I bought my Facom Cantilever for the build quality — Ferrari Teams Schumacher edition, made-in-France steel, fold-out trays, classic mechanic’s box. Loved everything about it except two things: the trays were bare, so tools rattled and stacked on each other, and the box was too heavy to drag across the garage. Fixed both for under $40 and a Saturday afternoon. Here’s exactly how.
Like a lot of us, I need tools on the go — small jobs around the house, helping a neighbor, fixing something that’s not worth pulling the rolling chest out for. The Facom Cantilever is the size that works. Three tiers, fold-out trays, every inch usable. Holds the same essentials as my old Matco box that was twice the size. That’s the design — vertical layout, not horizontal sprawl.
Upgrade 1: Cut-Foam Inserts
The trays came empty. Every time I opened the box, tools were jumbled — sockets on top of wrenches, ratchets sliding around, drivers buried under everything. I cut my own foam inserts.
High-density foam sheet, 20–30mm thick — that’s the sweet spot for tool depth. Measured each tray, cut the foam to fit. Laid out my tools the way I wanted them organized — wrenches in a row, sockets in another, ratchets along the side, drivers up top. Traced each tool with a thin marker. Cut along the lines.
Test-fit. Trim tight spots. Done.
Every tool has a home. Pull it out, drop it back. Nothing rattles. Nothing buries another tool. One glance tells you what’s missing.
Pro tips from cutting mine
- Trace first with a thin marker. Black on light foam, white paint pen on dark. Thin tip gives a clean line to follow. A fat Sharpie bleeds and ruins precision.
- Put the foam on a backer board. Plywood or rigid insulation foam underneath. Protects your bench and lets the blade fully pass through without skipping.
- Use a long-blade utility knife — not snap-off blades. I tried the disposable snap-offs first. They snap mid-cut every time. You need something beefier and longer to push through 30mm of foam in one smooth pass.
- Good foam does the work. If the foam is high-density, the blade glides through curves and the cut edges come out smooth. Cheap foam tears and feathers — spend the extra few bucks.
The deep-tool drawer-liner trick
Some pliers and tall ratchets are too deep for a single foam layer. For those slots, I cut all the way through the foam. Then I laid a strip of thin kitchen drawer-liner mat (the rubbery non-slip kind, leftover from kitchen drawers) on the bottom of the tray. Dropped the cutout foam back on top. Dropped the tool in.
The tool sits on a soft mat, surrounded by deep foam walls. No rattle, no metal-on-metal contact with the tray bottom, no scratches. Best of both worlds.
Upgrade 2: Caster Wheels for Mobility
The Facom is heavy when loaded. Hauling it across the garage to the driveway, or up to the house when something breaks inside, gets old fast. Four heavy-duty caster wheels fixed that — two locking at the front, two non-locking at the back.
Flipped the box upside down on a soft towel so the paint wouldn’t scratch. Marked four corner holes. Drilled pilot holes — the included screws bite into thin steel cleanly when you pre-drill. Mounted the casters with the included screws and washers. Tightened everything. Flipped back up. Tested the brakes both ways.
Now it rolls smooth across concrete, hardwood, garage epoxy — whatever. Locks in place when I’m working. Protects the floor.
What’s Inside
This box is my small-project loadout. Quick jobs around the house. Helping a friend. Tackling something where I don’t want to drag the full rolling chest out of the garage.
Inside the trays:
- Snap-on ratchets and select sockets
- Matco specialty drivers
- Wera Zyklop 41-piece metric ratchet and socket set
- Wera Kraftform insulated screwdrivers — the red-and-yellow handles, rated for electrical work
- Wiha insulated screwdrivers
- Carlyle ratcheting wrench sets
- Knipex pliers and cutter set
- Metric and SAE wrenches
- Bits, sockets, ratchets, drivers — covers 90% of what I touch on small jobs
Easier to carry. Easier to find what I need. Everything stays where it belongs.
Total Cost: Under $40
Foam sheet plus the caster wheel set. Drill bits and screws I already had. One Saturday afternoon. The box went from a beautiful-but-impractical centerpiece to my most-used small-job kit.
If you have a Facom Cantilever sitting on a shelf untouched because it’s too pretty to dent or too heavy to move, this is the fix. Two cheap upgrades, all the build quality preserved, infinitely more useful.
Sources — What I Used
The toolbox upgrade
- Facom Cantilever Toolbox (BT-11A) — Amazon
- ONREVA High-Density Foam Inserts (16×12×1) — Amazon
- ASHGOOB Heavy-Duty Caster Wheels (4-pack, 2 with brake) — Amazon
Tools that go inside
- Wera Zyklop Metric Ratchet & Socket Set (41 pieces) — Amazon
- Wera Kraftform Insulated Professional Screwdriver Set — Amazon
- Knipex Pliers Set — Amazon
Heads up: the Amazon links above are affiliate links — if you buy through them, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Keeps the lights on at Homeject.
The Full Visual Guide
Save this one for reference — both upgrades, step by step, side by side.
What’s the next mod I should try? Magnetic strips on the inner walls? Tool foam with a logo cutout? Drop your toolbox mods in the comments.
If you build, repair, or organize your shop at home — I write about every project on Homeject. See more Homeject builds →
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