I realize Vidmar is a premium name...

larryq · Jan 24, 2013

But holy smokes. I'll stick with Craftsman for the near future:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/tls/3565333146.html

stanley vidmar cabinets - $500800 (san leandro)

Regnar · Jan 24, 2013

I think he forgot a dash. 500-800

If that is the case then his pricing is not bad. I would probably offer him 1200 for all of them. Bolt the 3 shorties side by side. Add a top and some casters and have a nice roll around. The tall one would just be a bonus.

Trey T · Jan 24, 2013

I don't think i'll ever required Vidmar cabinets with their 1000lbs (???) capacity per drawer. It's built to be abused!

Nice to have but just overkilled for home or single person shop use.

Bull · Jan 24, 2013

Once I bought a Vidmar, I realized that I could never again go back to Craftsman or similar. Lista and Equipto purchases since then have only reinforced that feeling.

larryq · Jan 24, 2013

Bull, how thick is the steel on your boxes? I've never seen one in person but am sure that I'd have the same reaction you did when you got yours.

Bull · Jan 24, 2013

larryq said:
Bull, how thick is the steel on your boxes? I've never seen one in person but am sure that I'd have the same reaction you did when you got yours.

I need to buy some calipers I guess, Larry.

fatfillup · Jan 24, 2013

What Bull said!!! I have Lista, Vidmar, Stanley Vidmar, and Lyon. I use them to display used tools for sale in my showroom. They are impressively built. The ones in the CL ad are priced decently and being CL there is probably wiggle room. IF you shop long and hard and are patient, you can get a better deal but that is about the used market price on the ad.

TF.120 · Jan 24, 2013

Decent price actually.

justanengineer · Jan 24, 2013

larryq said:
Bull, how thick is the steel on your boxes? I've never seen one in person but am sure that I'd have the same reaction you did when you got yours.

Vidmars are usually 12 gauge steel vs 18 or 20 for a "toolbox"...a bit over twice the thickness. Definitely worth the $$$ IMO if you have some heavy tools and are tired of bending drawers and fighting flimsy boxes.

I will take the West Coast collectors at their word of the value out there. Those look like 30" and 50" cabinets which are ~$2-300 and $5-600 typically in the NE.

frankush · Jan 24, 2013

You really need to pull the drawers and play with a Lista or similiar tooling cabinet to understand what they are. They are way overbuilt for the average homeowner. If you can find them cheap, in good condition, they are worth every penny. I've been cleaning and repairing drawer carriages for the last couple of days on the two small Lista's I picked up. Mine were worked very hard. Lots of missing metal that was scraped away when the bearings failed. Failure to fix that condition is what caused it. I can see the end of the rainbow now and will have some great storage when I'm done.

SpiderGearsMan · Jan 24, 2013

we have real nice ones ....in the parts department

Bull · Jan 24, 2013

frankush said:
You really need to pull the drawers and play with a Lista or similiar tooling cabinet to understand what they are. They are way overbuilt for the average homeowner. If you can find them cheap, in good condition, they are worth every penny. I've been cleaning and repairing drawer carriages for the last couple of days on the two small Lista's I picked up. Mine were worked very hard. Lots of missing metal that was scraped away when the bearings failed. Failure to fix that condition is what caused it. I can see the end of the rainbow now and will have some great storage when I'm done.

How are you repairing the damage?

softailgarage · Jan 24, 2013

Vidmar has never appealed to me, dont know why. Maybe its their lack of "personality", if you've seen one, you've seen them all. I dont doubt they're an excellent and strong box, but come on, who really needs drawers with 1000 lbs. weight capacity? And the price is insane, you think Snap On is expensive, take a look at Vidmar. I dont mind paying extra for good stuff, but I'll leave Vidmar to the Dealerships and Corporations.

Bull · Jan 24, 2013

softailgarage said:
Vidmar has never appealed to me, dont know why. Maybe its their lack of "personality", if you've seen one, you've seen them all. I dont doubt they're an excellent and strong box, but come on, who really needs drawers with 1000 lbs. weight capacity? And the price is insane, you think Snap On is expensive, take a look at Vidmar. I dont mind paying extra for good stuff, but I'll leave Vidmar to the Dealerships and Corporations.

The key difference for a dude on a budget is the used market. I, personally, can't afford Snap-on tools, never mind one of their boxes; even used examples sell for big money.

The industrial cabinets can be found pretty dang cheap. Do I need 1000lb drawer capacity? Of course not. In fact, I think my boxes have lower ratings than that; maybe 450lbs? I don't know. But, I can pay $200 for a small, used, shallow Craftsman box with a 35lb drawer rating, friction slides, and soda can steel, or I can pay that much for a 6' tall industrial cabinet that is much thicker, deeper, has vastly greater capacity, and smooth-rolling drawers.

frankush · Jan 24, 2013

Bull said:
How are you repairing the damage?

Bull, I don't envy the work you're doing on your Equipto's. It seems like it never ends with all those drawers. There are areas on both the drawers and the carriages that I've had to get the mig out for. Replaced the thin or missing areas with comparable size metal. I was able to get the bearings I needed from Joe at Motorhead. I finally got the last of my Lista order from the factory today. It took about a month. When I finish them, I'll start a new thread.

fergus · Jan 24, 2013

Put my hands on Vidmars for the first time this week at my new job. These are probably at least 30 years old. Been used every day since then. Awesome....super beefy and all the drawers glide smoothly. Guess what they have stored in them.

O-rings! :lol_hitti

Bull · Jan 24, 2013

frankush said:
Bull, I don't envy the work you're doing on your Equipto's. It seems like it never ends with all those drawers. There are areas on both the drawers and the carriages that I've had to get the mig out for. Replaced the thin or missing areas with comparable size metal. I was able to get the bearings I needed from Joe at Motorhead. I finally got the last of my Lista order from the factory today. It took about a month. When I finish them, I'll start a new thread.

I look forward to your thread.

It is a lot of work, that's for sure. Because I am essentially an ape, I won't be using a welder to repair anything. I have seen a few tweaked bearing channels on the Equiptos. I might just leave a couple/few drawers out, towards the top, if they prove to be unusable as-is. I certainly have more than enough drawers with this setup.

CWP1616L · Jan 24, 2013

OK, what's on the right side of each drawer? Looks like a lever of some kind.

Toolhorder · Jan 24, 2013

SpiderGearsMan said:
we have real nice ones ....in the parts department

lol same here.

GRX · Jan 25, 2013

Trey T said:
I don't think i'll ever required Vidmar cabinets with their 1000lbs (???) capacity per drawer. It's built to be abused!

Nice to have but just overkilled for home or single person shop use.

Agree. I have used Vidmar when working in industrial level shops. Great stuff but total overkill for the average joe in my opinion.

PSYKO_Inc · Jan 25, 2013

CWP1616L said:
OK, what's on the right side of each drawer? Looks like a lever of some kind.

It's a latch, the cabinets can be mounted on casters, and it keeps the drawers from sliding open while being moved around.

justanengineer · Jan 25, 2013

GRX said:
Agree. I have used Vidmar when working in industrial level shops. Great stuff but total overkill for the average joe in my opinion.

Not really. Vidmar drawers are only rated to 400 lbs per which isnt terribly heavy duty. When you consider the larger size difference between them and a standard "toolbox" drawer you realize you can get a heck of a lot more in each Vidmar drawer. For hand tools I would agree its a bit overkill but when you start storing power tools, machine tooling, or parts the weight adds up quick. I used to have 3 mill vises in one drawer with quite a bit of extra room alongside, which pretty near maxed it out. OTOH, if I loaded up a "toolbox" with just hand tools and wasnt careful not to fill each drawer, the drawers would flex and prevent it from opening.

larry_g · Jan 25, 2013

CWP1616L said:
OK, what's on the right side of each drawer? Looks like a lever of some kind.

As said above they are latches for holding the drawer shut. Those are 'mobile' boxes made for truck service, shipboard, and places where the box is not relegated to a flat floor. Some tool boxes have latches also.

lg
no neat sig line

KPSquared · Jan 25, 2013

A local bicycle shop went broke here a couple years ago and they had an auction. I couldnt get into the auction but my buddy who was there watched 4 Vidmars go for $100 each. I was sad I missed it!

They are seriously beautiful pieces of equipment.

I realize Vidmar is a premium name...

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