Brandon,

Talking about tool boxes, I think you were looking for something like this:

Can you see the cylindrical containers inside? $9 at Walmart, by the beads section.

Brandon,

  Here is the link to an earlier discussion about Pit Boxes.  There are several links to Pit Box mfg’s in the thread.

Pit Boxes

Brian

Hi folks,

First, thanks to everyone for a very enlightening saturday afternoon. That was my first exposure to slots since I did it in the 60s and technology was far behind what’s out there now. We built chassis by soldering brass tubing, rewound armatures that would sometimes last a couple of races, sometimes not, and used all kins of tire “treatments”. I’m hooked. I just downloaded the membership application and will probably bring it Thursday night along with more questions, many more

That said…

I looked at some of the pit boxes you guys have as well as the ones online that had links to them. There is around $30 worth of material in one of these, and once you have a jig set up to do repetitive cuts, one can be cut out in around 45 minutes to an hour and glued up in about another hour. All it takes is a table saw and a dado, of which I have both. If I get into this like I think I will, I’m going to need one also. I would certainly be willing to offer some xpertise on building these in return for some guidance on setting up slot cars and naking them competitive. If anyone thinks they might be interested, feel free to email me and we’ll see what we can work out. Have a great day. all.. 

It would be great to have someone in the club that could make slot boxes for those who were interested.  I bet you Kings would be open to you putting one on display and taking orders for them.  You could post pictures on the clubs forum and see if you could sell some to members and guests.

Marty

After looking at a couple of the boxes Saturday, I happened to think about something, and I’m sure there’s probably a good explanation for it. On the slide-out shelves that the cars sit on, the pickup rests in a slot and this keeps the front wheels off of the shelf by .5-1mm. This would keep the front tires from developing flat spots from extended time in the box, but I don’t remember seeing anything across the rear of the shelf that would support the rear of the car, taking the weight off of the rear wheels. This is just speculation on my part, but it seems like the rear wheels might be just as susceptible to flattening as the front. If the cars don’t stay in the box for extended periods and if that’s so, then this is a moot point, but the cars have to live somewhere all of the time. Just thinking through the keyboard.

wouldn’t it be easier to make the shelf with the rear part cut out so the chassis sits on the shelf, i also do not know the effects if any of the tires getting flat spots. i always thought the slot was there to keep it looking nice and keeping the cars from moving in transport

You’re probably right bout the purpose of the slot. Like I said, I’m a noobie and just speculating for ideas. The idea of cutouts for the rear wheels is doable, I’m just wondering about the wheelbase on different cars coming into play. Even cutting the slots the same, that would really add to the build time of the box and the idea is to produce a good box that would be affordable. I was thinking of a strip glued across the slide that would let the car rest on it ahead of the rear wheels and hold the rear off of the slide. This may be a moot point anyway. It seems I read something about the tires developing flat spots and this would just be a way to alliviate the issue. But then, it may be a non-issue.

Anything that would keep the cost down would be benificial. Looking at these boxes again, I may have spoken to soon. Even at $200 for a box that would hold a dozen cars and have 3-4 drawers, those guys aren’t getting rich considering the amount of detail that goes into cutting out all of the small pieces, fitting, glueing and finishing. Like most good craftsmen, they probably are doing it out pride of creating something really nice and just making enough to cover their materials and put a few bucks in their pocket.

Brandon,

I drew up a box today based on my basic ideas and what we talked about Thursday night, It has slots for 7 cars on each side, The middle section is 9″ wide whick allow for more three car tray for future expansion. I’ve planned it with two four inch trays and one two inch one, but that could be any configuration, 5 two inch high drawers if desired. If the bottom two slots are left empty, that leaves a space 9 inches wide, 4 inches high, and seven inches deep. That would be big enough to hold a controller. That added with the storage in the doors should give plenty of room for spare parts. If a guy was to remove all of the drawers and use slots only for cars, which no one is likely to do, the box would hold 41 1/32 cars. I’ll try to get the basic box cut out and put together tomorrow and post a photo(If I can figure out how, probably Photobucket). Overall dimensions are 17″X15 7/8″X8 1/2″ including 1 1/2 inches for the doors.. Given the shortage of bench space we have, I thought it would be better to go higher ranther than wide.

I did notice something else. I put on my magnifiers and bumped my screen magnificatio up to 150% to see if I could see any construction detail on the boxes on the Internet. I was surprised to find that all of them used only glued butt joints for construction of the main box. That explains how they are able to sell them without having a lot of hours tied up in construction. I suppose it’s sturdy enough as these things aren’t going to be drop-kicked off a truck, but I’m going to use glued dado joints none the less, just to add some durability to the box. Once I get the sw set up, it’s not tat big a deal to cut them all at once.

Cheers

I don’t know how you would engrave a wooden box. You would have to have some custom templates made for a router like they used to use for mail box and address signs. I think I’m just going to go for a basic box.

I did some more thinking about construction after looking closely atthe boxes online and also the ones that club members already have. Construction on these things isn’t rocket science. The ones I have seen don’t even use glued dado joints, just butt joints, maybe glued, and pinned with a finishing nailer. I think that even hot glue, which is pretty strong to begin with along with the finishing nailer would produce a box that would be more than adequately sturdy for our use. I spent all of last night redrawing my plans and streamlingthe actual construction and am going to start on it today, and if it goes as planned, I may even get the main box cut out and put together. The doors are going to take a little thought. I don’t like the gaps in the daos showing where smaller pieces were fittied in, so a little more careful planning and fitting will be in order. More to come. These don’t have to look like a piece of furniture, but they do need to look thought out.

Here is the result of the better part of the afternoon. I got the basic box built and the slides for the car slots finished. The box has 5 slides on each side for 1:32 cars, but are on 1″ centers so they could be moved to accomodate a 1:24 car. The center section will have two 1 1/2″ drawers and a 1″ drawer/tray with dividers. The pieces of fiberboard in the middle section are the bottoms for the drawers. The space below the drawers is large enough to throw in a controller, tire truer, or whatever you want to carry.  I also did the drawers on 1 1/2″ centers  to break up the cookie cutter look. The drawers will also be out of solid wood just so there aren’t rough plywood edges showing when they are opened. Again, it’s just a more finished look. I also cut some channel out of solid stock to cover the ends of the slides instead of just sticking a piece of wood on top of the slide. That covers the edge of the slide and the slot and gives it a more finished look. The back will be covered with a piece of 1/4″ plywood. The long space at the bottom was an afterthought. I was looking at the drawing tha I had done to make the box from and realized that the midde section wasn’t long enough to hold my digital caliper but I was tired and  I didn’t want to redraw everything and have to refigure dimensions so I just added the bottom space to the drawing and went with that.

I still have to build the doors and I’m not sure what I’m going to do with those. I’m thinking I’ll also build those from solid material and inlay a panel similar to a cabinet door, again just so I don’t have to mess with plywood edges. You can fix a lot of things with sandpaper and paint, but I don’t like to have rough edges showing any more than necessary.

Nicely done!

I made some mistakes but was able to cover up most of them. Learned a few tricks along the way, so the next ones will be much easier and much quicker to build. Onward to the doors and a paint job..

Toyota Man,

Your slot box looks great!  You should put one in Kings and see if they can sell any for you.  I wish I would have had you build my boxes as opposed to spending hundreds in shipping.  I can’t wait to see it in person.

Finished the painting today. It was raining outside and I had to do it in the kitchen. Darling wife was not a very happy camper. I still need to reinstall the hinges and the locks, but I was anxious to get a pic of it posted. I also need a luggage handle for it and I can’t find one anywhere in Austin. If anyone knows where I might get one it would really be appreciated.

Bob, the box looks sharp! British green?

I don’t know where to get a handle from a shelf but I will look around for one.

It was a lucky pick on the color. It was the pre-mix green that was on the shelf.

I am hoping your skill at builing a slot box is far better than your car prep and driving.  If not, we are all in trouble!