Filing cabinet upgrade for comic book collection
The whole process took a few days to allow for the primer and paint to dry and cure. First I degreased the surface and wiped out everything with hot soapy water. I used a rust removal spray to scrub out any visible rust then sprayed a coat of clean metal primer and let it dry. On the top of the cabinet were some holes left behind from screw or nails. I used J-B Weld Steel Stick to fill these from the top with aluminium tape stuck on the other side to stop the putty from going straight through. After it had dried, I sanded it down and it looked great. Once the primer was dry I lightly sanded with 400 grit sandpaper which allows the spray paint to properly adhere to the surface. Sprayed the outer cabinet blue. Taped over the metal pieces on the drawer fronts and sprayed them red and yellow. The tip of my right index finger went numb from the spray painting, a mixture of the gas from the can and the repetitive action of pressing on the nozzle. During this stage the spray paint was reacting with the old paint in different ways. In some areas it was wrinkling up and looked like cracks in a dry lake bed. On one of the drawers there was patches where the original paint had chipped off and I think that the new paint was getting underneath and causing little blisters that would then peel off. This stage was the most gruelling as it meant changing my approach. I used a chemical paint stripper to take things down the the bare metal and start all over. Both drawers and the face of the frame were where the most noticeable problems were. Once that was done I sanded them down and wiped with alcohol to remove any residue that may interfere with the primer or paint. I sprayed on primer and let dry overnight. Once I'd removed paint from the front of the frame I decided to keep it bare metal to avoid buying any more paint and because it would go nicely with the metal pieces on the drawers. I gave everything another coat of paint before polishing the metal pieces and putting them back on. The sliding metal catches on the front (used to stop the drawers opening on their own) would have scratched off paint so I removed that mechanism and glued them on to keep some of it's original form. The legal filing cabinets are not often flat at the bottom and have multiple recesses and I knew this would mean my comic books would not sit evenly, so I went to Michaels and they cut me 2 pieces of thin acrylic plastic that fit perfectly. Now my next task is figuring out how I'm going to store my collection long term. The comic books can only just stand up and have room for the drawer to operate but sometimes a book snags on the frame which is not good. I can lay them down on their long side but I'd prefer to stand them up as it's easier to browse but also I can fit roughly 600 comics in the whole cabinet. I used a paper trimmer to remove roughly ⅛ in. from the top and now they stand up and do not snag!