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Saving a Beat Up Stanley Vidmar Cabinet

brianpgriset

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Sep 29, 2006
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1,043
Location
Beaumont, TX
During my typical CL add scanning I came across an add for "two heavy duty cabinets". Upon close inspection of the pictures i recongnized that it was two Stanley Vidmar floor cabs; althought they wern't originally configured that way. It appeared in the pictures that either the current or previous owners had taken a single Vidmar cabinet and had cut in half to make two floor cabinets.

I went ahead and gave a call. The owner said all hardware and drawers were in place and just wanted to get rid of them. I figured they were worth it. Cost was $75 for both. Nice price, just alot of work to get them back to proper condition.

Picked them up and as I suspected it was a single cabinet that had been cut in half. Suprisingly whomever had done it did an OK job with the cut; it was pretty straight. Anyways I got them home and started working on them. Here is where they (I guess it would be "it" now since its back to a single box) are now:

DSCN0803.jpg


I installed three drawers to see how well I did to align the two halves. The top two drawers are acroos the weld seam and the bottom two are not, so you can see the two gaps are pretty darn close. I'm pleased.

Drawers and slides. I cleaned up the bearings and re-greased and they roll like a dream again:drool:.
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Here are the pieces of wood :)dunno:) and sheet metal the PO used to make two cabs. It was pretty awful.
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And where the cab will sit once it's done next to my Lista one. I told my wife it's the last toolbox I'll ever buy! :evil:
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Still need to finish weld; plannish, smooth, and paint. I'll have $75 and maybe 8-10 hours total time in it, so that for a 9 drawers Vidmar cab is pretty good to me!
 
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LSU

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Dec 4, 2011
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702
I'm very impressed and cannot wait to see final pictures.
 

Falcon67

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Jun 11, 2009
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Location
Merkel, TX
The company I used to work for had a stock room jammed with Vidmar cabinets. They are really good pieces. They were moved twice over the 20 years I was there and they still looked good last time I saw them. Great score!
 
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brianpgriset

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Sep 29, 2006
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Beaumont, TX
Nice score, and good job repairing the cabinet.
How about some info on the VW? :)

Nothing too special. A '63. I'm into lowered air cooled dubs. Pan is all done with 4" narrowed beam and down 2 splines in the back. Haven't done much with the body the last few years but I'm hoping to get moving on it soon now that its cooling down.

What color will it be?

I'm thinking light green or tan. Maybe light blue. Or grey.:dunno:
 
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brianpgriset

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Sep 29, 2006
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Beaumont, TX
Not quite yet a final product but very close. All welding and finish grinding/blending done. Quick coat of rattle can primer to just stop the rust. slides have been cleaned and lubed so all roll smooth now.

All that is needed now some minor body work and paint. Will post pics when the final product is complete.

Still not settled on a final color yet. Leaning to a light tan color. That or the two tone gray with blue drawers.

PICS!

DSCN0807.jpg


DSCN0808.jpg
 
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brianpgriset

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BTW the little bumps on the side picture are the pop rivets I used to hold the two sheet metal halves together and straight while I welded. At this point I am just going to leave them on.
 
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brianpgriset

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Thanks guys!

It might look too good. Now you've got to do the blue one. :)

I realized this once I finished setting the Vidmar up to the Lista. I might have to give it a shot of paint in my free time:lol_hitti.

I used Ace's house brand rust stop paint, rolled on with a sponge roller, two coats.
 

CNGsaves

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Sep 26, 2012
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Great transformation saving the heavy duty cabinet. Excellent!!

That there my friend is how you Print Money . . . . take a $75 CL find and turn it into $600 tool cabinet!! :rocker:
 
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