Beer is always been a great source of inspiration to me.

So here again. In this I'ble I'm going to show you how you can easily make a custom heavy duty toolbox from a plastic beerbox.
A few years ago I already made such a thing, using two beerboxes. It's still in use, of course, since it's very sturdy. It's made by me. Jokin'!

It's just a bit, well, too sturdy (read: heavy) and so I decided to make another one with (another) one of my favorite beer brands. The advatage of Jupiler TAURO - a deadly accurate strong blond beer - is that those boxes got a handy handle in the middle - a feature that opens a lot of possibilities...

Yes, in Belgium our beerboxes are still made from plastic and they are veeery tough - there are even guys who make whole houses with it! So using them for a toolbox is a logic idea. They are also quite spacy so you can store a lot of gear in it.
And they are lightweight.
AND they form a useful step on every worksite.

I'm a fan of beerboxes, totally.

Enjoy!

Step 1: Closing the Bottom

I wanted to keep the physical integrity of the box intact and instead of removing the bottom completely (like I did the first time) I decided to make some 'puzzle pieces' to fill the gaps in the bottom.

Measure the size of the gaps and go mass production.
Copy the measurements on a piece of plywood and use a clock drill to drill the holes for the bottle spacers.
Don't throw the wooden discs away, you'll use them later.
Use a mitter saw to cut the 'puzzle' pieces.
Smash them in the bottom of the box. No screw no glue, just good old pressure.

Step 2: A Little Bit of Demolition

Those spacers are definitely a pain in the ... So they'll have to go.
I modified my PMF aka multitasker in a 90° cutter and it worked just perfect to cut those plastic trees down.
A bit of sanding and you'll have a perfect bottom.

Step 3: Making Stages 'lasagna Style'

I'm a great fan of alubond - a composite material that consists of a sheet of plastic sandwiched between two sheets of aluminium.
If you don't have acces to that stuff you can use plywood. Aim is to cut two sheets that will cover the bottom of the box to have a nice support. (If you want you can store some small stuff in the micro-compartments, like first-aid gear for example).

Cut those sheets and put them in place.
Fill that stage with screw-boxes. I got the chance that there was just enough space for 8 boxes.

You'll see that there will be enough space left to make another stage, using the tops of the boxes as support.
Cut another piece of alubond and make some space for the handle of the box (every beerbox is different - you'll have to be creative).
Put that sheet in place and add the gear you want. I wanted it to be a 'drill box' so I put some drill gear to illustrate the possibilities of the concept. There's more than enough space for drill, drill bits, extensions etc.

Ready is your toolbox!

Step 4: Anti-slip Covering

And what if we added a cover to use the toolbox as a step?
I got the chance - again - to find a nice piece of anti-slip alu-sheet having exactly the size that I needed.
That material is just perfect for a cover.

Cut a piece of plywood and figure out how to fix it on the box.
I decided to use the wooden discs from step 1 to keep the cover in place.
Screw & glue: it won't move.
Glue the alu on the top of the cover - or do like me: use the router to 'sink' it in the cover.
I cut out too much and had to compensate before glueing the antislip where I wanted it to be...

Put some oil on the wood and definitely ready is that custom toolbox!

Bonus: you can even use the cover as a cool tray!

Hope you enjoy it!