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my next toolbox: Lista MW750

I have decided that my next toolbox will be a Lista TSMW750-0721-M. It is 47″ wide, 28.5″ deep and 41″ tall (including the casters). It has 7 drawers, all full-width with a load rating of 440 lbs. each.

I really don’t have a need for a toolbox longer than 47″. 47″ of width is enough to keep various things together, especially when I have a full 24″ of drawer depth.

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Lista SC cabinet restoration

I haven’t posted here in a long time. So here’s a post on something I’ve been working on for several weeks: restoring a Lista SC cabinet (an SC0900-0501F).

I bought the cabinet locally from a craigslist ad quite some time ago. It came with some drawer layouts. I paid $300. List price for a new one is over $1300. Lista cabinets are nice, industrial strength units (each drawer can hold 440 lbs. of stuff).

The numerous problems with the one I bought:

  1. The previous owner had cut a hole in the back and removed all of the PrevenTip hardware. He also threw away all of the PrevenTip hardware.
  2. The previous owner attached cheap Harbor Freight casters to the forklist base. It works, but it’s unsightly and the cabinet sits too high. The Harbor Freight casters also aren’t rated for the weight this cabinet can hold.
  3. The previous owner had all of the drawer slides in backward, so the drawers did not close flush nor reach their detents. Combined with the lack of PrevenTip hardware and the casters, this was disaster waiting to happen; the drawers could easily roll open on their own when moving the cabinet.
  4. The previous owner covered some labelling stickers with masking tape, then brush-painted the whole cabinet, OVER THE MASKING TAPE AND STICKERS! I don’t know why; when I stripped it to bare metal, there wasn’t a single spot where the original powdercoating (a different color) had been compromised. And if you’re going to paint, why not just remove the stickers first? Ever heard of adhesive remover?

I stripped the whole cabinet and the drawer fronts to bare metal, then repainted. I used black appliance epoxy, and am in the process of applying lacquer, wetsanding and polishing.

I have ordered locking hinge bars so I’ll have a means of moving the cabinet to my next residence without worrying about it coming open. I won’t be moving this thing around in the basement since I intend to put my fasteners and the like in it (it will be heavy). I also got the information on ordering the hardware to have PrevenTip again, and a new key for the lock. I ordered a butcher block maple top for it, but not from Lista; it was significantly cheaper to just order from McMaster-Carr and I’ll cut it to size (or leave it oversized). I will order a caster kit for it in November or so, or just cut and drill the forklift base and use some of the shock-absorbing casters I have on hand.

I didn’t snap any pictures before starting the restoration. But I’ll post some when I’m done. I should have about $700 total into the cabinet when it’s completed.

This cabinet will last me a lifetime, and I’ve decided that all of my future cabinets will likely be Lista. They’re not cheap, but they’re nearly indestructible, can be configured any way I’d like, come in a large variety of sizes, and hold good resale value if not intentionally thrashed.