# Old MAC rolling tool chest



## yota (Sep 27, 2021)

not sure if this is the right forum, if not pls let me know.   picked this up today for the tooling I have and will be collecting for my new mill.  wondering if anyone has any insight on the year it was made by the pic of the serial number.  I have an old Snap-on box for my lathe tooling but the date is clearly stamped on the back (in this case 1964).  not so with the MAC boxes.   I spent a couple hours online this afternoon googling and read a ton of threads along these lines and none actually had an answer on the older serial numbers.  could be 1965, could be 1974, could be something else.   no earth shattering reason I need to know but if anyone has the answer I would be pleased to find out.     thanks!


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## Aukai (Sep 27, 2021)

I like the drawer layout, good start on getting boxes


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## jbobb1 (Sep 27, 2021)

June 5 1974 maybe?
Nice shop by the way!


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## Rootpass (Sep 27, 2021)

You might try this forum. I bet they can help. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/


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## yota (Sep 27, 2021)

jbobb1 said:


> June 5 1974 maybe?
> Nice shop by the way!


I was thinking that too but it's the serial number.  surely they made more than 1 that day.


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## yota (Sep 27, 2021)

Rootpass said:


> You might try this forum. I bet they can help. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/


yeah, I read a million posts from there this afternoon.


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## yota (Sep 28, 2021)

Aukai said:


> I like the drawer layout, good start on getting boxes


the drawer layout is what got my interest on this one.


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## yota (Sep 28, 2021)

cut and pasted this thread on Garage Journal.    in the meantime, decided I can't live with the bad rattle can wrong color paint job by the PO.
spent a few hours today cleaning all the grime, oil and grease off everything inside the box and out.  used a rag soaked in mineral spirits and a putty knife edge to clean out all the drawer guide slots inside the tool box and on the drawers.  soaked the drawer guides in solvent while I was working then rubbed them dry and gave them a kiss with my soft wire wheel and coated them with Boeshield.  will sand all the painted parts day after tomorrow and then drag out the HVLP turbine set up.


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## yota (Sep 30, 2021)

found it under the rattle can paint.


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## yota (Oct 2, 2021)




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## jwmelvin (Oct 2, 2021)

Looks good. What paint do you use? Is that style gun a lot better than ones that use high-pressure supply from a compressor?


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## yota (Oct 3, 2021)

thanks.   on this I used Rustoleum oil enamel in sunrise red which I read was very close to the original color.  won't use it again.  I don't feel like it is very good out of a gun.  I usually use Sherwin Williams Industrial Enamel which is very good and has better abrasion and impact ratings but you have to buy a gallon and all I needed was a little over a qt.   the turbine HVLP is the way to go.  no compressor needed, very little overspray as it is low pressure and best of all does not pick up the humidity from the air like a compressor does which is a big deal in florida.   mine is a 3 turbine model, now they have 4 and 5 turbine units.  not sure what the advantage is as mine works fine but they are supposed to be better.


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## woodchucker (Oct 3, 2021)

yota said:


> thanks.   on this I used Rustoleum oil enamel in sunrise red which I read was very close to the original color.  won't use it again.  I don't feel like it is very good out of a gun.  I usually use Sherwin Williams Industrial Enamel which is very good and has better abrasion and impact ratings but you have to buy a gallon and all I needed was a little over a qt.   the turbine HVLP is the way to go.  no compressor needed, very little overspray as it is low pressure and best of all does not pick up the humidity from the air like a compressor does which is a big deal in florida.   mine is a 3 turbine model, now they have 4 and 5 turbine units.  not sure what the advantage is as mine works fine but they are supposed to be better.


did you thin it with mineral spirits, rustoleum is great out of a gun.
i have many guns, conversion hvlp, true turbine hvlp, and old style suction .. high pressure. I have never had a problem with Rustoleum thinned.  I have had a problem with rattle cans... they stop spraying and that all folks.


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## yota (Oct 4, 2021)

I thinned it with acetone which is what it calls for in the tech sheet on their website.


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## sdelivery (Oct 4, 2021)

I remember when that style of box was released! Love Them.
It is a 1974 box..........


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## woodchucker (Oct 4, 2021)

yota said:


> I thinned it with acetone which is what it calls for in the tech sheet on their website.


nah... try mineral spirits. 

edit: that's funny, they used to recommend mineral spirits. I just went and looked, and they now recommend acetone on the web site for thinning, but further down, they say that mineral spirits is the solvent... I have old can's that I probably need to throw out, and it says thin with mineral spirits... F'd up.

the new can's say mineral spirits or acetone, I would not use acetone as it would evaporate too quickly. I am looking for it to lay out nicely, and I have to believe I would get a little orange peel if I used acetone.  I don't think it would ever go on too dry, since it still has it's own mineral spirit solvents and needs to dry .. but the MS as a thinner works very well.


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## yota (Oct 4, 2021)

I thought it odd myself.  there are absolutely no spraying instructions or thinning instructions on the can.  which is why I got online.  and yes, I did get a little orange peel and ended up laying it on a little heavy to get it to flow.  wasn't too happy but once I got started I just finished it.  I ended up with a small run on a bottom corner I will have to sand and touch up.  I did use paint thinner to clean up so I'm sure it would work for spraying.  there must be a reason they call for acetone as thinner.


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## yota (Oct 4, 2021)

sdelivery said:


> I remember when that style of box was released! Love Them.
> It is a 1974 box..........


nope.


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## Ulma Doctor (Oct 4, 2021)

Nice!
My first box was the same model, it was donated to me by my uncle. I traded up since then , but i always regretted not keeping it.


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## yota (Oct 4, 2021)

woodchucker said:


> nah... try mineral spirits.
> 
> edit: that's funny, they used to recommend mineral spirits. I just went and looked, and they now recommend acetone on the web site for thinning, but further down, they say that mineral spirits is the solvent... I have old can's that I probably need to throw out, and it says thin with mineral spirits... F'd up.
> 
> the new can's say mineral spirits or acetone, I would not use acetone as it would evaporate too quickly. I am looking for it to lay out nicely, and I have to believe I would get a little orange peel if I used acetone.  I don't think it would ever go on too dry, since it still has it's own mineral spirit solvents and needs to dry .. but the MS as a thinner works very well.


BTW this is what I used to thin.  sprayer manual says for oil enamel thin until the viscosity cup empties in 25 seconds.  (not my photo).


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## woodchucker (Oct 4, 2021)

Ok.. I don't measure that way. After years of painting I can do it by eye, and a quick shot.  I was taught by a master painter, and he is an amazing painter.


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## yota (Nov 12, 2021)

well I wasn't happy with my paint job.  had some bugs in the paint from painting outside and a little orange peel.  set up my easy-up in the shop and strung visqueen on the 4 sides and created a paint booth.   lightly sanded the whole thing and put 3 more coats on it.  the PO had also over sprayed the wheels with his rattle can so I took care of those also.  much better.


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## woodchucker (Nov 12, 2021)

so, in thinking about this... orange peel, acetone.. two reasons you had problems.
shooting outside will lead to orange peel, being too far from the cabinet, and using acetone... the faster cure time will prevent it from laying out and will dry too fast.
also being in Florida, you have high humidity. so acetone exacerbates blushing. you want a retarder (mineral spirits will probably help slow down the curing) to allow the moisture to escape.

BUT.... it came out great the second time... really nice. did you use the rustoleum again?


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## Aukai (Nov 12, 2021)

Looks brand new.


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## yota (Nov 12, 2021)

thanks yes and I used mineral spirits this time, thanks for the tip.  I'm self taught and haven't done all that much painting so your comments and input are appreciated.  here are some pics of the last project I painted, much larger job but went much smoother.  used the same painting system but used SW Industrial Enamel with Kem Kromik primer.


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## yota (Nov 12, 2021)

did my favorite drawer liner material.  vinyl runner from Lowes.  works great.   chest has 2 drawers with 3 compartments, 1 with 2 and the rest are single.


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## FOMOGO (Nov 12, 2021)

Nice job on both. Not fun to have to redo, but that's how most of us learn. Mike


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## NC Rick (Nov 13, 2021)

woodchucker said:


> nah... try mineral spirits.
> 
> edit: that's funny, they used to recommend mineral spirits. I just went and looked, and they now recommend acetone on the web site for thinning, but further down, they say that mineral spirits is the solvent... I have old can's that I probably need to throw out, and it says thin with mineral spirits... F'd up.
> 
> the new can's say mineral spirits or acetone, I would not use acetone as it would evaporate too quickly. I am looking for it to lay out nicely, and I have to believe I would get a little orange peel if I used acetone.  I don't think it would ever go on too dry, since it still has it's own mineral spirit solvents and needs to dry .. but the MS as a thinner works very well.


I have sprayed rustolium from my Binks #7 thinning with Acetone with good results and a not overly fast flash time.


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## NC Rick (Nov 13, 2021)

yota said:


> thanks yes and I used mineral spirits this time, thanks for the tip.  I'm self taught and haven't done all that much painting so your comments and input are appreciated.  here are some pics of the last project I painted, much larger job but went much smoother.  used the same painting system but used SW Industrial Enamel with Kem Kromik primer.
> 
> View attachment 385212
> View attachment 385213
> View attachment 385214


That’s an awesome band saw and nice paint!  What did you thin that with?  I used the same paint with a similar color on my walker Turner sensitive drill press. I just use a brush because I couldn’t find thinning information.


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## yota (Nov 13, 2021)

so these drawer guides have 3" long spring clips on each end which keeps you from pulling the drawers out onto the floor.  I have 3 missing and 1 broken.  thinking about making a few.  I'm guessing they could be made out of mild steel and then heated and tempered in oil?  any idea which part of the forum I should ask this question in?  looked at the list of forums and nothing seemed really pertinent to this question.


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## yota (Nov 13, 2021)

NC Rick said:


> I have sprayed rustolium from my Binks #7 thinning with Acetone with good results and a not overly fast flash time.


in your opinion what would be an advantage of using acetone vs paint thinner or mineral spirits?


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## jwmelvin (Nov 13, 2021)

yota said:


> I'm guessing they could be made out of mild steel and then heated and tempered in oil?



Mild steel can’t be hardened as such. Maybe you could find some metal strapping from pallet/crate packaging? It might be as easy as bending and grinding. If needed, you could anneal (heat then cool slowly), shape, then reharden.


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## woodchucker (Nov 13, 2021)

yota said:


> so these drawer guides have 3" long spring clips on each end which keeps you from pulling the drawers out onto the floor.  I have 3 missing and 1 broken.  thinking about making a few.  I'm guessing they could be made out of mild steel and then heated and tempered in oil?  any idea which part of the forum I should ask this question in?  looked at the list of forums and nothing seemed really pertinent to this question.
> 
> View attachment 385351
> View attachment 385352
> View attachment 385353


those look similar to the Kennedy clips..
why not call Mac and see if they sell them.


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## NC Rick (Nov 13, 2021)

yota said:


> in your opinion what would be an advantage of using acetone vs paint thinner or mineral spirits?


I was thinking about that.  The paint I used was a quite old can of red rustolium and it clearly said to use acetone so that was why I did.  If both Acetone or Mineral spirits were allowed I would consider the acetone to be a quicker reducer and more suitable for cooler days when not in the sun.  I used a newer can and it seemed to be slow to cure.  Judging by your results, I should be asking you!  With a faster reducer I would sometimes do a last coat with more reducer than normal.
seems like getting the spray gun to atomize the paint properly is a big key to the “orange peel “ which in itself isn’t really a defect.  I had to reduce the paint more than recommended to get it to work.  I have used paint which flashed to quickly but the Rustolium doesn’t seem to have that issue at all,


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## yota (Nov 13, 2021)

I def had to thin the Rustoleum too much to get it to spray properly.   with the temps here I think woodchucker is right that mineral spirits is a better choice.


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## yota (Nov 13, 2021)

here's a good question.  if you go to home depot, lowes, ace or rural king they carry mineral spirts and paint thinner.  the paint thinner is MUCH less expensive than the mineral spirits.  what the heck is the actual difference?  maybe one is made from petroleum and the other from wood or grain?  I have no idea.


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## yota (Nov 13, 2021)

jwmelvin said:


> Mild steel can’t be hardened as such. Maybe you could find some metal strapping from pallet/crate packaging? It might be as easy as bending and grinding. If needed, you could anneal (heat then cool slowly), shape, then reharden.


that's not a bad idea although I think strapping would be quite a bit thinner.  might work.  gee I threw a bunch of strapping away when I got my mill not long ago...


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## NC Rick (Nov 13, 2021)

@yota those drawer slide retainers looked so familiar, I thought the same as my 1970s Snapon box so I pulled a drawer and nope.  I looked at my small 1960s Kennedy box and it is what I was thinking about but not the same. I think those could be bent from spring wire or 1095 or “blue steel” if you could find the rectangular profile.  It is a pretty sharp bend.  Maybe just heat it at the sharp bends?


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## NC Rick (Nov 13, 2021)

yota said:


> I def had to thin the Rustoleum too much to get it to spray properly.   with the temps here I think woodchucker is right that mineral spirits is a better choice.


I think paint thinner is the same as “mineral spirits “ neither is a very specific thing.
my Binks spray gun is old, it is a siphon gun not HVLP.  I kinda roll with the vintage thing.  I’ll pretend like it is by choice lol

https://www.mcmaster.com/spring-steel/thickness~0-035/width~1-4-2/  Guessing at the size.  25 ft of it is a little much!


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## woodchucker (Nov 14, 2021)

yota said:


> here's a good question.  if you go to home depot, lowes, ace or rural king they carry mineral spirts and paint thinner.  the paint thinner is MUCH less expensive than the mineral spirits.  what the heck is the actual difference?  maybe one is made from petroleum and the other from wood or grain?  I have no idea.


usually paint thinner is not as pure and can be mixed with other things.

I don't like the low odor MS as much as the real thing. So I've been buying paint thinner from Lowes which is MS. w/out the turps.
your local lowes may be different.

It's rare that I want fast drying on an oil based paint. In hot humid conditions you want a longer dry time. 
Orange Peel happens from as you say improper spray atomization, spraying with too much distance, wind, A lot more common when we were spraying lacquer, because it could dry before it even hit the project . Lacquer thinner would cause it to dry too fast.. Using a retarder would help, both in avoiding Orange peel, blushing, getting a nice coat to lay down.  obviously having the gun setup correctly, spraying in ideal conditions , keeping the recommended distance while spraying is an important starting point.  I haven't even mentioned fish eye killer, but I won't. I stopped using it. But still have it, in case.. but then that gun cannot be used w/out it again.


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## matthewsx (Nov 14, 2021)

These guys are really into toolboxes.






						The Garage Journal
					

Garage design & tool discussion for the working man,,,




					www.garagejournal.com
				




John


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## jwmelvin (Nov 16, 2021)

yota said:


> that's not a bad idea although I think strapping would be quite a bit thinner. might work. gee I threw a bunch of strapping away when I got my mill not long ago...



How about an old hack saw blade?


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## yota (Nov 16, 2021)

actually I found a guy on ebay that has these clips and he is sending me 6 for 22 bucks.  I took the easy way out LOL.


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## woodchucker (Nov 16, 2021)

There are times that's the best way.


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## jwmelvin (Nov 16, 2021)

woodchucker said:


> There are times that's the best way.



Usually


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## yota (Nov 18, 2021)

got the new drawer guide clips installed today.  greased the guide rails and put the drawers back in.  came with this thick pc of rubber for the top.  paint has cured for 9  days, figured I could install it now.  calling this project done.  time to load it up tomorrow.


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## jwmelvin (Nov 18, 2021)

It looks sweet.


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## FOMOGO (Nov 18, 2021)

Came out great, love the old school look, and good size drawers for tooling. Mike


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