Bull's Equipto Grab

[Bull]

They look heavy - have fun moving those - I'm not helping!

Do you now have heat, Bull?

As of this very morning, I now have heat in the form of a small 5700 Watt King electric heater mounted right above my sub-panel. The garage started at 39 degrees, and within maybe a couple hours it was close to 60. It got to about 65 eventually. The heat wanted to pool up high, in my uninsulated ceiling joists. I need to insulate that space; for today, I perched a tall fan on the roof of my poor GTO to get the heat down and circulating. It helped a lot.

The quality of some of these pics are ****; sorry.

Here is the cabinet waiting for the first coat of Rustoleum Hammered Gray.

And here it is with the gray applied.

This paint is a bear to work with if you use it straight out of the can. I mixed in some Xylene and that made it much more workable. On the second coat, my damn roller shed like crazy and so the final finish looks like a bedtime story in braille. Oh well.

I was just going to put down some pressure treated sleepers on the floor and rest the two cabinets on them, side by side, to keep them off the ground and discourage rust. Then, I started looking at this platform that I made from 4x4s, lag bolts, and scrap OSB. It's a mobile base for a tanker desk, storage unit, and trash compacter. The compacter is getting tossed, the desk is getting moved, and I'm trying to sell the organizer. I decided to use the platform for the Equiptos. It has 4" Colson casters that should be able to handle the weight. I won't move these often, but this should allow me to move them once in a while to clean or whatever.

Wishing for a friend, I took all the heavy **** off the platform, put it under the base of the Equipto, lifted the end of the cabinet, moved the saw horse, and gently placed the base of the cabinet on the platform. Then, I went to the top of the cabinet and stood it up on the platform. You might be able to tell that I cheated and did not paint the back of the cabinet. No one will ever see it!

I then rolled the assembly back to the other side of the garage to make room in the bay to start painting drawers for this first cabinet. This is not where the cabinets will go, ultimately. I think they will go to the left of the frame, where the big Lista box and the rota-bin are. I want to sell that rota-bin, too!

Obviously, the upper drawers are going to be too high even for a 6'2" fellow to reach. So, I will either have a little step ladder out there and keep lighter items up top (less frequently used items, of course) or maybe I will leave the top few drawers out and put a piece of plywood up there for a shelf for a small stereo or something.

 

[The Boss]

NO COVER ON THE GTO!!! AND YOU'RE PAINTING NEXT TO IT?!?

I'm gonna come up there and SLAP you!

 

[Bull]

NO COVER ON THE GTO!!! AND YOU'RE PAINTING NEXT TO IT?!?

I'm gonna come up there and SLAP you!

Whoah whoah! I only rolled the paint, so there was no splatter or fog onto the Goat. When I spray bomb the drawers I will throw some plastic over the car, fo sho.

 

[The Boss]

OH! Okay, I'm better now.

 

[Bull]

Maybe you guys can help me decide what color to paint the drawers. I am torn between matching the blue on the Lista box that you can see to the left of the above pics, or painting them the same Rustoleum Hammered Gray as the cabinet bases (which is the same color on the Lista box, too).

I need to spray the drawers, and will need to do it over a period of days. I just don't have enough space to set them all up to paint in one swoop.

I am sure that I can take the Lista color chip that I have to the local Sherwin Williams and get it matched, but I am wondering about how to spray the paint, and how expensive going that direction would get.

The Rustoleum is over $5 per spray can at the local Home Depot. Not sure how many cans I would need. Maybe five to ten?

Also, if I painted the drawers blue, the handles would probably also get painted blue since they are just formed, painted steel and not a separate aluminum piece like on the Lista's. So, unless I take the time to mask each handle and paint it silver, he drawers won't exactly match the Lista box.
What say you?

 

[Al Bundy]

Mask the handles and paint the drawers blue. Then paint the handles silver. Then have a beer, you'll deserve it.

 

[Torque1st]

Why mask it off? You can avoid some masking and paint everything blue then paint the handles silver with a small roller.

Paint the inside of the drawers white.

 

[Bull]

Man, you guys are both choosing the way of more work, huh?

I don't think the handles could be done well with a small roller; they are curved. I also want to make sure I get a clean line if I do the handles separate so they don't bleed into the color for the drawer face.

I think I might avoid painting the insides of the drawers. With so many, I could be cleaning, scuffing, and painting these until spring if I did the fronts AND the insides. I figured I would just put some liner in each one and call it a day.

 

[Torque1st]

Painting the inside white was just a suggestion. I just like a light surface for my old eyes. The more light the better.

I can't paint to a line worth a damn. I have to mask everything then there is that broken paint line where the tape came loose.

 

[slghmmr88]

I vote for black wrinkle finish to go with the hammertone gray.
It ain't one of your picked options but would look cool anyway.

 

[alpinewhite]

I'd love to see how the colors will turn out. I've got a 59" high, 37" wide Lyon that looks very identical to these. I'm still undecided on what color to paint it.

 

[kbs2244]

However you make them look,
you are going to be sooooo happy when you have all those drawers to put stuff in.

 

[The Boss]

Whichever is easier to mask (the drawer or the pull) paint that first without masking - let the over spray go where it may, then mask it, and paint the balance.

 

[SRX]

Bull,
If you ever have a spare moment, would you mind taking a clear, close-up pic of the Rustoleum texture on the Lista (or the Equipto)?
Scott

 

[melliott28]

Since you went through the trouble of painting the rest of the cabinet the same grey as the Lista, my vote would be to paint the drawer fronts the same blue as your Lista, but I wouldn't bother with masking the handles. Paint and see how it looks, then if you don't like it, you can always mask off and paint the handles at a later date.

 

[Bolster]

Storage scorage!

 

[alpinewhite]

Bull, what kind of casters are on your Lista?

 

[57210]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Being that these appear older, I am not sure if they are of the same quality that newer Equipto might be. I will find out when I pick them up.

How do you think I can match the color of blue that is on the Lista drawers? They are just a little too big to carry with me to the paint store and have them use their scanner thingy.

I'm also not sure how to fit both of these in my pickup. The length isn't an issue because in a worst case scenario I will just have the tailgate down. But the seller indicates they are about 26.5" overall dept, which is their narrowest measurement. So, if I put both of them on their sides, they will be too wide to fit between the wheel wells in the bed of my truck, which I believe are exactly 48" apart. So I guess one cabinet will lay flat, and the other will be sort of diagonally position, with one edge resting on the bed and the other edge up on top of the other cabinet.

The seller does have a forklift to assist with loading, so that's a relief!

Oh, and JC, we are talking 29 total drawers.

Here's a link where you can get paint chips for Lista

http://www.listaintl.com/sites/defa...f/Lista-paint-color-guide-standard-colors.pdf

 

[Bull]

Bull,
If you ever have a spare moment, would you mind taking a clear, close-up pic of the Rustoleum texture on the Lista (or the Equipto)?
Scott

"Clear" and "photos by Bull" don't often go together. I tried. This cabinet does not represent the best finish you can get with the Rustoleum Hammered, I am sure. My application techniques are likely flawed, and the fact that my roller shed all over this Equipto didn't help any. I love the finish because it looks good even when it's bad, if that makes sense.

Bull, what kind of casters are on your Lista?

Those are Colsons...I want to say 6" but can't recall for sure. I got them and the base for that cabinet from Joe at Motorhead Extraordinaire. The casters are smoooooth.

Here's a link where you can get paint chips for Lista

http://www.listaintl.com/sites/defa...f/Lista-paint-color-guide-standard-colors.pdf

Thank you. I e-mailed Lista a while back and they were kind enough to send me samples of their blues so I could match mine. I took that sample to the paint store just last week.

 

[Bull]

This is the stage of the project where I sort of wish I hadn't taken it on, because it feels like made-up work, while my "real" projects, like a new nursery or cars that need wrenching wait idly by. <sigh> It's not easy, being a *******.

I stole some time from my end-of-semester grading to get out to the barn and make some minor progress. I used acetone and #0 steel wool to remove stickers and adhesive residue from five of the larger drawers. After that, I scuffed one of the cabinets with 120 grit paper (what I have on-hand). The next four I just scuffed with the wool; #0 should be harsh enough to scuff up the surface to give the new paint some bite.

I felt rushed, but wanted to get paint on at least a couple drawers to see what it was going to look like and test my application methods. I bought a Preval sprayer the other day, and was going to mix up a small batch to spray a few drawers. But, I decided against that because of the mess; I hate pouring paint from quart containers because it makes a mess and wastes paint, and I didn't want to take time to rinse the Preval jar afterwards. I also knew I would mix either too much or too little paint.

I decided to see how this Sherwin Williams latex spread with a foam applicator on one drawer, and a cheap chip brush on the other. The paint is of excellent quality, and levels itself out to some extent. The chip-brushed drawer has some brush strokes in it; the foam-applied paint doesn't really have any marks. It will take two coats to give full coverage.

Because there are so many drawers, I was struggling with how to lay them out to paint more than a few at a time, since I only have one bay to work in. I have decided that I will paint the other base cabinet, then install all the drawers in both cabinets, do some masking, and spray them like that. Not sure if I will use the little Preval, or buy an LVLP gun. The brushing works, but spraying them will be quicker/less labor-intensive.

I have decided that I will paint the handles silver, or more precisely, with a paint that approximates an aluminum look. Any suggestions?

Each of the larger drawers has four roller bearings that are integral to it, plus two tracks and channels that it rides on per side. That's a lot of bearings and surfaces to clean before installing back in the cabinet!! I have found that pouring a little acetone into the bearings and spinning them loosens up the old, rock-hard grease rather quickly. I do that a couple of times, working the bearings back and forth, then blow with compressed air and oil with 3-in one oil.

Once installed, the rollers and slides are sort of noisy; not sure there is any way to prevent this, although I feel like if I liberally applied grease to the bearing tracks and any surfaces that glide against each other on the tracks/bearing assemblies, things would get quieter. But, I want to avoid thick grease and stick with light oil, since grease can get nasty over time. I guess to approximate the sound, I would say the drawer I installed today sounds like that on a vintage filing cabinet, maybe a bit louder. This is unlike my Lista or Vidmar cabinets, which are quieter.

One annoying thing is that the stops for the slides don't seem to be working. Unless I am mistaken, each bearing assembly has a little latch that rides along the lip of the track and is supposed to fall into and catch on a little "lip" once the drawer is pulled out a certain amount. Mine don't seem to want to catch, so the drawer does not have a positive stop. I am not sure if this will matter much; I just need to be aware of how far I am opening the drawers when using them.

 

[Bull]

A-hah! After posting the last pic above, I thought about the problem. I went out to the barn and removed the bearing assemblies so on each one I could reposition the little arm that is supposed to catch to stop the drawer. Basically, by moving the arms 180 degrees from how I had them, they now work as designed and stop the drawer's forward momentum like gangbusters. Woohoo!

 

[melliott28]

Once they are all painted, those units are going to look outstanding. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished results.

 

[alpinewhite]

http://www.listaintl.com/sites/defa...f/Lista-paint-color-guide-standard-colors.pdf

http://www.listaintl.com/sites/defa...f/Lista-paint-color-guide-standard-colors.pdf

Is your blue Lista's Classic Blue?

 

[Bull]

Is your blue Lista's Classic Blue?

Yes indeedy!

Why do you ask?

 

[alpinewhite]

Yes indeedy!

Why do you ask?

My Lista is currently all blue. My 37" Lyon is currently all gray. I'm contemplating on painting the Lista's case gray like the Lyon and the Lyon's drawers blue like the Lista. I really like the gray/blue combo you have. I hope you don't mind if I copy it.

 

[Bull]

My Lista is currently all blue. My Equipto is currently all gray. I'm contemplating on painting the Lista's case gray like the Equipto and the Equipto's drawers blue like the Lista. I really like the gray/blue combo you have. I hope you don't mind if I copy it.

Heck no I don't mind; rarely do I do anything worth copying!

It is an attractive combo, IMO, and I'm glad I stumbled into it.

 

[Jack Olsen]

That's going to look great.

You'll enjoy the results of this 'made up' work long after the displaced projects (completed or not) are long forgotten.

 

[Bull]

That's going to look great.

You'll enjoy the results of this 'made up' work long after the displaced projects (completed or not) are long forgotten.

This is probably true, Jack. The idea behind these was to use them to get hyper-organized and eliminate several other pieces of furniture that, while useful, took up space and didn't store a fraction of what these cabinets will.

I had to work on writing student comments today, but after pounding the keys to summarize the progress of thirty students (6100 words!) I took a break to setup my parts washer. I had been storing it in my old barn since Thanksgiving, when I picked it up specifically for this project.

I took a very sturdy metal base with greasable rollers that I had out in the old barn and brought it in so the parts washer can be moved around easily.

I only paid $50 for the Graymills washer and approximately fifteen gallons of Super Agitene solvent. I filled the drum and turned on the unit. The pump works quietly, with good flow, and even the lamp works! I need to get a parts cleaning brush and start going to town on these things. Hopefully, the Super Agitene will dissolve the rock-hard grease in these bearing assemblies.

I am eager to get my work bench back; I can't stand it being such a mess out there!

 

[frankush]

Looking good bull. You'll be happy as hell when they're done. Give yourself some credit. You've earned it. Try a little dry silicone on the rails and see if that quiets them down some.

 

[The Boss]

You'll get there - looking good so far!

 

[akdiesel]

Being meticulous pays off.
I used the silicon spray on my Vidmar rails (one they were cleaned) and it worked out great. Dry graphite may also be an option.

 

[alpinewhite]

Carb cleaner to clean the old gunk. Then, silicone spray to lubricate.

 

[luvit]

looking good, man!
it'll be worth every minute.

 

[alpinewhite]

Bull, I'm having withdrawals. I need more pics.

 

[Bull]

Bull, I'm having withdrawals. I need more pics.

I've been plugging away out there for an hour here and an hour there. The amount of tedious work is just nuts. On this first cabinet with the deeper drawers, each drawer has four rails that must be scrubbed clean in the parts washer with a brush and a scraper. The old grease in the rails is HARD and the Agitene and a brush alone won't get it out of the tracks.

Then, each drawer has four bearing "plates" if you will that are inserted into each track. Each of these plates has four bearings to clean, so that's sixteen per drawer. Many are frozen SOLID with old grease. They need time to soak under the spray in the cleaning tank, then get worked with a brush, steel wool, and sometimes pliers to get them turning and flushed out.

Finally, each drawer has four bearings riveted to it, two on each side. The only way I can clean these is to pour a couple cap-fulls of acetone into them to soften to old, rock-hard grease, then use pliers to turn the really stubborn ones and get things moving. I repeat this process and then blow out with compressed air to dry.

Then I need to use my 3-in-1 oil can to get oil into all twenty of these bearings (per drawer) and spin them by hand to distribute the stuff. Finally, I screw the rails to the cabinet, insert the bearing plates, then insert the drawer. I'll have to go back later and lube the tracks themselves, maybe with this spray silicone you guys are talking about. Although, I try to avoid silicone products, so maybe I'll try the graphite.

I took this pic the other day. I have a couple more drawers installed and a lot more rails cleaned and installed, too.

So, the pace of this project is measured in geologic time.

This weekend, I have a washer that needs to be fixed somehow, school work to do, a brother that is visiting, a young child to care for, and a nursery to make some progress on. Maybe I'll get an hour or two to throw at this project.

 

[Bull]

Spent around 2.5 hours out there tonight. Got more rails and bearing plates cleaned and drawers installed. I think there are three more drawers for this cabinet.

Spraying the bearings with carb cleaner a few times is a quicker way to rejuvenate them. However, I'd need a heck of a lot of cans to do the job. So, I'm continuing to clean the bearing plate assemblies in the Graymills parts cleaner, but I will use carb cleaner from now own to clean the bearings riveted to each drawer.

The drawers are not closed all the way in these pics because I need to install the lock hardware and then adjust the tabs on the back of each drawer so they fit the lock bar properly.

I'm going to try to get the other cabinet up on sawhorses so it is ready to sand.

 

[akdiesel]

Nice and slow. I went through about 5 cans of Brakekleen doing the Vidmar cabinet, but I was also doing the floors of trays.
Are you just using to dolly to move the cabinet for cleaning or will it be permanently mounted on it?

 

[Cemoto]

Bull,

Have you tried soaking the tracks/bearings overnight in, ahem, gasoline to melt the old grease?

I know, dangerous as all get out, but it does work, in proper conditions outside of course.

I've been known to do this in the past and then rinse w/ lacquer thinner to get the stink off. Sometimes it is the only way.

Flame suit on, roger.

.

 

[Bull]

Nice and slow. I went through about 5 cans of Brakekleen doing the Vidmar cabinet, but I was also doing the floors of trays.
Are you just using to dolly to move the cabinet for cleaning or will it be permanently mounted on it?

The carb/brake cleaner does work well, no doubt about it.

I am going to leave both cabinets on that dolly, permanently. I was just going to put them on sleepers on the floor, to keep them from rusting, but then this dolly became available when I decided to move my tanker desk out of the downstairs space. The dolly is made from 4x4s, lag bolts, and plywood. The casters are Colson, I believe, and rated for a lot of weight. The loaded cabinets might actually exceed that weight, and I might need to brace the center of the span on the long 4x4s, but we'll see. I won't need to move this often, but I hate them idea of them being absolutely immobile and just sitting on the floor. That's a PITA.

Bull,

Have you tried soaking the tracks/bearings overnight in, ahem, gasoline to melt the old grease?

I know, dangerous as all get out, but it does work, in proper conditions outside of course.

I've been known to do this in the past and then rinse w/ lacquer thinner to get the stink off. Sometimes it is the only way.

Flame suit on, roger.

.

With my luck, this would end in tragedy!

 

[Bull]

Thanks to my wife taking a lion's share of the childcare duties today, I have been able to make more progress. I installed another drawer, then reorganized the project space to move the platform/cabinet out of the way and get the second cabinet up onto sawhorses.

I drilled two holes through the top of the cabinet into the flange where the top and sides meet so I could add a screw on each side to keep the sides from being wobbly (described much earlier in this thread.)

I then was able to sand the entire cabinet with my DeWalt electric sander, also shown earlier in this thread IIRC. So now, I need to buy more of the Rustoleum Hammered Gray, wipe down the cabinet twice with acetone, and get it painted so I can put it on the platform next to the other one.