What Is a Sysport? The Shop-Built Systainer Cabinet
A sysport is a cabinet built to hold Systainers on pull-out trays, so any Systainer in the stack comes out to you instead of being buried under the ones above it. Here is where the word came from, what is inside one, and what separates a good one from a shelf with Systainers on it.
A sysport, in one paragraph
A sysport is a cabinet whose openings are sized around a Systainer, with every Systainer riding its own pull-out tray on a pair of drawer slides. The name comes from Festool's SYS-PORT, a rolling Systainer cabinet the company sells, and woodworkers took it for the ones they build themselves. Shop-built means you set the width, the height and the depth, so a sysport can roll on castors, tuck under a bench, or stand along a wall as a bank of drawers.
| Where the word comes from | Festool's SYS-PORT, its own rolling Systainer cabinet, borrowed by the people who build their own |
|---|---|
| What makes it a sysport | Every Systainer rides a tray on drawer slides, not a fixed shelf |
| Other names for the same build | Systainer wall, Systainer cabinet, bank of drawers |
| What sets the width | The Systainer length, plus a fit gap, the tray walls, the slide clearance and the two carcass sides |
| A worked width, SYS3 M | 489 mm, about 19 1/4 in, on side-mount slides with 12 mm trays and 19 mm sides |
| What sets the depth | The 296 mm Systainer depth, the same on every Systainer3, plus what the slide and the back need behind it |
In this guide
Where the word came from
Festool sells a piece of furniture called the SYS-PORT: a rolling cabinet with height-adjustable pull-outs, made to hold Systainers and to be wheeled to the work. That is the original, and it is where the name starts.
What happened next is the part that matters here. Woodworkers on the Festool Owners Group and every forum like it started building their own, and they kept the name. Whole threads run under it, with titles along the lines of Finally built my own Sysports and Dimensions for home made Sysports?. So today the word covers two things: the cart Festool sells, and the far larger population of shop-built cabinets that do the same job.
The shop-built kind is not a copy. Festool's is finished, fixed in size and on locking castors. Yours is a carcass you size, which is usually the whole reason to build one: your Systainers are not the catalog's Systainers, and your wall is not the showroom's wall.
Plain-words keySystainer is the stacking tool container TANOS makes and Festool sells, the one already on your shelf. SYS-PORT is Festool's own cabinet for holding them. Sysport, lower case, is what the community calls any cabinet built for the job, bought or built.
What is inside one
Strip away the shape and a sysport is three parts repeated: a carcass, a tray for each Systainer, and a pair of drawer slides carrying that tray. The Systainer itself is the fourth part, and it is the one you already own, which is why it sets every dimension of the other three.
That is the difference between a sysport and a shelf with Systainers on it. On a shelf, the Systainer you want is under two others and you lift them off to get at it. On a tray, you pull one handle and the Systainer comes to you with its lid clear.
What makes a good sysport
Most of what separates a sysport you enjoy using from one you tolerate is decided before you cut anything.
It is sized to the Systainers you actually own
A cabinet drawn to a round number and then loaded with whatever fits wastes space in every bay and still leaves a Systainer homeless. Count your Systainers first, by size and height, and let the cabinet follow. That is the one habit everything else on this page depends on.
Every Systainer rides a tray, not a fixed shelf
A tray is a flat bottom with two low side walls that keep the Systainer from walking off. It costs a little material and a pair of slides, and it buys you the thing the whole cabinet exists for: reaching any Systainer without moving another one.
The slides are rated for a loaded Systainer
A Systainer full of tools is heavy, and a slide chosen for a sock drawer will sag and bind. Side-mount ball-bearing slides run around 45 kg per pair and undermounts around 35 kg, so either type carries a loaded Systainer comfortably. The drawer-slide guide covers what each type costs you in width, height and depth.
There is real clearance above each lid
Leave roughly 6 to 10 mm above each Systainer. Less than that and the lid catches on the tray above it, which turns a one-handed job into a two-handed one every single time. It is a small number that decides whether the cabinet feels good.
The depth is set by the Systainer, not by the sheet
Every Systainer3 is 296 mm deep, front to back, whatever its length. Add what the slide needs behind it and the back panel, and the interior depth lands near 470 mm, which is what the planner uses. Building a deeper carcass than that only buys dead air behind the Systainer.
The one that bites peopleTrays are usually cut too shallow rather than too narrow. The Systainer has to sit fully on the tray with its handle clear of the carcass front, so plan the tray depth from the Systainer, not from an offcut you happen to have.
How big one ends up
There is no standard sysport width, and anyone who quotes you one has picked a Systainer and a build without saying so. The width is a chain of small additions around the Systainer length: a fit gap on each side so the Systainer drops onto the tray rather than being wedged into it, the tray's own two walls, the clearance the drawer slides need, and finally the two carcass sides.
Worked through for side-mount slides with 12 mm tray stock and 19 mm carcass sides, that chain gives these outside widths:
| Built around a SYS3 M | 489 mm outside, about 19 1/4 in |
|---|---|
| Built around a SYS3 L | 601 mm outside, about 23 11/16 in |
| Built around a SYS3 XXL | 885 mm outside, about 34 13/16 in |
| Interior depth, all three | about 470 mm, about 18 1/2 in |
Swap to undermount slides, change the tray stock or move to 18 mm sheet goods and every one of those numbers moves. That is the honest answer to "how wide should it be", and it is why the arithmetic is worth handing to something that will not lose a millimetre halfway down the chain. The guide to planning a Systainer wall walks the full width and height chain step by step, and the Systainer3 dimensions guide has the Systainer sizes those steps start from.
Skip the arithmetic
Size a sysport to the Systainers on your shelf
Tell the planner which Systainers you own and it sizes every cabinet around them, draws the wall to scale, and hands you the cut list.
Frequently asked questions
What is a sysport?
A sysport is a cabinet built to hold Systainers on pull-out trays, so any Systainer comes out to you without lifting the ones above it off first. The name comes from Festool's own SYS-PORT, a rolling Systainer cabinet the company sells, and woodworkers borrowed it for the ones they build themselves. A shop-built sysport can roll on castors, sit under a bench or stand along a wall as a bank of drawers.
Is a sysport the same thing as a Systainer wall?
Near enough that people use the words interchangeably. Sysport usually means one cabinet or cart; a Systainer wall usually means a run of them along a wall. The build is identical either way: a carcass sized to the Systainer, a tray per Systainer, and a pair of drawer slides carrying each tray.
Do I have to buy Festool's SYS-PORT to have one?
No. Festool's SYS-PORT is a finished cart at a fixed width, and it is a good object. A shop-built one is a carcass you size yourself, which is the reason most people build rather than buy: your Systainers and your wall are not the ones the catalog was drawn around.
How wide is a sysport cabinet?
It depends on which Systainer you are building around, not on a round number. For a Systainer3 M on side-mount slides, with 12 mm tray stock and 19 mm carcass sides, the cabinet finishes 489 mm wide, about 19 1/4 inches. The same chain gives 601 mm for an L and 885 mm for an XXL. Change the slide type or the material thickness and every one of those numbers moves.
What makes a good sysport?
Five things: it is sized to the Systainers you actually own, every one rides a tray rather than sitting on a fixed shelf, the slides are rated for a full load, there is real clearance above each lid, and the depth is set by the 296 mm Systainer depth plus what the slide and the back need behind it.
Keep reading
Sources & references
The definition here follows the way the term is used in the Festool owner community, and the dimensions come from the Systainer3 range and from the verified width and depth model that powers the StackDesign planner. Verify a critical dimension against your own Systainers before you cut.
- Festool SYS-PORT, the rolling Systainer cabinet the name is borrowed from.
- Festool Owners Group build threads, where the shop-built sense of the word is in daily use.
- Festool Systainer3 product range, the source of the 296 mm depth and the 396, 508 and 792 mm lengths.
- StackDesign footprint engine, the width chain that produces the 489, 601 and 885 mm outside widths quoted above.
- TANOS Systainer3 system, the maker of the Systainer platform Festool builds on.
Systainer is a trademark of TANOS GmbH, and SYS-PORT is a Festool product name. StackDesign is an independent planning tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to TANOS or Festool. Those names are used only to describe the Systainers the planner fits.
StackDesign is part of the CabDesign family.
A StackDesign guide. Built to help you plan and build better shop storage. Verify critical dimensions against your own Systainers and materials before cutting. Browse all guides or start planning a bank.