tool boxes. Their top line is Stanley vidmar.
When I purchased my Husky tool box for half the cost of the dewalt and believe me they really are the same box, the store tool manager said that Stanley is building a Milwaukee
tool box for home depot. Well looks like a husky/ dewalt combo on steroids.
Stuart
Stanley doesn’t own Husky, but it is possible for Stanley to be the OEM for certain products. A lot of Husky plastic hamd tool boxes are made by Keter, which isn’t a part of Stanley Black and Decker.
SBD also now owns Lista.
Tim Albrecht
Interesting theory but we wouldn’t let Stanley build this for us. These are Milwaukee specs and IP. Tim @ Milwaukee Tool
Mike
The Stanley Works acquired the Husky brand with its 1986 acquisition of National Hand Tool.[6][7] In 1992, Stanley began supplying the Husky brand exclusively to The Home Depot,[8] and sometime later transferred the rights to the name to Home Depot.[1]
Your are right Stuart, I just find it interesting that these boxes all have that same look to them. If you stood the Dewalt, Husky, and Milwaukee together they all look the same but, now I really like the power strip options on this Milwaukee and the little indented handle to open the lid. Who ever is making these is listening and making improvements as they go.
Eric
Any one know the release date on this or where it will be sold? This would be the perfect replacement to my MAC tools box I want something bigger but with out spending 10k
Stuart
ETA is May/June 2015, and they will be available at Home Depot. Home Depot listed the products prematurely, and has since taken down the pages.
I expected for Milwaukee to make an official announcement if/when the product is ready for release.
Eric
Thanks for reply. Going to ask my Tool guy tomorrow if he would be able to get this box for me since I bought all my other milwaukee tools from him. Either that or I will be opening up a home depot credit card =)
Michael
Milwaukee just posted it on their own website. Says coming in spring. New posts that say “coming” like this usually show up on retailer websites 3-4 weeks later.
http://www.milwaukeetool.com/hand-tools/storage/48-22-8500
Brian
Just unpacked this new Milwaukee Tool Storage Chest (top & bottom) and am very pleased with the overall quality and features this combo offers. You absolutely cannot go wrong at this price point.
MIKE
I would like to by one but every where I look they are not available, did Milwaukee discontinue them ?
Stuart
They sold out, and I hope that they make more. At the recent Milwaukee media event, I mentioned that I kept checking my local Home Depot and couldn’t find any on display. They said that’s because they became so popular so quickly that they sold out quite fast.
Tim Albrecht
Mike, check out homedepot.com within the next 10 days. There are more coming.
Thanks, Tim
Joe V
I just talked to Home Depot via customer chat, and then Milwaukee Customer service via their 1-800 number – they both said Home Depot had a 3rd party make these tool chests under the Milwaukee name. They are NOT made by Milwaukee Tools.
Marie Brown
This is an awesome chest but we are having trouble finding a socket tray to fit the drawers. Everything we find is 16 1/2 in which is too big. Any help out there?
BillyGoat
Bought one, great box. A lot of thought went into it. However, I can’t seem to find out where it was made. It is not made in the US. All the nuts, bolts/ screws used for assembly are metric. That tells me it is foreign. I hope it is not from China. I would have never bought it if it is.
BillyGoat
I contacted Milwaukee with this question. hey emailed back. The box is made in CHINA.
Bryan
anyone know the thickness of the steel used, ie guage? Cant find it anywhere.
Stephen
I bought one. I have been in Industrial Maintenance for 17 years. I can tell you this box will hold up better than any Proto, Craftsman, Husky, or the like. Is it a Snap-On, Mac, Marco, Cornwell, etc….no, but it isn’t $4k either. By far the best bang for the buck. The HF pro boxes are also better than the entry level boxes posted above. Take my advice for what you paid for it, and go compare yourself. $10 in gas and a few hrs of your time isn’t anything compared to what you invest in a tool box…never mind tools!