afazz
Well-known member
I visited the Lista Vidmar booth at IMTS last week where they unveiled a new style drawer latch, similar to the old Craftsman Griplatch or Snap-on Epiq boxes. They claim it will be backwards compatible with existing Lista boxes as long as they use the current drawer design. The end support pieces are plastic, but the caps and levers are extruded aluminum. In my opinion it's a much better solution to their existing latches, which are a single lever on the right side of the drawer. I talked to the product manager who was optimistic that these new latches will be available for order in October 2018.
Here is one of their Technician series boxes with a mixture of old and new-style drawer latches. The newer latches are thicker, but they do fit on every drawer size including the 2" tall (75 series) drawers. I didn't get the exact model number, but it appears to be a TSDW09C06-1303FL-M which lists for $4030 plus the stainless top.
The "latched" position:
The "open" position:
For reference, here is the old style latch. It's not a big deal on smaller boxes, but the extra-wide drawers on the technician series can only be opened if you're standing within arms reach of the right side.
Here is a closeup of the drawer suspension, or drawer slides, for those who aren't familiar. These use a suspension similar to file cabinets rather than traditional ball-bearing extension slides. They're still rated at 440lb per drawer.
Unrelated but interesting, it looks like they're labeling Facom boxes (or very similar, I haven't seen a Facom box in person) as Vidmar for sale in the US market.
Here is one of their Technician series boxes with a mixture of old and new-style drawer latches. The newer latches are thicker, but they do fit on every drawer size including the 2" tall (75 series) drawers. I didn't get the exact model number, but it appears to be a TSDW09C06-1303FL-M which lists for $4030 plus the stainless top.
The "latched" position:
The "open" position:
For reference, here is the old style latch. It's not a big deal on smaller boxes, but the extra-wide drawers on the technician series can only be opened if you're standing within arms reach of the right side.
Here is a closeup of the drawer suspension, or drawer slides, for those who aren't familiar. These use a suspension similar to file cabinets rather than traditional ball-bearing extension slides. They're still rated at 440lb per drawer.
Unrelated but interesting, it looks like they're labeling Facom boxes (or very similar, I haven't seen a Facom box in person) as Vidmar for sale in the US market.