SO KC506B CL find but no suckage

2oolhound · Feb 11, 2014

So I was 1st responder to the ad listed for $75. When I got there the seller who I know is not a BS'er said he’d had 5 other calls. I hate being on the spot, the last time this happened I was looking at a SO roller Cab of similar vintage. On that one the rust below the bottom drawer was so bad I could see through it so I passed as that seller wouldn’t budge on the $100 price as he also claimed he had other callers. Then I see it relisted a few days later for $250 and it didn’t last long on the 2nd go round. So this time I bite, it’s mine.

The seller pointed out that the bottom was pushed up causing the bottom drawer to barely slide in and out. The box weighs in at 110 lb. and there is another 5 lb worth of decals on it. Removing them I find the top deck is loose, the spot welds have let go on both sides of the front.

There is also a broken weld at each side of the bottom base panel.

Time to pull the drawers out and get a better take on things.

Whew, it’s a lot lighter to man handle with the drawers out. Rolling the box onto it’s back I get a good look at the worst of it. This thing looks like it fell out of an airplane with 1000 lb of tools in it. It’s one of those “oh ****” moments. The joint where the back meets the bottom is bashed in so bad the position of the joint is moved 3/4” toward the front.

To make matters worse I can now see how much of the spot welds have come loose on the bottom.

So there you have it. No suckage on this $75 KC506B! I’m at a point where I wondering “do I walk away... or run!” But then I get a brainwave. I’ve seen it 100 times on GJ, snap-on has a lifetime warranty on this stuff right? I should be able to just track down the dealer and exchange it for a new one, right? ....Life should be so easy.

Time to step away from this for a while. One thing I know for sure, at 10¢ a lb I can get about $11.00 back just for scrap. :headscrat

DieselSaves · Feb 11, 2014

Looks like some one used it for a road chest.

There is a small voice in my head saying I'd almost be interested in the project of it if you were closer. Maybe.

Professur · Feb 11, 2014

That'll buff right out.

FJ 432 · Feb 11, 2014

Man I like it. If I was closer I'd pay you the 75. It's a cool box if the slides are fine.

drivesitfar · Feb 11, 2014

2oolhound: you can make that your project for the year, use it for parts on the next box you find that needs some, or sell the drawers to guys on GJ that need them for their boxes to recoup the cash or just walk into the Snap On truck and ask for a new one.

Did I forget anything?

I love the pointers on your pics and when I tried to download the one google said was the best it downloaded a Trojan and my laptop is in for a total redo. Can you tell me (us) the site you downloaded it off of and free or how much? Is it fairly easy to use?

Thanks

Packard V8 · Feb 11, 2014

As Miracle Max said in The Princess Bride, "I've seen worse."

When it comes down to getting a real dollar return, there's no money in restoring any of these old boxes.

With patience and a good TIG welder, yours can be returned to user status.

jack vines

2oolhound · Feb 11, 2014

drivesitfar said:
I love the pointers on your pics and when I tried to download the one google said was the best it downloaded a Trojan and my laptop is in for a total redo. Can you tell me (us) the site you downloaded it off of and free or how much? Is it fairly easy to use?

Thanks

drivesitfar are you talking about the yellow arrows in the photos? If so I make them in photoshop. Even the basic photoshop lite programs can make them. If you need some "pointers" on how to do it with that software I'd be glad to help.

Thanks for all the responses guys, I expected some negative comments but so far everyone likes it. After restoring my Kennedy box I was not looking for another job like this and this one will be 10 times more work than the kennedy. That box can be seen on the vintage tool boxes of GJ pg 52 post # 1039 here:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49743&highlight=tool+boxes+garage&page=52

I found these after a local search:

See post #47 and on-

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=225301&showall=1

and this one would be a You **** deal, it has a link to the 1979 catalog for the box but it seems only the Canadian ones have this paint scheme.-

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=186801

bobcatdan · Feb 11, 2014

I don't think SO would warranty the box. Getting parts like slides warrantied is pretty easy, but whole box replacement requires ok's from several steps above a dealer. That is kinda rare box and only made few years so if you like playing body man, anything is savable.

Bigplum · Feb 11, 2014

It'll be fun to bring it back , the bottom channel section will be a fiddle , I'd be tempted to drill the spot welds and try to find something similar from a steel fabricator , ( lots of steel cabinets/ vending machines have something like that section )
The rest just needs a caress with a panel hammer and dolly

zkling · Feb 11, 2014

Those are a very neat box indeed. On the extremely positive side IMHO, it looks to be rust free, which honestly I'd rather deal with dents and welds than heavy rust, especially in an double frame box like that.

It does look like someone tried to use it as a road chest, a real box killer, but again not rusted out so :thumbup:

A few dozen hours, some C clamps, hammers, pliers tape measure and a welder you could have that thing in very good shape. :beer:

And O shoot, I never realized it was you that did that kennedy box. Heck you no doubt have the skills to do this one up right too.

2oolhound · Feb 11, 2014

Har har har, looks like a bunch of slave drivers here. I'm no welder and I only have a buzz box and oxy/ace. AND I've never done body work even when cars were made out of metal. I chiseled the bottom panel free.

I used a flat bar as a dolly to straighten out the curl on the lower back panel.

I drilled out the spot welds to get the runners off the bottom panel. They are way out of shape.
Bigplum, you nailed it with the bottom channel runners and the whole bottom piece for that matter.

Some scrap pieces of steel fit the curled over fold on the bottom panel so got the edges straight

The bottom was bulged up about 1/2” in the centre and the runners were arced about 1/4”.

I’ve peened the runners pretty well flat and I don't think I can get them to reverse arc. I think I’m sunk with the bottom panel too. I’m thinking I could pop it down so it bulges down and the bottom drawer will work. I have some 1” X 1/16” wall square tubing I could split in 1/2 for some new runners. They could be scribed to the arc then ground down to the contour of the bottom panel, then welded to it. That would solve the bottom section for me. I’m trying to do this with what I have on hand and not spend a lot of cash on this.

Lookin4'67Galaxieconv · Feb 11, 2014

Warts aside, that is a very cool box. I gave up on a '74 five drawer Snap On box once and made a little money on the resale. I don't regret it, however if I had yours I'd try my hand at fixing it.

Just look at it this way, what you'll learn will be worth more than the time you spend.

2oolhound · Feb 11, 2014

That's exactly what I was thinking. I've had netflix for several months now and I've been getting addicted to dull movies. Actually I've enjoyed a lot of the movies and docs but this is way more satisfying. I'm not sure how it will go when I have to stick it all together. I've experimented with my stick welder and 1/16th 6013 rods at the lowest setting of 30 amps. It feels good for striking an arc but I'm not getting any good welds. I don't have the experience to know when I'm getting penetration or burning through. I'm going to work on the bent drawers and come back to the base that is ready for welding later.

I'm going to need to touch up the paint at least but I may end up trying to replicate the whole thing with new paint since I had to do so much grinding in prep for welding. Hell, I may have to rivet it together till I get a tig set up and some practice on it.

devoncoolman · Feb 11, 2014

I would mig weld it. A 110v mig would do what u need on that thin gauge.

nicksnothereman · Feb 12, 2014

2oolhound said:
So there you have it. No suckage on this $75 KC506B! I’m at a point where I wondering “do I walk away... or run!” But then I get a brainwave. I’ve seen it 100 times on GJ, snap-on has a lifetime warranty on this stuff right? I should be able to just track down the dealer and exchange it for a new one, right? ....Life should be so easy.

Are you trolling? Gotta ask. :dunno:

2oolhound · Feb 12, 2014

Hi, NO, not trolling, at least I never thought of it that way but I was poking fun at the mind set a lot of people have about warrantying tools. I would never expect this 35 year old box to be warantyable specially since I'm not the original owner. My comment was meant as a joke only. I certainly don't want to open a can of worms with my sarcasm as now that you mention it, I know it's a touchy subject.

Hey devoncoolman, I eventually want to learn to weld aluminum so I'll want to pick up something that will do a good job with that. The time is not now though. It is tempting to buy a cheap mig but I'm afraid of getting something that is a pita more than a help to have around.

Packard V8 · Feb 12, 2014

Do you have a Community College with a sheet metal program? Sometimes a student with access to the shear, brake and seamer can whip up a new bottom for that box more quickly and less expensively than one can pound around on it. Also, remember, once in use, no one will ever see the bottom anyway.

jack vines

2oolhound · Feb 13, 2014

Good suggestions Jack. For now I'm putting the bottom on hold and will proceed with straightening the drawers. The full size drawers were bent in and down 1/4" plus the handles were bent as well as the faces had pock mark type dents.

Good thing I'm a pack rat and don't throw too much out. All the small pieces of steel of various thicknesses, widths and lengths came in handy.

Parts of the job were simple

and some more complex

Got the drawers all looking pretty straight so I'm going to chill till my weekend in 4 days from now. I really like the idea of getting a new bottom plate fabed up but i'll have to weigh it out over the next few days.

One interesting thing is how these drawer slider panels aren't spot welded in place. They are free to move around although they can't move around because they are such a tight fit, held in by the top, bottom, rear panel and struts at the front. The other drawer slider support hangs off the top deck in the middle there and has lots of flex. I would guess this configuration will allow a few dents and twists but won't bind up the drawers. The drawers will keep the sliders aligned where they need to be and any mis-alignment will be taken up by the available flex they have.

2oolhound · Mar 7, 2014

Up Date

Moderators, if you see this and want to move it to the "Tool Boxes OF GJ" thread that's cool with me. I never expected this to be a restore thread.

Anyhow after stepping back for a bit I realized I had a piece of sheet metal suitable for the bottom piece.

I just had to cut it to size and bend the edges. Simple enough but without a bar fold or brake I didn't get the sweetest job in the end. I had some 17" steel pieces I could sandwich the panel in the vice with for the 1st bend. The second bend was hammer time but still using a long straight edge.

After pounding this out I poked around on the web looking at spot welders and came across this youtube video showing how to make your own:

What timing! there was a dead microwave at work they were bitching about having to pay the recyclers to take it. So I ran off on a tangent and set out to make a spot welder. After I complie all the hardware I need and rewire the transformer I'm chatting with a buddy over coffee, telling him about my spot welder proj and he says "hell, I have one of those, it's dead but maybe you should look at it". He finds it outside in a scrap heap a few days later and we tear into it. This thing was dead a few years ago and sitting out in the elements didn't do it any good since then. I wish I'd taken a photo of it when I 1st got it but here it is all rewired and cleaned up:

I just finished making those new offset contact points for it as the stock ones wouldn't reach into the folds of the bottom panel. I tested the unit out by doing the feet or bottom runners with the stock contact points. I had to relocate the feet closer to the outside so the spot welder arms would reach the inner surface but it's still close to where they were originally.

Here is the bottom panel clamped into position with the feet or runners spot welded on:

Sheeittt! I cut it twice and it's still too short! In this shot you can see my panel is 1/8" too short from front to back. After my crude set up for bending the lips I guess I lost an 1/8". I'll gas weld a small plate there in those corners so they touch. I'm pretty sure the bottom drawer will still go past that front edge of the panel but I can easily bolt a face strip on there if I need to.

I can hardly wait to try the offset contact points for the spot welder out. I hope they do the trick/. You'll notice I had to remove the paint on both sides of the spot welds. The paint prevented the current from flowing. I'm pretty busy again for the next 4 days so I may have to wait to spot the panel into the box. That will be nice to get past.

Anyone know of a good brand of rattle can paint that matches the so red?

softailgarage · Mar 7, 2014

Looks like you've got it handled after all, surprising what you can accomplish when you put your mind to work, huh? :thumbup:

And when your done you'll be able to step back and say, "I did that, not a metal shop or somebody else, me" and it will be the best feeling in the world. :rocker:

Most of us have been in your shoe's at one time or another. Mine was when I bought a HUGE Craftsman 10 drawer box. I got it home, flipped it around, turned it over and there was a fist sized rust hole, clean thru. Instead of getting pissed, I used it as a learning exercise. It was the first time to bondo and metal putty something, along with some fab work. It took time and effort, but when I finished, turned out to be a kick *** box. Not only did I make a profit, but I learned a valuable lesson, which is, "Dont hand the man the cash until after you've turned the box over" This has saved me alot of what could have been big headaches. Keep at it, you'll see. :beer:

zkling · Mar 7, 2014

Great job on the rebuild. Congrats on the spot welder, sounded like great timing. :beer:

2oolhound said:
Anyone know of a good brand of rattle can paint that matches the so red?

The "Sun Rise Red" is pretty close.

DanCo · Mar 7, 2014

That pat on the back is going to feel real good when you're done. I'm going to look into that link for the home made spot welder.

Dan

2oolhound · Mar 7, 2014

Thanks for the comments guys.

I would have preferred a little quicker timing on the spot welder (like before I spent $40 on materials

. But yeah, you're right, I really lucked out on that deal. Having this one has cut the time down considerably for me. It's nice to have a factory unit to compare to as I'm still planning on following through on my homemade spot welder since I have all the hard ware. Now I can take my time and do a nicer job on it.

tjmonsen5 · Mar 7, 2014

This is turning into a pretty serious restore! Cant wait to see the final product.

2oolhound · Mar 13, 2014

He He, the final product is a long way off. I got some more time in on it this week end though. I was able to test out my new offset points on the spot welder and they were perfect. They fit into all the tight spots I needed them to fit. The new copper seemed to conduct the electricity better than the old original ones too so the temp between the points seemed a little hotter with faster melt times. I clamped the metal tightly by each spot weld as the metal tried to separate from the heat.

My new nimble knipex adjustables allowed me to get into some tight spots to do some last minute bending, they were indispensable on this job.

I just wasn't up to springing for a mig and going through a learning curve with it at this point so I opted to gas weld the top tray to the front corner pillar. There is a small right angle piece that was spot welded in place inside the corner and then spot welded to the front face of the top tray area. I'm not sure how snappy did it when they built the box but it was beyond my capability to spot weld that section inside the pillar. I did manage to get some descent welds there but they aren't pretty overall. I'll have to lay some bondo on that area.

After wire wheeling the drawer slides thoroughly I placed the drawers back in just to see if they fit properly.

The lid is just sitting on top in this photo. Now that I have this sprawling project contained within itself and basically have my shop back I'm ready for some reprieve. I need to disassemble it again though, sand blast it, paint it and of coarse that touch of bondo over my ugly welds on the front pillars. I think it will look much better at that point.

Alex in Canada · Apr 11, 2014

Any updates?

Looks like a great project. I just picked up a KC516

Lookin4'67Galaxieconv · Apr 11, 2014

Good progress! That is such a cool drawer configuration. :thumbup:

2oolhound · Apr 12, 2014

We had a change in the weather so I was able to take the box outside and do some sand blasting. I just hit the bad spots and then held the gun back to just rough up the paint rather than try to remove all the paint. I was pretty happy with my compressor as it never calved out on me the whole time. It's a max air 12.5cfps @ 100psi, 60 gal tank with 5 peak HP. I figured it would be the bare minimum for this type of work when I bought it so I'm pretty happy it lasted 2 hours of continuous blasting. It's not plumbed, I'm using 50' of 3/8 hose. I haven't done much sand blasting so I've nothing to compare to. I suppose if I had a real kick *** set up I would have stripped all the paint off but this will keep me moving on this project any way.

I did the faces of the drawers completely though and just the bad spots inside that were rusted or oily, then just roughed up the remaining paint so it will take a new coat of primer.

I still have the small drawers to do but they will fit in my cabinet. (READ: I was so dirty and grimy by this time any excuse to stop would do)

This was initially a $75 investment turned work experience project but the hack job I did welding the front top tray to the front pillars was something I was quite ashamed of.(think arc of shame type feeling). The welds held pretty good but what a mess. The thought of using bondo on a 110 lb. snappy box didn't really appeal to me either so after watching a youtube video on lead body work I went that route. I love this stuff, it's so nice to work with.

I have more blasting to do and then paint. I will try to get some primer on it soon before rust sets in but I also have my ****** taxes to do and man I hate paperwork. Even more sand blasting will be a welcome reprieve from doing taxes.

xj31 · Apr 12, 2014

Nice work! It's getting there!

NotStock · Apr 12, 2014

Glad to see some progress on this! I looked this thread up about a week ago when I bought my 506B and 506 roller. I really enjoy seeing the work you're doing here.

These are cool boxes and I'm glad to see someone else working through a restore on one. I just used an entire can of GUNK to get the nasty sludge and cigarette stink out of mine. Pretty sure the one I bought was used as an ashtray at some point. I'm contemplating painting it too. What is your plan for the drop front? I think it would be a shame to lose the cool painted on logo.

2oolhound · Apr 13, 2014

I'm not sure how I'll handle the front yet. I'm thinking I'll take it in and get a paint match for one thing. The way I use my boxes is I remove the lids anyway because my garage is so narrow you loose 2" at the back when they are opened. Your boxes have to sit 2" away from the wall. When I remove the lids I can push them flat against the wall. When You're as cramped for space as I am it makes a difference. I know for now I'm just concentrating on getting the main box back in service. I'll likely leave the lid and drop front till the fall as I have more pressing things to attend to.

cmcnei · Nov 7, 2014

Great job so far. Any progress report? Looking forward to some final pics. thks.

wagzilla · Nov 8, 2014

looks good

james

jabberwoki · Nov 8, 2014

Nice job, I`m so glad your doing this. I`m in till the finish.

2oolhound · Nov 9, 2014

Oh Man! Who woke this thread up?

OK, OK, I'm guilty of procrastination I guess. I got caught up with many other more pressing matters through the sumer. I did seriously look at it several times though.... The big stumbling block I'm having is setting up to sand blast outside since it's too big to fit in the cabinet.

I'm working 6 days a week till xmas

too so it'll likely be next year before I can get at it.

Thanks for the inspiration though, I will get it in use eventually.

SO KC506B CL find but no suckage

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