To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

BIG Lista Warning! Don't Get Locked Out!

lens42

New member
Joined
May 29, 2014
Messages
2
I've been (and still am) a happy Lista owner. I've not once regretted spending the cash that put Lista cabinets in my Garage. But tonight I did something stupid and for about an hour I thought I might have to cut one of my cabinets open.

Did you ever close a drawer, and at the very end of the travel it snags a bit because something in the drawer is sticking up? When that happened, did you ever think "Fk it" and push harder? Well if you are pushing a Lista drawer, DON"T DO THAT! I did tonight, but when the drawer closed, it didn't sound quite like I remembered. Then I tried to open the drawer and it wouldn't budge. I then tried another drawer. It too was locked. ALL THE DRAWERS WERE LOCKED! Uh Oh.

I suspected that the interlock that prevents you from opening more than one drawer at a time was wedged by whatever stuff was in the drawer I forced. I was now locked out of my box. The key didn't help (it was already unlocked). No amount of pushing, pulling, or shaking any drawer did any good.

After an hour of cursing. I'm thinking, "No, I CAN"T cut into my Lista box". I then had the idea to pull drawers out of another cabinet and take a look at the interlock mechanism I was up against. It's too hard to describe it in any useful way in text, but if you have Lista boxes and fiddle with the bar at the back to see how it stops and releases drawers, you can see how a flat bar pushed in a certain way might release the interlock. I then cut about 5 feet of 1"x1/8" flat HRS stock and made a Lista "Slim Jim". I slid it between two drawers, poked around the back to find the right spot, pushed to the left, AND IT WORKED! I could open a drawer! HALLELUJA!

The thing that jammed everything was just a thick plastic bag with some wires in it. Murphy skillfully guided it to the absolute worst spot.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

PCMusicGuy

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 15, 2009
Messages
851
Location
Houston, TX
I had something similar happen with a cheap Craftsman roller chest. My issue was the key lock cylinder actually fell out of the front while in the locked position. The rod was still connected to the back mechanism, but the front part that goes into the lock fell into the drawer. Some patience and some picks was all it took to resolve the issue.
 

Angelfire

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
1,367
Location
New Mexico and Ireland
Yep, pretty typical for a number of the cabinets out there. I made a slim jim for my cabinets as well (not Lista, Lyon) and keep it handy just in case.
Cheers.
 

nutjob

Well-known member
Joined
May 8, 2008
Messages
806
Location
NE, PA
You could also try turning the key to lock it, than turn the key to unlock, might fix it. I have one cabinet that is missing a small flat spring that is part of the bar at the back and the drawers will sometimes get locked. The key thing fixes it.

Kevin
 

wasfast

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 10, 2014
Messages
874
Location
San Diego CA
At work we bought some used Lista and Vidmar cabinets that were locked. After lots of messing around with a similar "Slim Jim" method, we contacted the manufacturer and got a master key. Just an alternative option.
 

speed bump

Well-known member
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
6,317
Location
Butte Montana
You can see the bar you need to lift if you look in with a flashlight. I used to work at a company where we used Listas mounted in shipping containers. About every 3rd move you had to go in with a ruler lift the bar, not hard but it is scary the first time you have to do it.
 

PoorOwner

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
5,032
Location
CA
So it doesn’t sound different than any other tool boxes lock mechanism


But how could it be so unreliable for the how much they costed.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

mikegt4

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 12, 2005
Messages
3,268
Location
sw ohio
I was in charge of the bolt bin at work, about a dozen Lista and Vidmar cabinets. I had to open them a couple of times a month and had my slim jim hanging on the side of my tool box.
 

sbosecker

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
3,539
Location
Peachtree City, GA
To the fellows that have a Slim Jim for this...

Could you make a video showing the technique so a guy that didn't know this wouldn't have to cut holes in his cabinet?

Best regards,

Scott
 

Kevin54

MEMBER EMERITUS
Joined
Jan 12, 2005
Messages
29,341
Location
Urbana, Ohio
You can use a slimjim to release the lock mechanism from the front, OR....some Listas have a hole in the side towards the back/top area. You can use a 1/4" dia. rod and go in from the side to bump the lock. Ours at work would lock all the time due to some people not putting items back in the drawers correctly then slamming then shut.
 

FSrepair&fabrication

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 28, 2017
Messages
908
Location
maryland
If you do some running kicks on it sometimes it will pop it loose, no joke.

At one friends shop he has a smaller well used lista that came from a dealership parts room. They smack it on the side with a thick rubber mudflap to un jam it. Ive always thought it was just theirs that was worn out/broke didnt know it was a common thing
 

RoarkIndustrialSolutions

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
212
Location
Virginia
If this happens again, please contact Customer Service at Lista or Vidmar. They will send you instructions of how to get into your cabinet without having to drill out the lock or worse.

(800) 523-9462 Vidmar products / (800)722-3020 Lista products
 

akasrick

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 10, 2017
Messages
794
Location
south jersey

mikegt4

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 12, 2005
Messages
3,268
Location
sw ohio
To the fellows that have a Slim Jim for this...

Could you make a video showing the technique so a guy that didn't know this wouldn't have to cut holes in his cabinet?

Best regards,

Scott

Just remove a drawer or two from your cabinet so that you can see the locking system and understand how it works. IIRC, just roll the drawer out to full extension and tilt the handle end up and remove the drawer from the slides. It isn't like a toolbox where the lock is just for security. These cabinets have a system that prevents more than one drawer to be open at a time so that heavily loaded drawers don't topple the cabinet over on anyone. Once you see how YOUR cabinet operates (different companies have different systems) you can determine the method and slim jim that will work for you.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom