Belated gloat (sorta) - new box
I was introduced to "high density storage" only a few months back. I found a real nice "Nu Era" by "Rack Systems" for $500. It had something like 24 drawers (a lot anyway). Most rather thin (of course with that many) but with 3 ~2.5" at the bottom. All felt lines and chock full of primary dividers and aluminum slat secondaries WITH label tabs. Just for icing on the cake, every drawer had green felt (only a very few minor bad spots) that tuned out to be coated with some sort of anti-rust stuff.
I thought it was too much. Agonized over it. Posted on forums asking about whether it was worth it. Eventually I was convinced that, while it wasn't a "smoking deal", it was a very fair deal and that I would like it. Still, MUCH cheaper than a Snap-On or the like. So, to get to the point, I bought it. THAT WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THE BEST DECISIONS I'VE MADE FOR MY SHOP! I couldn't believe how much stuff disappeared into that thing! And drawers still open smooth as glass with a single finger. I had exactly one complaint (other than cost), most of the drawers were too shallow for many common items like DIs with lugs on the back, knurling tools, some cutters even...
Thursday I was at a clearance/surplus place that had just gotten in around 9 cabinets. Most were full size tall ones like mine. Maybe 5-5.5"? Something like that. Ranged from lots of thin drawers, to only maybe 10 very deep drawers total. Lista, Vidmar, Nu Era, and no-names were represented. Already had several guys starting to swarm with prices ranging from $400-$750.
So I had the chance to look over and compare side by side. I gotta say, I wasn't that impressed with the Vidmar compared to the others. It was nice, but the Nu Era and Lista both felt better and heavier. Just seemed "better". And the Lyon was the heaviest/best built of all (in my opinion)! It was shorter, but weighed more than the tall Vidmar which had more shelves than any other. Each tray support is fully "X" braced and quite rigid. I didn't look at the others, but I don't think they have such nice rigid mechanisms.
But there was one poor little odd-ball. A Lyon with 2" drawers except for 1 - 3" drawer on the bottom. It was shorter than usual, maybe about 4' tall? Looked like it must have been next to some machine running coolant as it was all splattered and gunked up with swarf stuck to it. Seems something had also been on the top as most of the paint was gone and it had quite a bit of superficial rust. Nobody was interested in the poor little guy. So I asked the fellow, Hey, I can't afford those fancy ones, what would you want for that rusty raggedy one?" He looked at it and said, "If you want to fool with trying to clean that up, how about $50?" I think I pulled something in my back reached for my billfold so fast...
It cleaned up right nice actually. Some HD citrus cleaner (stuff I use when the Purple Zep is too strong) and a few hours cleaning made it look rather nice. I'm repainting the top (only) tonight, there was no significant pitting after wire wheeling the fuzzy rust off. All the drawers work very smooth, I'm rather happy with it...
But here is the real gloat. I guess he hadn't look inside the sad little thing as it was just chock full (well, not full given the capacity of these things, but full enough it took me hours to go through and sort!) of all manner of fasteners ranging from tiny (0-80 or there abouts tiny!) to #10, and with a hand full of 1/4" thrown in. I saw grub screws so small I thought they were tiny pins till I looked carefully. Nearly threw away some loose pieces I thought were small bits of swarf, till I realized they were tiny stainless washers. It was like Christmas with all the goodies! There was also probably 60 or more very nice machinists buttons, all hardened and blued very nicely, though there were also some examples in stainless.
Now my only problem is, I have NO place to put it. But never fear, I WILL find a way to work it in! It's also going to mount my surface plate so it's up at an easier height for me to use.
Gotta go put on another coat of paint...
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Originally Posted by Your Old Dog
