Garage Organization - Bott/Kennedy & Equipto Cabinets

[sbosecker]

Well I scored a couple of Industrial Cabinets off of Craigslist this week. A 12-Drawer Bott/Kennedy & a 13-Drawer Equipto. While the seller didn't give them to me, I feel like I did OK. If the advertised weight for these things is correct I paid a little over 50 cents a pound.

They are both 30-inches wide and about 28-inches deep. The Bott-Kennedy is just under 40-inches tall and the Equipto is a bit over 44-inches tall.

I hope to use these primarily for the storage and organization of hardware.

The drawers don't have that many dividers in each drawer but I think these cabinets will be a big step forward in organizing my accumulation of parts.

I've started poking around online looking for information on these cabinets. It looks like Equipto has a healthy presence on the web but I couldn't find a corporate web site for Bott/Kennedy.

My Bott/Kennedy cabinet's locking system needs to be repaired. It is designed to only allow one drawer to be opened at a time. I'm afraid to monkey around with the locking system too much until I see a diagram of what that mechanism is supposed to look like. I'm afraid I may wind up with the cabinet drawers all locked closed if I'm not careful.

Anybody have information on the Bott/Kennedy company or does anybody have one of these cabinets that would be willing to answer some questions?

Scott

 

[Rex_A_Lott]

Start looking here:
http://www.kennedymfg.com/Kennedy/Products/ModularCabinetsToolboard/

Its normal for those to open one drawer at a time. Open too many heavily loaded ones and it might tip over. FWIW, I'd build a platform under the shorter one to make the tops even. Maybe make it out of angle, and then fashion a drawer so its not dead space.
Nice find! Those are expensive new.
Good Luck.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

Fashion a frame out of angle iron to level the tops, and add casters. You'll greatly appreciate it when you go to clean or reorganize your garage since moving cabinets like those with the drawers in them is very difficult.

Even if you choose not to put wheels under them, at least put some feet or spacers under so you can get a hand truck under them to move later.

 

[sbosecker]

Start looking here:
http://www.kennedymfg.com/Kennedy/Products/ModularCabinetsToolboard/

Its normal for those to open one drawer at a time. Open too many heavily loaded ones and it might tip over. FWIW, I'd build a platform under the shorter one to make the tops even. Maybe make it out of angle, and then fashion a drawer so its not dead space.
Nice find! Those are expensive new.
Good Luck.

Rex_A_Lott,

Thanks for the link! I had encountered it when I did a Google search but I didn't see a reference to Bott/Kennedy so I thought the search engine had misfired.

The "one-drawer-at-a-time" feature is nice. I'm not complaining about that. The actual mechanism that makes the feature happen is a piece of angle iron that is mounted vertically in the right rear corner. The mounting at the top of that vertical piece is "flop'n around" (technical term). I don't think it should be doing that. I'm afraid the system might fail in such a fashion that I can't get any of the drawers opened.

I'll post pictures of the problem area soon.

Best regards,

Scott

 

[sbosecker]

Here's a couple of shots of the upper portion of the Drawer Latching Mechanism:

The upper end is moving more than a pure rotation around the vertical axis. It's moving in the horizontal plane as well. It's "flopp'n" around.

So I think a pin/fastener is missing or something is bent.

The black axle that goes up into the top bracket isn't plumb. I think this is the area of concern. The "primered" pin is linked to the lock located in the top front of the cabinet

Best regards,

Scott

 

[sbosecker]

I took all the drawers out and got down inside the cabinet so I could take some shots of the Latching Mechanism from the bottom. This was useful as it sure appears to me that a pin (or something) is missing.

The spring retained silver piece can be in two different positions. The following two pictures are with that piece pointing away form the side of the cabinet.

The following two images are with the silver piece pointing towards the side:

Scott

 

[sbosecker]

Fashion a frame out of angle iron to level the tops, and add casters. You'll greatly appreciate it when you go to clean or reorganize your garage since moving cabinets like those with the drawers in them is very difficult.

Even if you choose not to put wheels under them, at least put some feet or spacers under so you can get a hand truck under them to move later.

Vegaman_Dan,

I'll look into those ideas! The Equipto has forklift fork holes in its base but the Bott/Kennedy sits flat on the floor.

Best regards,

Scott

 

[southalabama]

Those look nice. That was a good score.

There is a thread on here tonight about painting your boxes. As mentioned earlier I'd level them out and put a butcher block top on and paint them. They will look factory.

 

[Richard Cranium]

It looks like you got two great cabinets there. I would be proud to add them to mine. I got my two at a plumbing store that was closing. I got a steal on them. I offered and got them for 100.00 each, They were asking 800.00 for the set. What did you have to pay for yours. I see them upto 100.00 per drawer. Richie

 

[sbosecker]

It looks like you got two great cabinets there. I would be proud to add them to mine. I got my two at a plumbing store that was closing. I got a steal on them. I offered and got them for 100.00 each, They were asking 800.00 for the set. What did you have to pay for yours. I see them upto 100.00 per drawer. Richie

Richie,

$500 for the pair.

I like your price better. Ha!

Best regards,

Scott

 

[toolchaser]

I think the going used rate is $75 - $100 per drawer, so I think you did well. Storage items don't seem to last long on C/L

 

[sbosecker]

Well this morning, while the drawers were out, I brought some good light into the innards of the Bott/Kennedy. I found this back in a corner amongst some other debris.

I retrieved this pin and a few other pieces of small hardware and then I cleaned out the interior with the shop vac. The pin fits very nicely into that hole with the bushing that I pictured in an earlier post. I suppose I would need to attempt to weld it back into place.

That should be fun.

Best regards,

Scott

 

[Richard Cranium]

You did fine, I would of paid that for them also. I will give you a YOU ****. Richie
I also have an extra front bottom trim plate for the equipto cabinet if you want one.
It goes on and hides where the fork holes are to give it a more finished look. P.M. me if you want it..Rich

 

[sbosecker]

Thanks Toolchaser.

There's some work to be done on these but, all in all, I think they will serve me well and the negotiated price was acceptable to me.

Like you, I've noted that this sort of thing doesn't last very long on Craigslist. However, these were posted for a couple of weeks. The price had come down once but I was still wondering why someone hadn't grabbed them. I was busy with a honey-do project so I hadn't dared get distracted by yet another Craigslist Treasure.

As time passed I kept wondering why they were still available. When I completed my house trim painting, I called and made arrangements to look at them. They were about a bit over an hour away from me so I was expecting, after driving through Atlanta rush-hour traffic, to find out that there was a reason why they were still available.

When I got there, I couldn't see anything dramatically goofy with these cabinets. Some cosmetic damage to sheet metal on the Equipto and the noted issues with the Bott/Kennedy latching mechanism. I was dealing with a gentleman that was just a bit older than me. He had tasked his son with selling them with the understanding that his son could have the money from the sale. However, his son had a girlfriend that seemed to be "distracting" him. I think dad had decided "bleep it" and was taking over the project.

So maybe my timing was just good.

Best regards,

Scott

I think the going used rate is $75 - $100 per drawer, so I think you did well. Storage items don't seem to last long on C/L

 

[Kevin54]

If you put the cabinets together after you level them, make sure that you can get them apart easily. By that, I mean don't bolt them together from the inside. If they are like the Lista, there is a hole on the top R.H. side. If the drawer gets accidentally locked, or the lever inside gets tripped, you can go in through that hole with a long rod and trip the lever the other way to get the drawers open. And it's possible to get the lever to trip accidentally by pulling two drawers open at the same time. Yes....we had ones at work that did not know how to operated a cabinet drawer. The lever would partially trip when a drawer was out and it would not go back in, so you had to pull a secondary drawer out, then push them in at the exact same time. We had guys that could break an anvil with a rubber mallet.

 

[sbosecker]

You did fine, I would of paid that for them also. I will give you a YOU ****. Richie
I also have an extra front bottom trim plate for the equipto cabinet if you want one.
It goes on and hides where the fork holes are to give it a more finished look. P.M. me if you want it..Rich

Rich,

Ha! I know it doesn't look like it in the picture but I do have a bottom trim plate on mine. It has had the dickens bent out of it. I'll send you a PM.

Best regards,

Scott

 

[sbosecker]

You did fine, I would of paid that for them also. I will give you a YOU ****. Richie

Rich,

Please ...I've gone all red. This from a man that paid 40% of what I did per unit. I am not worthy.

You sir, ****.

Best regards,

Scott

 

[sbosecker]

OK...

As previously noted, I found the missing pin from the latching mechanism. Since the mechanism might not be "Scott Proof" (multiple assembly configurations possible as opposed to just one possible solution) to assemble I was trying to figure out a testing setup with an exit strategy.

I looked like I could put a 3/4-inch #8 machine screw through the hole and catch a nut on the other side. This would act like a welded pin but would allow a way to try different configurations if that was possible.

So that's what I did.

The good news: It appears that the device is "Scott-Proof" as I think there is just one way to put this together.

The bad news: While I was able to test the pin configuration, the mechanism was still "flop'n around".

It appeared that the axle at the top of the angle iron was not secure. I gave up trying to finesse the situation and studied the problem with removal of the entire latching unit being the goal. After analyzing the mechanism, it appeared that if I removed the spring that secured the latch to the arm that went to the lock, the entire puzzle would be solved.

I removed the spring which caused the lock arm to fall away which gave enough clearance for the angle iron to be lifted far enough vertically for the lower axle/pin to clear its mounting hole.

Upon removal I could see that the upper axle/pin's weld had failed. Somehow the axle/pin stayed in place (as opposed to falling away completely) but the latching mechanism no longer had a rigid rotational axis.

The following picture shows how I could move the top axle/pin in its mount. I could move the axle/pin quite a bit with my finger. Also note the "exit strategy pin".

The other picture shows the drilled out lock on the Bott/Kennedy. I am inclined to believe that the locking mechanism's damaged pins and the drilled out lock are interconnected. Ha! Prior to the drilling I suspect there may have been some aggressive yanking on the drawers.

I'm got the parts in a parts washer and I hope to weld the pins back into their proper positions in the near future. Hopefully that will repair the latch mechanism.

Scott

 

[sbosecker]

If you put the cabinets together after you level them, make sure that you can get them apart easily. By that, I mean don't bolt them together from the inside. If they are like the Lista, there is a hole on the top R.H. side. If the drawer gets accidentally locked, or the lever inside gets tripped, you can go in through that hole with a long rod and trip the lever the other way to get the drawers open. And it's possible to get the lever to trip accidentally by pulling two drawers open at the same time. Yes....we had ones at work that did not know how to operated a cabinet drawer. The lever would partially trip when a drawer was out and it would not go back in, so you had to pull a secondary drawer out, then push them in at the exact same time. We had guys that could break an anvil with a rubber mallet.

Kevin54,

Yes, I've been looking for an access hole or something that would allow a special tool to release a latched drawer. So far I haven't seen anything like that on the sides or on the top.

Best regards,

Scott

 

[sbosecker]

Over the weekend I was able to fire up my welder and weld the Bott/Kennedy's latching mechanism pins.

I'm not much with the welder but I did repair the mechanism well enough to reinstall the latching mechanism and the drawers now seem to work properly.

While I had all the drawers out of the Bott/Kennedy cabinet, I noticed that some of the rollers on the cabinet's rails were not functioning well. I pulled some of the rails out and stuck their rollers into the parts washer to clean the gunk out. That helped but some of the rollers probably need to be replaced.

However, the rollers are mounted directly to the rails. They aren't bolted to the rails, it's like they are riveted or hammered onto the rail. I don't know what the term would be.

So are these roller bearings press fitted onto an axle? Could the individual bearings be replaced or does the whole rail have to be purchased?

Any Bott/Kennedy owners to advise on this?

Scott

 

[jipps]

I just picked up this Bott unit from Gumtree last night. I suppose technically you would call it a roll cab, inasmuch as it's got a cabinet and it's on good castors.

Anyway, I didn't know much about them, but this unit is serious business. And from the Bott website, it looks like I paid 6% of list price

If anyone knows more about the brand, I would love to hear it....

 

[dutchgray]

Still made in the UK, Bott make a lot of industrial cabinets, storage, benches and a lot of van racking systems. Its top quality stuff.

 

[jipps]

Okay, I'm about 48hrs in. There is nothing comes close to the quality of this thing... If like me you've never heard of them before, I imagine it's because no one who has one is ever likely to sell it.

Here's an interesting piece on their site about the Bloodhound land speed attempt (cabinets by you know who...)


http://www.bottltd.co.uk/bott-suppo...d-beating-supersonic-car-19.htmll&newsID=6555