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Smoke Damaged Snap-On boxes VS. APC


drhemi83

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So. Some background first. My father is a Snap-On Tools dealer since before I was born so I've grown up with him always telling me "Buy the proper tool once." Which means don't keep buying cheap tools that break and make you rebuy them, which I have always tried to follow...when I can afford to. Naturally I've always had a love for these tools as they have always put a roof over my head my entire life. However, my love for their tool boxes is even greater so imagine my giddiness when I see the Epic series toolbox in the adams videos.

 

Now, background and neurosis aside, this brings me to why I'm posting. A few days ago one of my father's customers had a fire in their shop. The fire damage wasn't bad, but the smoke damage was. I happened to be riding with my father that day and we stopped in to see the damage. My heart went out to these guys. Some of their tool boxes cost them more than $8000 and they were all covered in smoke, which when mixed with water from firehoses can become caustic and eat away at the paint. I was watching some of the fire cleanup crews using bags of tshirt rags and buckets of whatever to clean these boxes and scratch the paint and had to do something. I talked with the owner, told him I wanna try something on one of the boxes. I went home, grabbed all my microfiber clothes I had and a gallon of APC and Detail Spray and showed them how they can be cleaned better. Well, that was 3 tool boxes ago, and I have many more to do. The All Purpose Cleaner is kicking the carp out of the smoke damage and grease and anything else that's on these tool boxes and it's bringing them back to brand new. Then the detail spray is taking it to another level, one guy told me the box looks better than when they got it. And not one box smells of smoke anymore. I will talk to the mechanics and ask permission to take pictures of their boxes to post. I don't want to invade their privacy but there are a lot of happy mechanics now in the shop.

 

Adam's Polishes is the best, I had my doubts but every product that I've tried of competition still cannot beat the performance of Adam's.

 

 

Play hard, Clean hard.

Customer for life.

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Ok So I didn't think to take any before pictures on the boxes, well, just one, but I did take a few after pics of the box I worked on today so I will post them tonight, and the owner gave me the ok cause, well, he was just amazed.

 

To SSilver07. This may seem like OCD but, your KRA2411PC is an awesome tool box, and if it were my box I would detail it the same way that I've been cleaning these boxes. Pull all the drawers out, pull the slides out of the cabinet using the little orange screwdriver every mechanic has from their Snapon dealer, SDD204o, the little pocket screwdrivers dealers give away and use it to pry the tab, about 4 inches in on the slide, and then lift the slide up, it should just come out. I suggest pulling the slides because they trap a lot of dirt, don't forget to pull the mating slide off the drawer as well.  Then pull the slide lock out of the drawer cause the lips of the drawers are also dirt traps. Then use APC then Detail spray. If you want to polish it be careful as it is only a base coat of paint, no clearcoat but it is tough paint

 

Then, talk to your Snapon dealer and Order KA2411BSET. (Gloss black trim kit) that will make your box all black lol. Just my two cents .

 

Anyways, I Present tool porn. I'll have more pics next week.

 

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Blckslv08, I did a KRA classic 96 yesterday that was in Extreme green, it started out black when I started but, they look awesome when they're clean and have a coat of detail spray. Your tool box is the tippy top line of snapon before they brought the Epic series out. I would love to see a pic of your box.

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Ok So I didn't think to take any before pictures on the boxes, well, just one, but I did take a few after pics of the box I worked on today so I will post them tonight, and the owner gave me the ok cause, well, he was just amazed.

 

To SSilver07. This may seem like OCD but, your KRA2411PC is an awesome tool box, and if it were my box I would detail it the same way that I've been cleaning these boxes. Pull all the drawers out, pull the slides out of the cabinet using the little orange screwdriver every mechanic has from their Snapon dealer, SDD204o, the little pocket screwdrivers dealers give away and use it to pry the tab, about 4 inches in on the slide, and then lift the slide up, it should just come out. I suggest pulling the slides because they trap a lot of dirt, don't forget to pull the mating slide off the drawer as well.  Then pull the slide lock out of the drawer cause the lips of the drawers are also dirt traps. Then use APC then Detail spray. If you want to polish it be careful as it is only a base coat of paint, no clearcoat but it is tough paint

 

Then, talk to your Snapon dealer and Order KA2411BSET. (Gloss black trim kit) that will make your box all black lol. Just my two cents .

 

Anyways, I Present tool porn. I'll have more pics next week.

 

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Yes! that's what I wanted from the get go but the rep was like no that is not available. This was like 3-4 years ago. I just wanted the trim black. I have the carbon fiber guards on the top. Would there be any problem? But I might order this now.... thanks alot... Jk .haha.

Oh, I don't really like the orange screw driver. I have like 3 of those. I like the thin ones with the magnet. I can't get any of those out of my rep...

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SSilver07 I'm not 100 percent sure but from the descriptions I see the black guards should replace the current chrome trim that is on your box, I'll double check with my dad tomorrow but I'm sure that's what it is, so your carbon fibre or fiber (what ever I'm Canuckian) should still fit just fine.

Also I took a picture of the tab I've been prying back to remove the sliders, makes it so easy to remove them.

 

Sorry for the delay I was stuck in a hotel conference all weekend and my phone wouldn't let me press the post button.

 

So I am working on a new toolbox today and tomorrow and a little background on it first. This box was the closest to the fire, actually it was right beside the fire. The back of the box actually has burnt paint on it and I am open to suggestions and guidance to how I can minimize the burnt paint, gonna try polishing a small bit to see if its just a surface burn as the paint isn't bubbling.  However, this box was BURNT and not a single tool on the inside of the box was damaged. This is why these toolboxes are worth paying so much for. I still can't believe that even the structure of the box is fine.  Now, the box was previously cleaned off by the fire restoration company so It looks a bit better than what it did before, but, looking at some of the pics, you can see why they have me doing this.

 

After coming home I realized I never took an after picture of the inside of the box, you can sorta see it a bit in the one pic but you hopefully can use your imagination lol.

 

Also got more permission from some of the other tool boxes to take and post photos, only issue is theyre covered in paw prints again so I'll stay late tomorrow to reclean them again to take photos.

 

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  1. Firstcherokeekid I feel your pain, I now need to get all these guys bottles of APC and Detail Spray as they keep asking where to get it and if my dad sells it. I will also keep pestering my dad to become a dealer and sell it off the truck.

So far 2 mechanics are going to be bringing their trucks by when the weather gets good to play with the rest of my Adam's stash, can't wait for them to try the interior cleaner, will blow their minds.

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Blckslv08, I did a KRA classic 96 yesterday that was in Extreme green, it started out black when I started but, they look awesome when they're clean and have a coat of detail spray. Your tool box is the tippy top line of snapon before they brought the Epic series out. I would love to see a pic of your box.

Few quick pics of my setup after wipe down.

 

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That box is beautiful. Makes me wish I had the coin for a snapon box for the garage. Someday.

Thanks I appreciate that. The only reason I have a box like that is because I'm a full time tech. I have a small Snap-On box at home that I bought used, but whenever I quit being a tech that big box is coming home with me.
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Looks good, I'm a big snap-on fan. I have 3 boxes but they're all the shallow ones. I need to step my game up haha. I've really been eyeing up that Midnight Blue color.

That midnight blue is a great color, two guys at work have it. I wasn't sure about the extreme green at first, coming from a flat black box, but now I love it. The deep drawers in masters and epic series are amazing.
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I hate to thread jack or send it of course but I have a question. I have the stainless top on mine. Can that be polished out? cleaned off? I had a stainless steel cleaner spray or I'd use glass cleaner.

Maybe try MP 1 or MP2?

I would definitely use some APC and a fender brush on the top to deep clean it before trying MP1 or 2.

If I recall, they are a brushed finish. If you want a mirror like finish on it, you may need to wet sand the brushed finish first.

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Well well well, sorry for being away from this post so long, Real life reared its ugly head and took all my time and energy. I just finished with the boxes and now the shop owner has me cleaning some of the shop equipment. Which I find amusing since they've had a restoration company come in and clean a lot of it already, pretty poorly I might add.

 

BlckSilv08

          1, I just got your name, for some reason I kept wanting to type Black Silver, Black Silverado makes way more sense.

          2, Your box and roll cart are awesome, One day I hope to get a Snapon box like yours, luckily I know a guy.

 

Red94Chev

           The shallow KRA boxes are awesome as well, the white one in the pic is a KRA classic series, it was right next to the fire and got burnt, but all the tools where fine, a lot of guys upgrade to the bigger KRL761/791 or I guess 722 now from your boxes. IF you are still good on space but find your drawers are loaded with weight try upgrading or adding more drawer sliders to get you by for now. Main reason people upgrade I found was weight. Also, your dads box, is it two roll cabs bolted together or the actual MR BIG which was one of the biggest rollcabs known to man...till they did a bigger one with 2 7023's or 1023's I cant remember, sadly they discontinued them and are now using the Epic series that size.

 

SSilver07

            How dare you thread jack...this is supposed to be a safe place. I'm just kidding. I'm not 100% sure the best way to clean your top, it is stainless steel, with a wood core, if your just cleaning it I would agree with  Neohio (who may or may not be my brother and Adam's pusher) and try apc, then the metal polishes 1 and 2. I wonder if there are any forum members with a Delorian, they would know the best. Maybe use steel wool with the apc.

 

and finally, some more Toolbox porn.

 

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And since its been hovering around -18c 0.4f it's been cold as hell, well it warmed up to -10, sad that we think of it as warmer, and was sunny so I took my bucket of car soap, my detail spray and went to the nearest wash bay and tried my best not to piss off any of the other cars, cause my truck came out shiny. Can't wait for warm weather (0c) so I can spend a few hours washing the winter off of Tallahassee.

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Those 2 boxes look brand new, great job man.  Its 2 separate boxes, I remember him complaining because the Mr. Big came out a year or two after he bought his and he was jealous.  But now that I think of it, they may just be sitting side to side and not connected, I've never seen it moved since he bought it

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  • 3 months later...

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