DIY Tote Storage Rack - 17 Gallon Totes

I needed a better way to store my 17 gallon storage bins so I came up with a design using some 2x4s. The link below on Printables has PDF drawings, cut list, and a list of all the materials needed. This rack holes 15 totes and can be easily wheeled around the shop.
Design Files on Printables - www.printables...
17 Gallon Totes (Home Depot) - www.homedepot....
17 Gallon Totes (Lowes) - www.lowes.com/...
17 Gallon Totes (Amazon) - amzn.to/3U4Lfx8
Massca Pro M2 Pocket Hole Jig - amzn.to/4ayuXDF
Bosch Surgeon - amzn.to/3UhjClq
My favorite 3" Casters - amzn.to/3JdmZnr
00:00 Intro
00:23 Project Overview
01:13 New Tools!
02:10 Cutting frame pieces
03:05 Massca Pocket Hole Jig
03:52 Adding pocket holes
04:40 Assembling frames
05:29 Frame assembly details
06:28 Frame connectors
07:13 Merging the frames
08:05 Size Matters
09:39 Preparing the runners
10:53 Runner installation
12:43 Shelving supports
13:52 Top shelfs
14:21 Rear support
14:41 Adding the totes!
15:33 Design Files
16:26 Bosch Surgeon Thoughts
16:58 Massca Pocket Hole Jig
17:38 My preferred casters

[@sushsidnd]

Whenever people ask if 3D printing has any practical applications I show them your channel. Amazing content as always.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

ha, thanks!

[@LadyAstolat]

I know the joke is that we 3d print things we wouldn't pay for at the dollar store but I have almost exclusively used my printer for practical applications 💪

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@LadyAstolat Same!

[@mattstegall]

Great video…cool to see someone doing the smaller containers. The big ones are hard to find items in. If I was going to make any suggestion, I would say to add ten screws to that rear member that you added on the back. A couple screws, and maybe even some glue would help with any potential racking movement…the single screw just acts like a pivot and really adds very little strength. Just my two cents…thanks again for the great video!

[@crashkg]

Thank you for posting on Printables. It is so helpful for the workshop to have a 3D printer. Although I like designing parts myself its useful to see other people's take on solutions to problems. I finally managed to fix the drifting fence on my Ridgid Tablesaw with some strengthened bumpers. I would have had to get a new tablesaw or different fence, and for 30 minutes and 2 cents worth of plastic, problem solved!

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Nice!

[@moth.monster]

I love 3D printers. So much you can do with just making whatever little bits of plastic.

[@rogermunch4659]

love the way you include all item sites, chapters et. Makes it easy to ck out things. Your videos are professionally done!! Love what you do and how you do it!

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Thanks! I wish more people would do that. I always like when I watch a video and they took the time to do it.

[@pjdava]

Robert Cowan, Your videos always make me happy, so I subscribed!

[@RobertCowanDIY]

great, thanks!

[@12345NoNamesLeft]

I advocate for having those bins sit on their bottoms rather than their rims.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Why?

[@Rocco-bm9cf]

​@@RobertCowanDIYI tend to agree. If they sat on their bottoms, the weight of its contents would go straight into the shelf. Hanging them by the rim forces all the weight (and stress) through the sides of the bins. If the bins are heavy duty, it should be fine, but I imagine they would last longer if they rested on their bottoms. Either way, I loved the video, as always!

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@Rocco-bm9cf Thanks. We'll see how they do!

[@dberry99]

If you don't put some sort of diagonal brace on the back, that rack is going to tear itself apart as you move it around. A 1/4" or 1/2" plywood sheet at least on the bottom half will help a lot. Using a flat 2x4 to span isn't good practice.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

I could be wrong, but the horizontal works just fine. There's no flex at all. Sure, a diagonal brace would also work, but they're accomplishing the same thing.

[@CharlesLogstonInTexas]

I'm a fan of the design as is, but from observation I agree that a thin sheet of plywood or masonite would be common practice on furniture shelving, dressers, and cabinets.

[@c0mputer]

@@RobertCowanDIYEh, add it if you feel it starting to get loose and wonky. No need to add it in now. Theory and practice.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@c0mputer Yeah, I'll modify the design on printabes if it becomes necessary. But right now I'm easily tossing 70 pound totes in there and it's more solid than the previous metal rack.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@CharlesLogstonInTexas For sure. This is also 100+ pounds, it's far sturdier than I thought it would be. I'm pretty familiar with making things bullet proof and this has my stamp of approval ;-)

[@ScytheNoire]

Building a storage system for those black and yellow totes seems to be all the rage these days. :)

[@RobertCowanDIY]

right?

[@rogermunch4659]

So, this video inspired me to redo my garage 4x8 ft. work table so i can better use my space. I got rid of the horses that top was on, created legs and added a second 4x8 shelf under the top , and ....here it is: Added those caster wheels to the four legs. Now i can be more flexible with the area setup. I do a bit of everything, printmaking, sculpture, wood working, jewelry making, mold making et., so being able to rearrange this table now is a big improvement....that i should have done some time ago. Thanks for sparking my mind. BTW, $25. for a set of four of those casters is a great buy. Thanks Robert. Oh, and i had your dad help me move it around during build. ewleryewlery

[@m97120]

Can totally relate to things often feeling much smaller or larger in CAD then they end up IRL. I have a highly detailed 3D model of my apartment for that. So when I want to get an idea of how big something feels relative to my living space I just place it in my apartment digitally. I'm currently working on an under desk drawer unit and that helps a lot.

[@therick0996]

I've started 3Dprinting some projects at 1:24 scale for this reason. Basically what Shop Nation did

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Ah, that's a great idea.

[@ame7165]

man, i really need something like this. i'm in that hell where even the act of organizing is hard because the lack of free space to move things around in. it's like having two "squares" of free space in the puzzle, but you're standing in one of the two spaces lol. your solution solves my main gripe with those HDX totes: they're too flimsy for holding much weight if you plan to stack them. i got those even more prohibitively expensive husky ones that do solve that problem, but your solution supports each tote individually, solving the problem. i did get the husky's for the clear lids, but stacked, the clear lids are just about pointless. yours sort of solves that problem too since you can pull one tote out without needing to unstack 3-4 totes to see the bottom one. nice work as usual i ended up with the kreg, but only because i liked that home depot and other stores carry it, so having local access to more screws and accessories was nice. the body is plastic but it's that really high durometer impact plastic. the part with the holes the drill goes through is metal, and slides within the plastic body for length and depth adjustments. it has an optional vacuum accessory, so i did what you did and printed one 😂. it gets the job done but i'm sure for the long haul, a nicer one would probably be better

[@bami2]

Nice rack! Really liked the endstop and dust collector adapter for the pocket screw jig, it's these little touches that make a tool so much more valuable, either reducing work afterwards (like having to vacuum a bunch of dust) or making repeatability easier so it's harder to make silly mistakes like not perfectly clamping it down and drilling holes in slightly the wrong place. I just keep stacks of totes filled with crap under my workbench but you're giving me plenty of ideas to make a rack like this for myself. Regarding things with scale, I can fully recommend making a CAD of your workspace with the major things like the CNC represented as blocks, that gives a good idea how much room something will take up after you build it and saved my bacon a couple of times where I was going to build something, I make a box with the dimensions and add it to the model and then figure out it doesn't exactly fit, blocks or doesn't fit through a door or something else. You can even go low-tech and make a scale model if you really want to Adam Savage it up.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

I think my shop is too far along for a scale model at this point, but it's a good thing to keep in mind!

[@whatthefunction9140]

I did this with clear bins with air tight lids. So much better

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Nice. I already had a dozen of these. Clear would be nice.

[@whatthefunction9140]

@@RobertCowanDIY sorry I meant so much nicer than what I had. Which was a pile of boxes.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@whatthefunction9140 ha!

[@IMOO1896]

Yay, finally someone using the 17 gallon totes. Thanks for doing the math for me. I just found out all black/yellow tubs are not created equip-as far as brand. The measurements are different from the major brands, which brand are you using?

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Huh, I'm using both lowes and home depot and both are interchangeable, I haven't found any differences. There are cosmetic differences, but even the lids fit either.

[@These_Old_Engines]

As an addon to this mount 2 1x1's on heavy drawer rails at a good working height. When you want a tote, pull out the rails, pull out the tote, set the tote on the rails and save your back. When you are done push them back in. They can go right under one of the static rails in this very setup. You can also add them to a work bench on the other side of the shop.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Drawer slides that could handle these weights would be quite expensive and make the cost of the project go up by an order of magnitude!

[@therick0996]

Fantastic! Only thing I might add is moving the back brace from horizontal to diagonal, if racking becomes an issue. Or adding triangle gussets in the corners

[@RobertCowanDIY]

I considered this, but it's more sturdy than I expected.

[@andrewvaziri]

Nice build! I recommend you look into wood dowel jigs if you are going to keep customizing them to suit your woodworking (I hear good things about JessEm). Your 300 count pocket hole screws cost $28, with dowels you can get to half that with fancy kiln dried stuff and 1/4 that if you cut your own from rods. Maybe more exciting than the price is the fact that they really lend themselves to making fixtures for projects with lots of identical parts. Everything just self locates and slots together in the end.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

I have a dowel jig as well. I just wanted to try pocket screws ;-)

[@BenRyherd]

In case you're curious, the linear slide mechanism on the saw is called a "Sarrus Linkage" A very clever mechanism, though it relies heavily on the "links" being rigid and the bearings having little to no slop (more slop=less precise linear movement).

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Ah nice. I think they call it 'axial glide', which is of course the same thing.

[@Roobotics]

I feel like as that gets loaded up over time, you might be at risk for a sideways collapse eventually, triangles are always stronger than squares, consider diagonal crossmembers in the rear rather than the horizontal strip.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

I could be wrong, but I really doubt it. If I felt even the slightest bit of racking, I would have added additional bracing. It's stupid solid, even loaded up with really heavy totes.

[@LukeQuin]

Tote storage racks are so hot right now. It's all I see on my Instagram feed. Looks great. Sad it was not 3D printed.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Ha!

[@tim71291]

Excellent project that has a practical use and immediate need! However, I must admit I was caught off-guard about printing the whole thing.... ;)

[@RobertCowanDIY]

There are channels out there that do stuff like that. That one with the 3d printed toilet, the things people will do for views.

[@Spencerburner]

Filming on a table saw is bad because no matter what you do you will get a bunch of people commenting that you did something wrong

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Also that...

[@GokouZWAR]

Should be worth mentioning your links for 27 and 17 gallon totes, the 27 gallon totes are a dollar cheaper. Using the smaller ones is very cost inefficient… I get why you used smaller ones but the bigger ones have more storage for less.

[@RafaelRodriguez-vk8ze]

What about the spacing in between the verticals?

[@JC-iv7mw]

What you you recommend for height dimension of you only want 3 rows?

[@BoffoCaveman]

Psst. The runner length listed on the cut list are shown as 19 3/4" long, but that's the same length as the frame connectors (which means that the runners aren't long enough to screw to the uprights.) I think they need to be 26 1/2".

[@RobertCowanDIY]

AAAH, I'll fix that.

[@tpobrienjr]

Excellent! Thank you.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

You are welcome!

[@gmoney9992]

Thanks for the video. Would you recommend using a nail gun instead of screwing it in?

[@RobertCowanDIY]

That COULD work, but I would add some corner braces on the back.

[@nobodyspecial9035]

$76 metal rolling racks on Amazon holds ten large boxes. Was $24 shipping though.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Thankfully I didn't present this as the ONLY possible option for holding totes ;-)

[@nobodyspecial9035]

@@RobertCowanDIY 👋 (if I did), I wasn’t trying to ruffle your feathers, just presenting the alternative, from personal experience. I envy, what you constructed and enjoy building things myself too. Then I think, I could have the metal racks disassembled in seconds, they’re lighter, the shelf heights are forever adjustable, the price point is competitive to timber construction….. Let the audience be fully informed of their options and weigh the pros and cons. 🤷‍♂️ Have a nice day and keep making nice videos. Please and thank you, -NS

[@JonathanRansom]

Please add laser engraved labels. I need more laser content. Haha

[@RobertCowanDIY]

ha! I might have a couple laser videos coming up.

[@GarethLewin]

"Hello everyone, this is Robert. In this video I'm going to dismantle this kick ass throne..."

[@RobertCowanDIY]

hehe. I was literally sitting on crippling depression ;-)

[@yossarianmtu]

Link for the casters? I think you forgot it in the description with the other links.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

It's in there? But here it is just in case: amzn.to/3JdmZnr

[@yossarianmtu]

​@@RobertCowanDIY sorry, somehow missed it.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@yossarianmtu No worries!

[@75keg75]

I was like I’ve seen this video. But it was Uncle Jesse who did something with the big totes.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

MANY people have done this, but they always use the larger totes. I think the 27 gallon ones are just too big and bulky for my purposes. This isn't an original project at all.

[@75keg75]

For sure I know you said it wasn’t original. When I saw this I just woke up and thought did you repost a prior video you did, but I hadn’t seen it. As I woke up I was like it was Jesse who did the video. I posted as it give other followers another channel to check out as every rack is different.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@75keg75 For sure, I tried to optimize for the least amount of material. I made sure most of the off-cuts had a use, etc. It's not perfectly optimized, but it's pretty straightforward.

[@75keg75]

I just rewatched as when I had you on before i got distracted by phone or something. Just a couple thoughts 1) Could you 3d print some height adjustable feet that sit next to the castors (on right side) so that when it is in it’s usual docked position it is level. It would be good if feet activated but that’s a lot more tricky to design vs a screw. And 2) can you sneak a couple of 45 braces to stop it racking over. The horizontal centre probably is okay but warehouses generally have ties so stop them racking over and they have horizontal purlins. Just something consider with the weight you’re talking about at the end.

[@ZappyOh]

Wax the runners for better sliding action.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Good idea!

[@Eric_Wolfe-Schulte]

Try some hdpe tape instead - do it once and never have to do it again!

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@Eric_Wolfe-Schulte I actually have some, but it's really not needed. The totes slide VERY easily from the rails, I was actually a bit surprised. The problem with the HDPE tape is it doesn't always adhere perfectly and it would curl and come off over time. The wood slides work great.

[@m97120]

Since people are most likely not going to print this, wouldn't it make more sense to publish a full assembly in STEP format instead of 3MF mesh files of each part individually?

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Correct, it's not really meant to be printed of course. I could also upload the STEP files, but I created the frames as a single part with multiple solid bodies, etc. However, I did generate PDFs with cut lists for everything, which is probably more useful for people actually building this.

[@BoffoCaveman]

@@RobertCowanDIY I might just be blind, but aI don't actually see a cut list in the PDFs. I see images and overall demissions but no cut list.

[@BoffoCaveman]

... or I could look at the description on Printables that has the cut list. [facepalm]

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@BoffoCaveman hehe, no worries.

[@thomashp]

Are you still making combat robots?

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Some day, but nothing right now.

[@joell439]

👍👍

[@brandeesmith8218]

Best place for 27gal totes is Costco $7.98 ea.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

oh nice!

[@johnnyhuy1969]

Not everyone can open a 3mf files :( ( FRAME.3MF , RUNNER.3MF )..... why can you set the link with a PDF instead ...........

[@kaiserruhsam]

dyi?

[@RobertCowanDIY]

OOPS!

[@jorgeosorio1242]

excellent , Thank you!