First of all, I like Stanley Toolbox product idea very much. Well thought out features and usability. Drawer racks and latches are great and operate smoothly. The drawer label provision is a good touch (I printed my own labels on paper and cut them out). Superb how the boxes interlock and latch together with a secure and simple latching scheme. Really like the texture, colors, and durability of the plastic selected. Although watch out, I was delivered one of the lidded TSTAK boxes that was broken during shipping. Seems a bit brittle so I wouldn’t subject it to forceful impacts.
Now the down side, the box structure is poorly designed and manufactured. The shelf under the bottom drawer is bowed upwards so that the bottom drawer drags on it. That is mentioned in some of the other reviews and you can see it in the DeWalt product photos. But worse than that is the supporting feet are positioned so that the lower shelf bows up even more so into the bottom drawer, more so with heavier loads in the toolbox. I would expect this to get worse as the plastic deforms over time. Note that this is not a problem when stacking the drawer box on top of other TSTAK boxes because the bottom feet are not in play (load goes through the sidewalls).
One way out of the bottom box support problem might be to purchase the roller base. I fixed this by custom fitting 4 wooden feet to my bottom box (painting them black) so that they support the box at the sidewalls.
Of lesser concern is that with the drawers more heavily loaded I am not sure whether or not they will bow downward over time.
I easily would have given 5 stars if not for the bowed lower shelf and the poorly located supporting feet. I almost gave 3 stars.
DeWalt:
Do you read these reviews? Come on, get your act together. You have a fantastic reputation built up over the years. Don’t mess it up. Unfortunately once the downward slide to incompetence starts, mediocrity seems to be inevitable. I have many of your excellent products and until now look to DeWalt first before other brands. The two primary mistakes on this product:
1) How long have you sourced out molded parts? Can’t you by now manage your designs and suppliers so that you can mold a bottom shelf that is not excessively distorted?
2) First rule of structural design is to mind your load path. Shame on you. Who signed off on the drawing? You have set your side walls as the load carrying members, the drawers beam the loads nicely and added toolboxes seem to be supported okay. Then when you get to the bottom feet you drastically offset the load reaction points with insufficient moment carrying capability from the shelf. Sure, you would have had to rework your interlocking/interface features but you need to start with something that works structurally.
