kr2105 questions

[a52-830]

i have been thrashing about getting new tool storage for awhile now. i've made spreadsheets, i've compared harbor freight, home depot, and several levels of craftsman boxes. I've documented the space the tools i have use, how tall the drawers need to be, and how many of each depth drawer i am using. i measured the space i have available.

i came to two conclusions:

1) per linear foot, 26"/27" stacks seem to offer the best value.

does not matter the brand, those small stacks are always cheapest per unit of comparison. ( i have written about square inches and cubic inches before, no need to repeat it here)

2) per linear foot, 40" full width drawer stacks offer the best storage density.

actually, full width drawers offer the most room, but finding a chest wider than about 40" with all (or substantially all, maybe the top one or two split) drawers seems impossible.

since my drawer needs biased towards shallower drawers, and that doesn't seem to be the focus of current manufacturing (the hf26" stack is a notable exception) i started looking at used stacks on craigslist and ebay, since 30 years ago they seemed to make them with both shallower drawers, and the bottom would be taller. you can get 10 drawer high craftsman bottoms from that era. the problem there is that 99% of older tool boxes seem to be made of gold. people want a lot of money for things that "will look great after you clean it up a bit".

one evening, i noticed a 27" snap on bottom cabinet for the same price as the 80's craftsman one above it. that caused me to start looking at older snap on boxes. there are a lot of newer snap on boxes around, with people looking to get back what they put into them, but they also tend to be large, the smallest seem to start about 60" wide, which is wayyyy to large for me.

i found mention of a KRL777, which looked pretty good, but they are exceptionally rare. either people really like theirs, or snap on didnt sell many. i dont think they listed them for long, so i assume the latter. then, i found what appeared to be the prefect box for me, a kr550/kr555 stack. 66" tall, 35" wide, 16 levels of drawers high. sure, the top 3 levels are split, with 6 narrow drawers, and one really narrow and deep one, but the set had 9986 square inches of storage. more storage space than two 27" stacks, in 33% less wall space, although it will stick out 3.5" more.

now, if i could find one inexpensive enough to satisfy my cheapness, i would be happy. it took some time, but i did. i bought a kr2015 ( i think. a kr2015 was a kr550 and a kr555 sold as a set. i assume they are a kr2015 since they are keyed the same).

i have partially solved my problem. i need more space that this, but it is a great start, and leaves plenty of room for the additional capacity i still need.

i spent this afternoon cleaning the drawers from the bottom. not the cabinet, just the drawers. it look longer than i expected, but they look better than i had feared. i learned some interesting things.

the dirtiest part of a drawer seems to be the back edge. these drawers have the steel folded over to help with rigidity, and that top surface was the dirtiest part.

the most banged up part is the top of the drawer pulls. not the top of the drawer next to the pulls, but the surface above the chrome trim piece before it bends back into the drawer. it looks like this was captain hook's chest.

lastly, i know some people here have speculated that the built in drawer dividers from this era were to stiffen the drawers. looking at this box, that seems unlikely. the 6" inch bottom drawer has a stiffener under the drawer, over the full width, edge to edge. the dividers inside, while spot-welded to the bottom, are not attached to the sides, stopping just before. i would imagine that if they were there for stiffness, attaching them to the sides would have been part of that.

the box is worse than i hoped, but better than i expected. i am happy with it.

now, my first two questions:

1) what is the preferred method for getting the chrome trim off the drawer pulls without ruining it? it appears that it is just being held on with friction, but i have learned that in things like this, there is often a trick. pull down on them? slide them off to the side? sing jim croce songs to them softly until they just drop off themselves?

2) the matching locks lack keys. has anyone replaced a lock on one of these boxes, or a similar box, with one of the new snap on locks:

https://store.snapon.com/Lock-Assemblies-Lock-Assembly-Tubular-One-Lock-Two-Keys--P653027.aspx

i haven't checked the top box, nor taken out the one in the bottom box (removing and cleaning the drawers took all afternoon), but they appear to be compatible. i just dont want to spend 50$ on a pair of locks to find that they won't fit.

thanx for reading this far.

 

[crewchief888]

as you noticed the KR 550/555 is much larger than even 2 26" sets of boxes.

the extra drawer depth makes a huge difference.
back when i bought my 550/555 i couldnt believe how many empty drawers i had.

but i solved that "problem" fairly quick.

 

[a52-830]

images? well, i didnt think that there was much to see, but, ok. three images. the empty kr555 bottom after being washed, the stack of drawers out of it, after being washed, and the kr550 top, with only the lock removed. since these photos were taken, i have removed the metal logos from the front of both cabinets.

the images appear to be sideways. they appear upright on my computer, so i dont know what the issue is.

oh well, i suppose sideways images are better than no images.

 

[crewchief888]

images? well, i didnt think that there was much to see, but, ok. three images. the empty kr555 bottom after being washed, the stack of drawers out of it, after being washed, and the kr550 top, with only the lock removed. since these photos were taken, i have removed the metal logos from the front of both cabinets.

the images appear to be sideways. they appear upright on my computer, so i dont know what the issue is.

oh well, i suppose sideways images are better than no images.

everybody on GJ likes pics

looks to be early 80's vintage, and in pretty good condition.

date codes are stamped near the model #'s on the back.

if i remember correctly the drawer trim has a crimp on the outer edges of both sides. ive never had mine off, and they've never loosened up since i bought mine in '86.

 

[a52-830]

everybody on GJ likes pics

date codes are stamped near the model #'s on the back.

if i remember correctly the drawer trim has a crimp on the outer edges of both sides. ive never had mine off, and they've never loosened up since i bought mine in '86.

i'll make note about including more images, thanx.

i am currently in three 26" bottom/middle/top stacks which are pretty full. i think that this might not be enough, but would take up less room. since the footprint will be smaller, there is room to keep the largest 26" stack.

they both have date codes of 79. they are keyed the same, which, along with the matching years, leads me to think they were bought as a set, rather than individually, which, according to the 1979 catalogue on collectingsnapon.com, makes them a kr2105.

a crimp implies that it is likely best to try and push them down and off rather than slide them to one side or the other. taking the side handle off the bottom unit was a push the "outside" (the face away from the box along the handle) off to get inside the channel to get the bolts out.

 

[crewchief888]

most of the 550/555's ive seen were sold together.
another popular set up "back in the day" was the top box with a taco cart.

back in the mid 80's when i bought my set they were about $2500, that was a boatload of money back then...

 

[zkling]

Couple notes....

When comparing storage capacity, compare surface (in^2) or volumetric (in^3) storage to foot print (in^2) floor space taken up. 28" boxes are efficient and a classic width. Industrial cabinets are most commonly sold in a 28" x 29" deep size.

kr2105 was the order number for the set, the model numbers on the boxes are still, KR555, KR550

The drawer dividers were most certainly for stiffening up the drawers, especially in the friction slide boxes. Friction slides do not take kindly to adding in a bending moment about the vertical axis. If you compare a ball bearing version of the same box (I have the version of that, the KR655) the drawers have more stiffening and folds at the edges to make up for the loss of rigidity the drawer "dividers" provide. Now you will even see the dividers on some of the early large boxes such as the early KR1000, even though it did have ball bearing slides. This is due to such a large span of flat material having to be supported. Even modern boxes have stiffeners, but now they are typically welded on underneath the drawer to not partition the working space of the drawer.

While you make think the best way to pull the drawer trim off is down, what you are missing that the edge of the drawer pull is actually folded over giving a lip for the crimp to hang up on. The 100% proper way is to uncrimp, pull off and then recrimp, but that takes a special tool. Thus it is recommended for the average guy to just carefully slide them off with a soft mallet.

You can buy new keys for the locks, especially if they are Y- series locks. Can you replace the locks with modern ones? Sure, but you can order a set of cut keys for $8 on ebay.

 

[a52-830]

Couple notes....

When comparing storage capacity, compare surface (in^2) or volumetric (in^3) storage to foot print (in^2) floor space taken up. 28" boxes are efficient and a classic width. Industrial cabinets are most commonly sold in a 28" x 29" deep size.

that sounds so familiar . . ..

The drawer dividers were most certainly for stiffening up the drawers, especially in the friction slide boxes. Friction slides do not take kindly to adding in a bending moment about the vertical axis. If you compare a ball bearing version of the same box (I have the version of that, the KR655) the drawers have more stiffening and folds at the edges to make up for the loss of rigidity the drawer "dividers" provide.

if this is true, why are there drawers of the same size without dividers? they appear in all other aspects identical.

i will note that the bottom drawer on mine has a stiffener along the underside of the drawer, likely do to the increased depth (which is likely why it also has two friction slides per side)

i would assume if they were there for stiffness, the dividers would also attach to the drawer sides, but none of the ones in my drawers do.

While you make think the best way to pull the drawer trim off is down, what you are missing that the edge of the drawer pull is actually folded over giving a lip for the crimp to hang up on. The 100% proper way is to uncrimp, pull off and then recrimp, but that takes a special tool. Thus it is recommended for the average guy to just carefully slide them off with a soft mallet.

i didnt understand what you meant about the lip, but i went ahead and did as you suggested. after the first piece of trim was off, what you meant became completely clear. thanks for the help. i did note several things:

some drawers had four crimps, two near each end. most of the others had six, two at each end and two spaced in the middle. one drawer (one of the top short drawers) had eight crimps, spread somewhat evenly along the entire length.

the door trim hid substantial paint damage, and some minor surface rusting.

do you have a preferred method for reapplying the trim? i would imagine sliding it back on would be hard on the new paint. is it worth trying to open up the crimps a bit? if so, how do you suggest going about recrimping them? is there a tool around i can find, maybe on ebay or someplace?

again, thanx for the help . . . . . .