Craftsman Versastack and Dewalt Tstak drawers for days

[gmasterfj]

I couldn't find much information on the Dewalt Tstak and Craftsman Versastack systems so I thought I'd share my experiences. Verstack was from Lowes and Tstack was ordered from Amazon.

 

First of all, these two systems are completely compatible. You can see in the first photo how the two systems nest together.

 

The clips, while difference in design, function similarly and lock into the upper box perfectly.  You can see in second and third images how the clips are different in shape and construction. The Versastack (black) has metal rods attaching the clip to the box while the Tstak (yellow) is completely plastic. I'm concerned about the longevity of the Tstak plastic clips as I've seen them break in other reviews. When I need to move multiple boxes, I will do so separately and only keep boxes clipped together while standing on the Tstak cart (DWST17889).

 

I've combined the Tstak deep long handle tool box (DWST17814), Versastack 2-Drawer (CMST17804), Tstak Single deep drawer (DWST17803), Versastack bin (CMST17809), and Tstak cart (DWST17889). The stack in picture 4 is about 4 1/2 feet tall. I keep larger power tools in the bins (grinder, jig saw, recip, circular saw, kreg jig). 

 

The last photo with the open drawer demonstrates the depth of the Versastack 2-drawer box drawers. Keep in mind these drawers are very shallow. Almost too shallow for what I wanted to use it for. The 3/8in sockets on the organizer is just short enough to get the drawer to close. All the photos I've seen Versastack 2-drawer box show it as just a small parts organizer. With a little bit of customization and organization, these drawers can fit a good amount of tools rather than parts. The milwaukee M12 ratchet barely fits- the rubber overmolding rubs on the upper drawer but the drawer does close. 

 

I'm coming from the Husky 22 in Connect Rolling System. Comparing the construction of the Husky and Versastack/Tstak systems, the Husky wins hands down. Versastack/Tstak is much thinner in construction all around. However, this is acceptable for my needs. As a DIY'er, organization and ease of access is more important than tool box strength. I often think of Adam Savage's first order of retrieval methodology (watch Tested on Youtube) and drawers for me are just that. 

 

We don't have many big box tool stores aside from Home Depot and Lowes here in Hawaii. Amazon ships tstak boxes for free with prime. I bet they're going to change that soon. Does anyone know if the Versastack system is going to be discontinued? The Lowe's here have them all on clearance.

[Jronman]

They are probably on clearance because of the Christmas season.

[paulengr]

Dewalt and “Craftsman” (but not Sears-K-Mart Craftsman) are both brands of Stanley Black and Decker (SBD).The old Craftsman we knew and loved was mostly ATG (Apex Tool Group) and the USA made tools were made in multiple plants mostly concentrated in the Carolinas. After the Sears Holding thing ATG was cut out and everything got sourced from China with zero quality control. After acquiring the Craftsman name,SBD is making an attempt to relaunch Craftsman as a midrange value priced brand similar to their Porter Cable brand for instance. That meant cranking out engineering and everything else for thousands of tools. So obviously they almost cloned the T-Stak, leaving Toughsystem as the Dewalt premium system. In fact I’m surprised about the clips. I just assumed looking at them that Versastak is just T-Stak in red and grey instead of black and yellow since as you said they are 100% interchangeable.

[paulengr]

Versastak and T-Stak will periodically go through refreshes and upgrades but no chance good sellers are going away. Just as Toughsystem’s drawer unit is now on its 2nd iteration. The first TS drawer units had big problems with sagging. The second generation has somewhat fixed that. Each time HD and Lowe’s will clearance the old inventory.

The big hassle is following how they stock. All of these systems take up a lot of shelf space. If you have a full selection of any of them it takes up more space than say the whole Makita cordless section AND these things aren’t cheap so they don’t sell that well. So Lowe’s and HD are more reluctant to sell so SBD has to do some arm twisting to get product placement and inventory. Online sales as far as I know are quite good because they are frequently sold out and SBD keeps refreshing the product lines. They seem to carry it at Christmas then drop it after that relying on online sales only.

[gmasterfj]

On 12/3/2019 at 5:31 AM, paulengr said:

Dewalt and “Craftsman” (but not Sears-K-Mart Craftsman) are both brands of Stanley Black and Decker (SBD).The old Craftsman we knew and loved was mostly ATG (Apex Tool Group) and the USA made tools were made in multiple plants mostly concentrated in the Carolinas. After the Sears Holding thing ATG was cut out and everything got sourced from China with zero quality control. After acquiring the Craftsman name,SBD is making an attempt to relaunch Craftsman as a midrange value priced brand similar to their Porter Cable brand for instance. That meant cranking out engineering and everything else for thousands of tools. So obviously they almost cloned the T-Stak, leaving Toughsystem as the Dewalt premium system. In fact I’m surprised about the clips. I just assumed looking at them that Versastak is just T-Stak in red and grey instead of black and yellow since as you said they are 100% interchangeable.

That's good to know and explains the huge marketing effort for the new Craftsman 20V power tools. 

[luma]

Bringing this thread back from the dead - does anyone know if these two systems are still on the roadmap?  It seems that most SKUs for both TSTAK and Versastak are out of stock or listed as discontinued online and at the major retailers.

 

ToughSystem just went through a refresh, maybe the same thing is happening here?

[midogrumpy]

Hi

not in Europe; boxes are "wll alive"

 

most of the cordless tools (of course that fit in size) are delivered in a TSTAK-II toolbox

also the dt70716 carrier is well expanded now with bit sets that fit insinde; also thoughcase(TM)  mini is one of "five new boxes / sets

 

one example:

 

[luma]

@midogrumpy That's crazy helpful, thanks man!

 

The reason I ask about TSTAK is that when I do a search on homedepot.com, there are literally zero TSTAK SKUs in stock within a hundred miles of me. On Amazon, there are only a couple TSTAK products still listed and most of them are selling from third-party sellers at inflated prices, typical of the sort of thing that happens when a product is either discontinued or in short supply.

 

Lowe's still has Versastack SKUs available, but the 3-piece "system tower" kits are no longer available anywhere.  This seems to align with the OP's observations back in December that Lowe's appears to be clearing these systems out.

 

I have a couple cordless tools that came w/ TSTAK boxes and I don't really need the extra durability or waterproof capabilities that come with Toughsystem.  Versastack/TSTAK would be perfect but for some reason they're just hard to get in the US right now.

[Mordekyle]

@midogrumpy That's crazy helpful, thanks man!
 
The reason I ask about TSTAK is that when I do a search on homedepot.com, there are literally zero TSTAK SKUs in stock within a hundred miles of me. On Amazon, there are only a couple TSTAK products still listed and most of them are selling from third-party sellers at inflated prices, typical of the sort of thing that happens when a product is either discontinued or in short supply.
 
Lowe's still has Versastack SKUs available, but the 3-piece "system tower" kits are no longer available anywhere.  This seems to align with the OP's observations back in December that Lowe's appears to be clearing these systems out.
 
I have a couple cordless tools that came w/ TSTAK boxes and I don't really need the extra durability or waterproof capabilities that come with Toughsystem.  Versastack/TSTAK would be perfect but for some reason they're just hard to get in the US right now.

Try acmetools






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