Working on an old Kennedy 7 drawer unit

Hello,

I'm restoring an old Kennedy 7 Drawer Machinist Chest (similar to ebay item 230043992643)

My question is, are the drawers removable?

This unit is from the WWII era. Nothing is immediately jumping out at me, but perhaps if I push a paperclip into the slide or something. I've been fiddling around but don't want to get frustrated and try to "make it work" and destroy it.

I'm assuming the design changed over the years so if it helps ID it Kennedy is written in cursive inside the top.

I can post pictures of it if this might help.

Thanks,

Marc

Reply to
Marc Britten
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=============== Standard usenet guarantee -- double your money back if advice is not correct.

On every Kennedy I have ever seen the drawers are removable.

On the outside edges of the slides there should be what looks like a rectangular wire loop. Take a thin bladed screwdriver and pry out at the front. This should pull the tang out far enough to clear the slide. Push the slide back an inch or so are repeat on the other side.

Kennedy sells touchup paint and accessories/replacement parts for their boxes.

see

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Unka' George (George McDuffee) .............................. Only in Britain could it be thought a defect to be "too clever by half." The probability is that too many people are too stupid by three-quarters.

John Major (b. 1943), British Conservative politician, prime minister. Quoted in: Observer (London, 7 July 1991).

Reply to
F. George McDuffee

Hrm, definitely a different design on this one. What you said got me looking and found something, not sure if its a + or -

The slides are attached to the drawers. The support sides of the box have a top and bottom the hold the slide and a jut like ] in the middle.

The tang is on the slide and sticks out to hit the ]

So I have to get something between the support and the ] angled down to get behind the tang. There's not a lot of room here. The smallest standard screwdriver I have (one of the small precision type) is just small enough to work but not long enough to work on the parts that are near the outside.

I'll figure something out, wire coat hanger isn't the answer (to wide so I had to grind it down, then its not rigid enough).

Thanks for getting me in the right direction.

Reply to
Marc Britten

Dental picks are what I reach for, have a lifetime supply courtesy of our old retiring dentist. A right-angle scribe can be made to work, too.

Stan

Reply to
stans4

Two possibilities:

  1. Take a close look at the INSIDE of the drawer's sides for a tang release. [I have some filing cabinets that use that system.]

  1. Try inserting a hanger from a "hanging folder" between the two parts of the slide - both sides, of course, at the same time - to let the tangs compress as you withdraw the drawers.

Reply to
RAM³

Simple and effective. Not as easy as it sounds when I read it but it definitely worked.

I had to do 1 side at a time because I had to fight with it to pull the slide out, but once the tang was past on one side I could slide the other side back a bit and repeat.

Thanks to everyone.

Reply to
Marc Britten

I couldn't find a pick long enough that was skinny enough. On the middle part where the small drawers connect on one side a pick worked fine, but the side by the box was the issue, I even ground most of the handle off of one that I had to try and give me some extra reach, but couldn't get it to work.

The idea above about the hanging file folder did however, and thanks again to everyone who offered up ideas.

Reply to
Marc Britten

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