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Resource: Free Plans/CAD Drawings to Make Your Own Custom Systainer Inserts

When it comes to modular, portable tool storage, it’s hard to beat the Systainers designed by German company Tanos. They come in five sizes and can be linked together for easy transport. While Systainers can be purchased separately at places like Woodcraft, Tool Nut and Amazon, Festool products all come packaged in them (Tanos and Festool are sister companies).

Something Festool owners know, however, is that Systainers are not terribly space-efficient. Since each Festool-branded Systainer’s vacuum-formed polystyrene insert is designed to hold just a single tool and its accessories, there is a lot of dead space in there. Thus a lot of folks will ditch the polystyrene and design their own custom insert, wringing usable space out of every last cubic inch. Here’s an example by a member of the FOG (Festool Owner’s Group) forum, screenname Howwe:

Here’s another design that can swallow a lot of hand tools:

And here another FOG member, AnthonyZ, used a CNC mill to create an insert holding the precise tools that he needs to tote:

If you’ve got a Systainer and want to make your own inserts, it would be handy to have the interior dimensions of a Systainer. (The interior footprint is the same for all five sizes, only the heights are different.) To make it easy, we’ve rounded up some resources along these lines, thoughtfully provided by FOG members.

1. Download simple PDFs

If you don’t want to mess around with CAD but just want the interior outlines (of both the floor and upper portion of a Systainer), which you can print out 1:1 and create a physical template off of, FOG member Tim Raleigh has provided them here:

Systainer Insert, Lower [PDF]

Systainer Insert, Upper [PDF]

2. Download SketchUp files

SketchUp users can snag these “accurate templates for creating your own systainer inserts from rigid materials such as MDF, plywood, or plastic,” provided by Jonathan S., right here.

3. Download DWG files

If you want to create your own plans in the CAD program of your choice, FOG member JohnnyRoundBoy has provided a .zip file containing DWGs here.

4. Download Systainer drawings

Lastly, if you want SketchUp models of the actual Systainers (in all five sizes), Brice Burrell has provided “95% accurate” drawings here.

If you end up making a cool Systainer insert, please circle back and drop some photos in the comments; we’d love to see what you come up with.