Three Tips For Moving A Filing Cabinet Around Without Damaging Its Lock Mechanism
No matter what kind of business you have, it's hard to get away from the need to securely store a large amount of files. And especially if the filing cabinets you have sitting in your business are particularly old, it's important not to do anything to upset or damage their lock mechanisms. Check out these three tips for moving a filing cabinet around without damaging its lock mechanism.
Remove Both The Cabinet's Contents And The Drawers Themselves Before Starting
Any extra weight you leave in the filing cabinets while you move them around could cause the panels separating the individual compartments to bend and rub against the metal lock mechanisms. Even worse, a pencil sharpener or loose pack of sticky notes stored in the cabinet could fly around frantically enough to do a lot of blunt trauma to the more fragile parts of the locks.
First remove everything from the cabinet drawers. Then, remove the drawers themselves from the frame. This will prevent the drawers from rattling during movement and damaging both the locks and the tracks holding them in place.
If You Can, Use A Horizontal Dolly Specialized For File Cabinets
While you're transporting a file cabinet, it's important to tilt it as little as possible so that the lock mechanisms don't have to be suspended at an unusual angle. The best way to prevent problems is to use a perfectly flat dolly that works via a set of four wheels instead of a dolly with only two wheels that you have to tilt with a metal handle.
Even better, get a dolly with borders on its edges that are specially designed to hold a filing cabinet in place during transport. This way, even if you have to take the dolly through troublesome door frames and over large bumps in the floor, the borders will make sure the filing cabinet never tips or topples.
Make The Filing Cabinet One Of The First Things You Put Into An Empty Room
Your filing cabinet is particularly at risk of falling over (damaging its locks in the process) when it has to be maneuvered through a crowded room. When you're trying to snuggle the filing cabinet into its optimal position, accidentally running it up against something like a computer desk with too much force will rattle the fragile parts in the lock mechanism, causing them to fall out of place.
So if you have to move anything into an empty room before a filing cabinet, make sure that it's both small and well out of the way.
For more information, contact a commercial locksmith, like one from Suburban Lock.