As we continue to prep for our delayed trip I thought I’d show you how to make a DIY tool box out of some PVC piping from Home Depot. I actually ended up making three of these in various sizes since you don’t have to use them just for tools. Now, I didn’t invent this, many people have been using these for a while and I actually pulled the idea from an almost identical set up my father installed on his GSA1200. Lets get started.
Supplies
– 3″ or 4″ PVC piping. You can make it as long as you need. I made one at 15″ and another at 12″.
– 3″ or 4″ end cap
-3″ or 4″ inside test plug
-PVC Primer
-PVC Cement
-Some clamps
-Spray paint (not pictured)
Build
First cut your pipe’s length down to whatever you’d like. If you are using this for tools, consider your longest tool plus the depth of the test plug as it sits inside the tube.
Next you want to apply the Primer on the outside edge of the pipe where the end cap will go.
Go ahead and do the same for the inside edge of the end cap.
Now, you want to repeat this same process with the Cement.
Go ahead and slide the cap onto the end of the pipe. This shouldn’t take long to dry.
With the end cap on, and before you paint, it might be a good time to do a test fit with your tools. I’m going a bit over board with whats pictured below but you can get a good idea on the volume of this 4″ pipe. *the black plastic holding all the sockets was removed*
And these poor guys didn’t make the cut.
If everything is all good with your pipe length go ahead and paint it. Grab the spray paint and color of your choice and give it 2-3 coats.
Once your paint job dries, you can take the clamps and find out where on your bike you’d like to strap this onto. I have one on either side of the bike’s crash/highway bars and the last one tucked under the rear fender, just clear of the rear tire.
Some things to consider; if you are using 3″ pipe and you can’t fit your hand all the way inside the pipe you might want to wrap the tools in some kind of fabric with enough slack that you can pull on it from the open side of the pipe. It also might be a good idea to get some kind of rubber strips in between the metal on metal contact from where the clamps rest against the frame/brackets you’ll be strapping to.