Put a screwdriver with a flat head between the drawer slide and the drawer body, as shown. To remove the front tabs, turn the screwdriver while pulling up on the front of the drawer. To take a drawer off its slides, pull it out (Fig.
Trying to figure out how to take drawers out of file cabinets is a common problem. The main reason to take out the file drawers is to move the filing cabinet, since they are heavy.
Before a filing cabinet can be fixed, painted, or put back together, the drawers must be taken out. Most of the time, a drawer can be taken out of a filing cabinet by shaking it. To get the wheels off the rails, the drawer must be fully opened before it can be pulled out again. As you pull on the drawers with more force, the back wheels will also come off. This method, on the other hand, only works with steel filing cabinets that have certain wheeled drawers. This makes it not work with drawers that use ball bearings.
Before carefully taking the drawer out of the filing cabinet, make sure the area around you is clear as the drawer slides out and lifts off the runners. Make sure you hold the drawer firmly so you don’t drop it.
We’ve shown you how to take drawers out of a metal filing cabinet safely, whether you need to fix a drawer or make the cabinet lighter so you can move it.
Straight-up lateral filing systems have been used for a long time. Drawers need to be fixed every so often because of the weight of the hundreds of files they hold. Most lateral filing drawers have steel guides that are held in place by clips and mechanical brakes so that the drawer doesn’t open at the wrong time. If you know where to look, you can get to a lateral file drawer in less than a minute. Most of them look like a few different models, and they all come off in the same way. Both sides have the keys you need to take them off.
Almost certainly, you’ll need to take out the drawers from one of your cabinets, dressers, or other similar pieces of furniture at some point. Taking out the drawers is usually the first step, whether you need to move the furniture and make it lighter before moving it, clean it out, or make a quick repair. Even though taking out drawers is usually easy, the way you do it can change depending on the type of drawer slides you have. Here are the steps for taking out drawers with the most common types of drawer slides.
If a drawer doesn’t have a release, it’s hard to take it out.
Grab the drawer’s front handle and pull it out. Pull the drawer all the way out until it stops. You can also grab the front bottom of the drawer if that makes it easier to pull it out. Just be careful that your fingers don’t get stuck in the tracks of the drawer.
How does a filing cabinet’s top drawer open?
For this type of file cabinet drawer to be taken out, it must be opened until its guides are fully out. You also need to find a locking clip or lever on the drawer guides. To take out the drawer, you can either pull the lever up or pull it down.
How do you take drawers off metal slides that don’t have levers?
If there are no buttons or levers, gently push the drawer out. Just lift it up until you hear a click. Using the putty knife, remove any debris from the rail that might be blocking the slide if it is stuck or broken.
How do you get the drawers out of a Steelcase lateral file cabinet?
Press down on the lock catch on each side of the drawer as needed to pull it out. Pull the file drawer on the side out until it stops. As shown, pull the drawer up and out while pressing down on the lock retainers on each side of the drawer.
What makes a drawer slide unique?
From the back of the box, measure to the front of the box, leaving out the front of the drawer. Once you know how long it is, round it down. If the drawer is 20.12 inches long, you will need 20-inch drawer slides.
How do ball-bearing drawers work?
Ball bearing drawer slides are different from other types because, as the name suggests, they use ball bearings. They have tiny metal balls inside the rails that make drawers easier to open and close by reducing friction. Drawer slides with ball bearings can move in one direction or both directions.
What are drawer slides with ball bearings?
Instead of rollers, ball-bearing slides use ball bearings to move in a telescopic way. They are made of two sets of ball bearings that move together. Because of the ball bearings, each part of the mechanism can slide past the other as it stretches until it is fully stretched.
How do you take drawers off metal slides that don’t have levers?
If there are no buttons or levers, gently push the drawer out. Just lift it up until you hear a click. Using the putty knife, remove any debris from the rail that might be blocking the slide if it is stuck or broken.
How do you take a drawer out of a side-by-side file cabinet?
Open the drawer all the way to take out the lateral file drawer. – Take off the shipping screw “A” from the metal suspensions on the left and right. – Pull the drawer away from the slides while squeezing the nylon release tabs “B” toward the drawer. You can replace lateral file drawers by moving the drawer slides out halfway.
How do you get the drawers out of a Steelcase lateral file cabinet?
Press down on the lock catch on each side of the drawer as needed to pull it out. Pull the file drawer on the side out until it stops. As shown, pull the drawer up and out while pressing down on the lock retainers on each side of the drawer.