Tool trolleys, chests and bags: how you carry your tools matters

"The handle of my bag tore off." The customer puts a canvas bag on the counter, full of spanners, a drill, two batteries and a reel of cable. The bag was well made, but no bag lasts long if you lift it by the handle with twenty kilos inside. How you carry your tools decides how long they last, and how long your back lasts.

Bag, chest or trolley

• Canvas bag: light, fits well in the van, with plenty of pockets for hand tools. Fine for the electrician or maintenance technician who visits a customer with a light kit. It is not made for heavy power tools.
• Rigid chest: protects power tools from knocks and water, stacks and doubles as a seat. Heavier, less flexible.
• Trolley: wheels and a telescopic handle, for anyone who has to carry a lot of weight on foot, from the van to the site or up and down corridors.

Many professionals end up with a mixed system: a trolley that carries the weight and, on top, a bag or a case with the tools for the day.

Load capacity, litres and empty weight: three different numbers

Data sheets show numbers that look like the same thing and are not. Litres tell you how much fits. The load capacity in kilos tells you how much it can carry, according to whoever designed it. The empty weight you lift anyway, before you put a single tool in. Here is what the models in our range declare:

• Trolley porta utensili: 45 x 28 x 36 cm, polyester, load capacity 20 kg.
• Zaino trolley McLaren DeWalt DWST60101-9: 35 x 24 x 54 cm, 28.7 litres, maximum load 25 kg.
• Borsone con ruote e manico telescopico 28'' McLaren DeWalt DWST83522-9: 70 x 33 x 33 cm, maximum load 25 kg.
• Trolley portautensili semi morbido Fervi 0907: 410 x 310 x 445 mm, 600D polyester, 3.5 kg empty. The data sheet does not state the load capacity.
• Borsone trolley Portwest B951 (100 litres) and Portwest B950 (70 litres): the data sheet gives only the capacity in litres, not kilos.

Where the load capacity is not declared, treat it as missing data, not as a high figure: in your quote request write the weight you want to load and we will check it with the manufacturer before proposing a model. One tip for all of them: weigh your real load once, on a scale, and choose with that number in hand.

With chests, empty weight matters even more. The Baule heavy comes in three sizes: 60 litres (60 x 40 x 47 cm), 113 litres (80 x 51 x 47 cm) and 160 litres (100 x 50 x 50 cm), and the two larger ones, once loaded, are best lifted by two people. The Rototec boxes list 6 kg (BLT060NG, 60 litres), 11 kg (BLT0120NG, 120 litres) and 19.5 kg (BLT240NG, 240 litres). The data sheet does not say whether this is the empty weight: if it is, the biggest one asks for almost twenty kilos before you load it.

Wheels and handle: what to look at on a trolley

The wheels are the first thing to break. For the building site you need large, sturdy wheels that clear steps and gravel; small wheels are fine only on smooth floors. The diameter, however, does not appear in the data sheets of the trolleys cited here, Fervi 0907 included, and I will not write a number I do not have. If it is decisive for you, say so in your request: we will ask the manufacturer before giving you a quote.

Then the telescopic handle: it must lock without play, because if it wobbles it breaks quickly. And the base: a reinforced rigid base protects the contents when you put it down on a wet surface.

IP rating: what it really promises

The IP code comes from the EN 60529 standard (IEC 60529). The first digit measures protection against solid objects and dust, the second protection against water. Two of the models cited here have the rating stated in the data sheet:

• Trolley portautensili modulare Kit Start Pro 2 elementi (54.5 x 27 x 24.6 cm): IP66. The 6 for dust means a dust-tight enclosure, the 6 for water means powerful water jets.
• Trolley portautensili TSTAK IP54 DeWalt: IP54. The 5 means protected against dust (not completely dust-tight), the 4 means water splashed from any direction.

These ratings apply with the container closed: with the lid open or the latch half pulled they no longer apply. And a bag marked "waterproof", like the Portwest B950, does not therefore have an IP rating: they are two different things. If you need a specific IP rating, ask before ordering.

Bags: canvas, base and stitching

In canvas bags what matters is the rigid base, which does not get wet and does not collapse, the stitching of the handles and the mouth that stays open while you work. In the collection you will find soft, semi-rigid and installer bags. My advice: size it on the real weight you put in, not on the space it has.

Organisation: fewer things, always in the same place

The biggest bag in the world becomes a pit if you throw everything in. An hour spent tidying, with a place for every tool, saves you ten minutes a day looking for the right spanner. And something I often see: batteries and loose blades together in the same pocket. Blades ruin everything, and battery contacts must not be left touching metal parts.

What I need to know

Tell me which tools you carry usually and how much they weigh together, how far you walk from the vehicle to the job and on what ground, whether you leave the material in the van or on site, and what protection you need from water and dust (an IP rating, if you need one). I will suggest the combination that holds your real weight.

These are in stock at our shop

A few items from the range we keep. If you can't find the size or model you need, ask: what you see online is only part of what we can get for you.

Trolley porta utensiliA.M.E.S. srl Trolley portautensili semi morbido Fervi 0907Fervi Trolley portautensili modulare Kit Start Pro 2 elementiA.M.E.S. srl Trolley portautensili TSTAK IP54 DeWaltDeWalt Zaino trolley con ruote McLaren DeWalt DWST60101-9DeWalt Baule heavyA.M.E.S. srl

See the whole category: Trolley Modulari, Bauli e Borse in Tela Ultraresistente