Grabbed an old 10 drawer IBM card cabinet for tool storage...
- Thread starter XS29L9B
- Start date
ElectroLight
Well-known member
You know the drill, post some pics!
cyamaha2007
Well-known member
Pics before the "your ****"
Dan in Pasadena
Well-known member
If we can't see it, you don't have it!
Omphaloskeptic
Well-known member
You mean a cabinet used to store punch (Hollerith) cards?!? Jeez, I haven't seen one of those around since I was learning BASIC code on an IBM 360. Like others have said, we want pictures of this freebie. Oh, and when you take it apart for cleaning/painting, I'll wager you find about 5 pounds of punch card 'chaff' sitting in the bottom of the cabinet! lol
alpinewhite
Well-known member
Pics or it didn't happen.
68rustang
Well-known member
what am I doing wrong? I don't see any pictures?
Jhoff310
Well-known member
The pics are there...just close your eyes and imagine what it looks like in your head...I want to see the real pics to see if the image in my head is correct
Jeff
Jeff
Alchymist
Well-known member
And did you happen to spill a box of those punch cards on the way to the reader?
JakeKohl
Well-known member
spongerich
Well-known member
And did you happen to spill a box of those punch cards on the way to the reader?
SONOFABITCH!!!!!
And it's always the deck that doesn't have sequence numbers!
Reminds me of a job I had about 25 years ago.. I was working for a VW/Porsche/Audi distributor. Every year, they'd do inventory. Each part type got a card. The warehouse guys would write the count on the card then it would go back into data entry to have the number punched. We'd spend all weekend sorting, counting, etc. At the end, all 50,000 cards needed to be accounted for and the boss wouldn't take the beer out from under the raised floor until they were all found. We'd spend the last 2 hours searching in and around all the card readers and sorters until that ONE card that was stuck inside was located... good times!
supra90turbo
Well-known member
Guys, I just got a Snap-on Mr. Big for free, full of tools!
No pics tho.
No pics tho.
JC23
Well-known member
I knew a girl who was a punch card - no pics, tho...
It took me 4 years to find one.
I love it.
Not only HD but the trays come out of the drawers.
Each one has a seprate tool set. (SAE sockets, Metric sockets, SAE open ends....etc)
That lets me take a complete set of wrenchs to the roll around work tables.
I love it.
Not only HD but the trays come out of the drawers.
Each one has a seprate tool set. (SAE sockets, Metric sockets, SAE open ends....etc)
That lets me take a complete set of wrenchs to the roll around work tables.
Great score . . . . definitely worthy of . . . YOU **** !!!
Take your time and prep it right so when painted it will match whatever your long-term KEEPER tool box will be . . . maybe red??
Partner this IBM card cabinet with 44" US General Tool Box and you'll have awesome setup for under $400 total.
Post more pics as you start the restoration process. Plenty of garage envy all around for you scoring that for FREE!!
Take your time and prep it right so when painted it will match whatever your long-term KEEPER tool box will be . . . maybe red??
Partner this IBM card cabinet with 44" US General Tool Box and you'll have awesome setup for under $400 total.
Post more pics as you start the restoration process. Plenty of garage envy all around for you scoring that for FREE!!
Last edited:
Falcon67
Well-known member
My dad was a 26 yr IBM'er - I'd love to find one of those somewhere.
Steevo
Well-known member
The best part of that deal is the price!
Sweet.
Sweet.
Too_Many_Tools
Banned
fflintstone
Well-known member
I have something simmilar but I have half width drawes on mine. I will try to post up a picture latter after i take one. mine was free too but the sum ***** is HEAVY!
I have no clue what to use it for though.
I have no clue what to use it for though.
ElectroLight
Well-known member
Nice score! I want one 
My first post...
I grew up with these in the garage. My dad worked with IBM main-frames (insurance co.) and they dumped hundreds or even thousands of these units in the trash in the mid 70's. Thats trash and NOT recycling.... You have to understand that no one really saw any future use for these. Except my dad - he made up a roll around tool cabinet from a stack of these on a matching rectangle of plywood with some casters. I think he might still have it. We had fixed stacks of another 3+ dozen units. These were the 2 drawer, side by side pieces.
Nice find on yours - they must be pretty rare at this point!
I grew up with these in the garage. My dad worked with IBM main-frames (insurance co.) and they dumped hundreds or even thousands of these units in the trash in the mid 70's. Thats trash and NOT recycling.... You have to understand that no one really saw any future use for these. Except my dad - he made up a roll around tool cabinet from a stack of these on a matching rectangle of plywood with some casters. I think he might still have it. We had fixed stacks of another 3+ dozen units. These were the 2 drawer, side by side pieces.
Nice find on yours - they must be pretty rare at this point!
Too_Many_Tools
Banned
Any guess what one of these would be worth new?
They just reek of quality.
They just reek of quality.
darkk
Well-known member
Yup....YOU ****! nice score...
Outlander
Well-known member
And did you happen to spill a box of those punch cards on the way to the reader?
ha ha ha ... my first job in '81 included carrying a drawer of those damn things from one end of the building to the other on Friday for processing over the weekend, and back on Monday...through the shop with a wooden block floor. The 15 minute walk was usually shortened by my wondering and calculating how I put all those damn things back in order
fflintstone
Well-known member
Omphaloskeptic
Well-known member
Might I humbly suggest that you GET IT OUT OF THE WEATHER!
LOLOkay guys, maybe someone of you with one or more of these oddball/orphan cabinets will let all others join in on the thread and have a friendly competition to see who can make the 'best before & after' pics of restoration efforts.
Going out and just buying a high $ Lista/SO/Whatever cabinet is a fine and enviable thing, but I like to see what some guys have done to transform a tired, old, rusty '****-Ugly Box' into a beautiful, shiny, unique 'Cinderella Cabinet'.
Sorry if this is a highjack XS29L9B, but getting a freebie like that deserves some detailed restoration/utilization pics in addition to a 'hale & hearty' -
YOU ****!
P.S. - Maybe you'd even offer up this thread as the meeting place for all the restored castoff cabinets? Kind of like a 'Show us your customized clock' competition.
c39er
Well-known member
I used to repaint office furniture electrostatically in the early seventies and painted hundreds and hubndreds of those double drawer card files. Plus every other imaginable type of steel commercial office furniture.
That card file mades an excellent nut/bolt and clip assortment cabinet.
That card file mades an excellent nut/bolt and clip assortment cabinet.
mdbeck1
Well-known member
If I'm not mistaken the height is perfect for CD/DVD's...
fflintstone
Well-known member
NO. the drawers are too short to hold them vertically.
onewaydave
Well-known member
And did you happen to spill a box of those punch cards on the way to the reader?
Sadly, Alchymist, Opthaloskeptic and the like are fewer and farther between.
Dave, punch cards indeed! Nice tool storage though.
Might I humbly suggest that you GET IT OUT OF THE WEATHER!
Okay guys, maybe someone of you with one or more of these oddball/orphan cabinets will let all others join in on the thread and have a friendly competition to see who can make the 'best before & after' pics of restoration efforts.
Going out and just buying a high $ Lista/SO/Whatever cabinet is a fine and enviable thing, but I like to see what some guys have done to transform a tired, old, rusty '****-Ugly Box' into a beautiful, shiny, unique 'Cinderella Cabinet'.
Sorry if this is a highjack XS29L9B, but getting a freebie like that deserves some detailed restoration/utilization pics in addition to a 'hale & hearty' -
YOU ****!
P.S. - Maybe you'd even offer up this thread as the meeting place for all the restored castoff cabinets? Kind of like a 'Show us your customized clock' competition.
Sure, Post away your restored cabinets
