Vidmar cabinet frame bent? Help

[Shelby7]

Does anyone have any advice for how to proceed with fixing these cabinets?

Pictures attached

#1 has a gap from left to right,


#2 looks like it’s twisted “right side is high, left side low

What’s best practice for figuring where it’s bent exactly and for bending it back?

Thanks

 

[The Cobbler]

first thing I would check is the slides to make sure they're straight, fastened properly, and not missing or otherwise bad parts . ( on the left cabinet especially)
the right cabinet sure looks like it needs to be tweaked up on the left side . you would need to hold the right side from moving while jacking or pushing the left side . right now it's diamonds shaped, you want it squared up

 

[LXCam]

Measure diagonally and determine your short side (which is pretty easy to see) but you want to know both measurements to start with.

Remove all the drawers and cut some blocking to match the angle top to bottom so you can place a bottle Jack and cribbing square to the corners and Jack away until both diagonals are the same measurement.

You’ll probably find they’ll be some spring back so don’t be surprised if you need to go a little heavy to get it back into shape.

Question. The front is definitely skewed. If the back is the same.

the sheet metal will be warped as well. If that’s the case you’ll need to work that flat while you have the frame under tension with the Jack.

Lol, I sucked at finger painting as a kid too - but not this bad

 

[RamVet]

Just went through a very similar problem. Got a 5 drawer Lista off CL that had a similar racking issue to the one on the right in the picture above. Long story short, used a car trailer as a flat surface, strapped the cabinet to the trailer and used ratchet straps to re-rack the cabinet in the correct direction. As LXCam said, you will likely have to over rack the cabinet to account for spring back. Wish I had pictures of the process to share how we applied the straps and pull on the cabinet.

 

[pcmeiners]

Check the spot welds in the inside corners, they are not very strong and they detach.

 

[tool_scrounge]

Years ago I ended up with some Lista cabinets that were racked using shipping. After I managed to get the drawers out, I took two of them to an automobile body shop who allowed their top guys to moonlight at the shop on the weekends. They square it back up and welded the corners to keep it that way. Best $100 I ever spent.

 

[Shelby7]

Just went through a very similar problem. Got a 5 drawer Lista off CL that had a similar racking issue to the one on the right in the picture above. Long story short, used a car trailer as a flat surface, strapped the cabinet to the trailer and used ratchet straps to re-rack the cabinet in the correct direction. As LXCam said, you will likely have to over rack the cabinet to account for spring back. Wish I had pictures of the process to share how we applied the straps and pull on the cabinet.

Me too!

 

[Shelby7]

Check the spot welds in the inside corners, they are not very strong and they detach.

Should

Just went through a very similar problem. Got a 5 drawer Lista off CL that had a similar racking issue to the one on the right in the picture above. Long story short, used a car trailer as a flat surface, strapped the cabinet to the trailer and used ratchet straps to re-rack the cabinet in the correct direction. As LXCam said, you will likely have to over rack the cabinet to account for spring back. Wish I had pictures of the process to share how we applied the straps and pull on the cabinet.

Standing up? And how was yours twisted?

 

[Shelby7]

Measure diagonally and determine your short side (which is pretty easy to see) but you want to know both measurements to start with.

Remove all the drawers and cut some blocking to match the angle top to bottom so you can place a bottle Jack and cribbing square to the corners and Jack away until both diagonals are the same measurement.

You’ll probably find they’ll be some spring back so don’t be surprised if you need to go a little heavy to get it back into shape.

Question. The front is definitely skewed. If the back is the same.

the sheet metal will be warped as well. If that’s the case you’ll need to work that flat while you have the frame under tension with the Jack.

Lol, I sucked at finger painting as a kid too - but not this bad

Oh ya, this one is roughly 1.5” shorter on the top left to bottom right

do I need to lay them down?

 

[LXCam]

Oh ya, this one is roughly 1.5” shorter on the top left to bottom right

do I need to lay them down?

I wouldn’t, that’ll make holding the Jack and cribbing up against the front frame difficult.

 

[Shelby7]

Okay, I got the first one sorted out pretty well

Question, how much side to side play should be in the drawer when (let’s say half open)? Is it normal to move around?

 

[RamVet]

Shelby7. Mine was racked from the left side to the right side only. Only needed to pull in a single plane to get the drawers square in the cabinet.

 

[Jayman17]

If it does have any side to side play when empty it won't when loaded up. These really work the best when heavily loaded.
Nice job straightening out that first one.

 

[Bill T]

Vidmar and Lista cabinets are great cabinets. I have a number of them. Typically I believe they are rated for 400 lbs. per drawer. Just take your time, you will have a "generational cabinet" when you are finished.