Handy Five Drawer Maintenance Cart on Sale at HF This Weekend

[SpruceForest]

After 45 years watching professional maintainers do their job in the hanger, on the flight line, and in the field, I spent some time recently looking for the sort of small, 3 to 5 drawer maintenance carts I used to see parked next to where the work was located. Harbor Freight has been selling a 4 drawer cart for a few years, but their relatively new 5 drawer is available in a bunch of colors (way easier to ask someone to "...grab the left-handed twisty-thing widget from #4 drawer in the yellow cart..." than "...can you check the second maintenance cart's lower drawers for...") and was on sale last weekend and again this weekend for $199 (plus $30 for the collapsable side tray).
For those folks that have to share shop space, but still want purpose-aligned tool collections, it's the perfect size and comes with precut, installed drawer liners, locking castors (I still chock...old habits), and most of the assembly done. I have a yellow 5 drawer for all the sheet metal stuff and an unassembled gray one for future general aircraft maintenance and FWF work once I move out of the basement guitar shop and invade the garage.

Setting up shop for a new branch of craft is always a process of progressive revelation, so I fully expect cart config to morph as I move through the wing build, but I think the HF five drawer cart is a decent set of bones at the right price.

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[jaredyates]

I have two and they work great!

[Jhankins]

I’m not a big HF fan at all, but when I got the hangar I’m building in a buddy gifted me this exact tool cart in black. I have all my sockets, socket wrenches, and open end wrenches in there and so far no complaints. Soft close drawers and pretty good security (if needed), overall a good addition to the shop. HF has come a long way in the past few years, I’ll give them that

[SpruceForest]

Yeah...they've up'd their game on a bunch of stuff, although amazingly inconsistent on which lines got the quality infusion. Tool chests are pretty decent... near full extension drawers was a surprise... well-done powder coat (versus bad enamel over rusty steel which was the norm for HF 10 years back)...decent gas struts... and surprisingly good wheels. Not Snap-On, but also not a second mortgage required to buy shop gear, and nothing I'm going to come close to wearing out or breaking.