I was pottering around at work on the Sunday night of a long Easter weekend and decided to fix a set of tool drawers that came in for recycling.  Yep, we get all sorts of things coming in for recycling!

Ecotech Services has needed a set of tool drawers for a while and I have been looking out for a suitable second hand bargain.  And then these turn up!

The bottom drawer was a bit hard to close.  Turns out the drawer runner had lost its bearings.   All but one of the ball bearings on the runner were missing.

What are the chances of getting a new runner for it?  Possibly not good but repairing is usually the first option for me.  So I need some 3.8mm diameter ball bearings to fix it.  We have got things that look like short drawer runners in stock that have been salvaged off all sorts of things, including  monitor stands and photo printing kiosks.  They would a good source of replacement ball bearings.  The first one I pulled apart had 4.8mm ball bearings but I got lucky on the second one. It had the 3.8mm ball bearings that I was after.

The drawer was easy to get out.  There are two plastic clips that act as end stops and can be moved to get the drawer out.

I cut the end off the sacrificial runner to get the ball bearings out.  I then had to remove the end clip on the tool drawer runner to take out the ball bearing holder and I then added the replacement bearings to it.  I used bit of grease as a “glue” to keep all of the bearings in place while getting it back on the runner.  It was then a matter of putting the runner end clip back on and sliding the drawer back in.

Ecotech now has some better tool storage in our mechanical work area!