How to make a HF44 even better.

[Kamanhart]

A while back I picked up a HF44 bottom and a waterloo top off of craigslist for the price of gas money to pick it up. The top was faded for still unknown reasons... I finally broke down and decided to give her a good respray. I apologies for the poor cell phone qualities pictures but my camera money keeps getting bullied by my tool fund

Day I Brought her home


Started with the box shells first


Then on to a few drawers at a time


Finished product.. Again sorry about the camera lighting is rather lacking in the garage but its a rent house so whata do

 

[captain14]

Did you paint the the entire drawer or just the front.

 

[Kamanhart]

The entire drawer, I even went as far as to drill out the rivets and remove the slides for paint. What did I learn you ask, Next time i will buy a tool box that is pre-painted black. LOL

 

[Loscaldazar]

How about that snap on green color now?

 

[ryburns]

Nice job! You have to be pleased with the result. 100% better!

 

[PT Doc]

So much nicer!

 

[Kamanhart]

Thanks guys!! Im very pleased with how it turned out, I will try and get a picture of her outside in some good lighting if it ever quits raining in Illinois. As for the snap on green... LOL maybe not for a few weeks anyway =p

 

[thegroundpounder99]

Looks good, glad you painted it all. Guy at work sprayed his and it looks great till he opens the drawers lol.

 

[MattVette89]

Very nice! Did you use a spray gun or rattle can? I'm surprised by how closely the boxes match as far as drawer configuration. I guess that's where HF got the pattern from?

 

[Kamanhart]

Ground pounder: I agree 100% I figured either do it right or not at all. No regrets on that front, it took more time but was worth it in the end.

Matt: I used rattle can appliance enamel, suppose to dry hard as a rock.. I guess we will see. As far as the configuration from all the dimensions I have compared to a 44 top in the store it is the exact same box just a didn't powder finish.

 

[bcradio]

Came out great. As mentioned above what did you use to paint it?

Edit: oops you answered it already thanks

 

[srmofo]

Man, I hope you did proper prep work since you went through all that hassle. It would be a shame to see that hard work wasted

 

[zkling]

I'd keep an eye on the upper corners of the bottom box, looks like they were hit pretty hard and could be compromised.

 

[Kamanhart]

Mofo: prep work was all 400 grit with a da on the flat panels and a 400 grit block and paper for the nooks and crannies. Followed by a liberal degreasing before paint.

Zkling: Those are from when the previous owner tried to lift the top box on to the bottom and couldn't get her up quite enough. The black really shows the wrinkles but it's nothing more than a little cosmetic character.

 

[zkling]

Unfortunately a compression loaded member that is wrinkled or more accurately buckled is never just a "cosmetic character". Unless of course the compressive load is removed, which in this case it is not. Just something to keep an eye on.

 

[MG11068]

Quite an improvement.

 

[AmericanMechanic]

Very nice. Must have taken a handful of cans of paint to do all drawer surfaces. Lots of work drilling all the rivets...

 

[funks]

Looks pretty good, thinking about upgrading my box..

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[ARFLY]

It looks good. You put a lot of work into it. How 'bout some pics of what is inside it.

 

[Kamanhart]

Thanks again for the compliments guys! AmericanMechanic it took right at 15 cans from start to finish, I probably could have gotten away with less but i was more then generous with the paint once I had a good tacky base

Arfly: I can snap some pictures of the contents hopefully tonight when I move her out side to get you guys better shots of the paint job

 

[BK13]

How about that snap on green color now?

Exactly what I'd like to do!

Nice job, OP!

 

[mrvm]

Zkling: Those are from when the previous owner tried to lift the top box on to the bottom and couldn't get her up quite enough. The black really shows the wrinkles but it's nothing more than a little cosmetic character.

Those wrinkling buckles on the HF 44" could also come from rough shipment handling. Seen similar damages from clearance items. Not usually a problem as the "cosmetic" defect could be ignored as long as it doesn't affect the overall structure or drawer mechanism. Yes, black makes it more obvious but overall it appears you can rattle can very well.

 

[Kamanhart]

Exactly what I'd like to do!

Nice job, OP!

Thanks Bud! I say for for it man, I would love to see how one looks wearing a little green dress

Those wrinkling buckles on the HF 44" could also come from rough shipment handling. Seen similar damages from clearance items. Not usually a problem as the "cosmetic" defect could be ignored as long as it doesn't affect the overall structure or drawer mechanism. Yes, black makes it more obvious but overall it appears you can rattle can very well.

Thank you sir! Everything opens, closes, and operates as it should so hopefully it stays that way. Thank you both mrvm and zkling for looking out for me on that.

As for the rattle can, Im am not an ace fan but the tips they use on there house brand paint is the best spray pattern I have ever used on a rattle ran. It comes out in a super wide fan pattern that makes even the painting inept like me be able to polish a turd, i would highly recommend there spray paints.

 

[furbyj1]

Nice paint job u you did on that box

 

[cheechi]

I appreciate you did that much work to get what you want. However, I would not do that much work to get what I want.

 

[Rickenbackerman]

Unfortunately a compression loaded member that is wrinkled or more accurately buckled is never just a "cosmetic character". Unless of course the compressive load is removed, which in this case it is not. Just something to keep an eye on.

This X 1,000. I'm a structural engineer. It's called buckling. Keep an eye on it as you start to load up that top cabinet.