Warped Drawers

[hcs1947]

A question for those of you who have some experience restoring toolboxes:
I am refurbishing a KRA 429B mid box, that was pretty beat up. I've straightened most of the dents, bends and kinks, and hope to reuse the box with its hard-earned patina and character, minus a lot of grease and dirt of course. It will fit quite well in between the top and bottom Huot boxes I have cleaned up from a similar condition. The problem is that one of the drawers is severely warped. It is out of square by about an eighth of an inch at the back corner, but this is enough to throw the drawer out of plane by at least an inch, as you can see in the second picture. Has anyone confronted this problem in your restorations, and if so how did you go about straightening it without ruining the drawer? I assume the drawer must have been dropped on a corner to get it out of square like this, so force applied from the opposite corner should straighten it, but would like other opinions before I take the BFH to it. Appreciate any help on this.

 

[crewchief888]

i wouldnt take a BFH to it just yet.
looks like it's out of square and twisted.
work on one problem at a time.
try getting it back square by sitting it on the corner and pushing it back into place.
then work on removing the twist by twisting in the opposite direction.

you'll have to move it past being just square, and let it spring back.
work in small increments, instead of all at once.

i straightened a SO roller cab that fell out of a pickup loaded with tools. the frame was racked so bad the drawers had to be pried open. it took a little work, but was worth it.

 

[fordbroncodave]

grab the sides of the drawers and twist the opposite direction slightly less then the original warpness (if that makes any sense) the bounce back theory or equal or opposite reaction theory

 

[rsanter]

first step is to take and gently rack the drawer the other way.
if you cannot do that then you have some metal stretch that you are going to have to deal with. likly cut, weld, and repaint

bob

 

[crewchief888]

grab the sides of the drawers and twist the opposite direction slightly less then the original warpness (if that makes any sense) the bounce back theory or equal or opposite reaction theory

first step is to take and gently rack the drawer the other way.
if you cannot do that then you have some metal stretch that you are going to have to deal with. likly cut, weld, and repaint

bob

+2

after bending, shaping, welding, and making metal move for a long time, it's hard for me to descibe how to do it

 

[mrshaun]

look at the bottom of a KRL top drawer and then see if you can fabricate a drawer stiffener to mimic the KRL series. Z stiffeners is what they call them

www.theundisputedchamp.com might show the drawer stiffeners round 5

 

[hcs1947]

Twisting the drawer doesn't work, it seems very springy and pops right back. I tried that already. I think the out of squareness is causing the warping, but getting it back to square given the three dimensions is the problem. And the metal may be stretched, I don't know. I haven't been able to put sufficient pressure on it corner to corner to get it back to square, but maybe tomorrow I can get someone to help hold it and get more pressure on it. I agree that the hammer probably should be a last resort.

 

[nate379]

Send it back to Snap On. Toolbox stuff is lifetime warranty isn't it?

 

[hcs1947]

You mean send it back to them for repair? This is a '77 box, 33 years old. But maybe worth checking out to see if they would fix it. Thanks.

 

[lilredex]

Have a similar problem in a "Beach" made cabinet, not warped, but the drawer bottom "oil cans" and droops (when loaded), and then scrapes on the drawer below.........very annoying. I have thought a solution might be to roll some beads (up) in an "X" pattern (or other) to shrink the bottom and tighten things up.

Not enough space to install "stiffeners" like in R-#5 of the above post, or I'd go that route.

Will get around to it one day.

 

[dumper]

you might try using a pair of pipe clamps- you can slowly apply force in more than one direction. Go just beyond where the drawer becomes square, then release the pressure and see if it holds. If not, repeat and increase the pressure. I have had good luck doing this on several occasions. Of course, use a block of wood on all clamp faces.

 

[rsanter]

Twisting the drawer doesn't work, it seems very springy and pops right back. I tried that already. I think the out of squareness is causing the warping, but getting it back to square given the three dimensions is the problem. And the metal may be stretched, I don't know. I haven't been able to put sufficient pressure on it corner to corner to get it back to square, but maybe tomorrow I can get someone to help hold it and get more pressure on it. I agree that the hammer probably should be a last resort.

using clamps and blocks, clamp the drawer to a bench to make the drawer flat and look over the metal to see where it wants to bow or wrinkle.
this will show where you may need to cut and weld to get the drawer to stay flat

bob

 

[Merkava_4]

Steel plates or flat bars with clamps:

Get the drawer relaxed with oxy/acetylene and then clamp it to some thick flat bar stock or flat steel plates. Put some more heat on there and then tighten the clamps down some more. Let the drawer cool while it's clamped to the flat bars.

 

[hcs1947]

The pipe clamp idea seems to be a good approach, I'll try that tomorrow. Since I don't weld, that isn't a primary option, but I do have a neighbor that is a welder so he may be able to assist if the pipe clamps don't work.

I tried putting as much pressure on the corners as I could to no avail. The drawer bottom bows out then when pressure is released, the warp pops back into it. Also used a heavy hammer, with wood blocks of course. Still warped, with minor bends in the drawer lip and back tab that I can straighten out. Need to try the pipe clamps next I think, then call my neighbor in and try Merk's suggestions. Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I will update any success I may have.