Lyon Tool Cabinet Restoration - How do I straighten this part?

Gaffer

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I am restoring the Lyon Tool Cabinets I bought a few weeks ago.
The cabinets are down to the bare metal and all of the bearings are cleaned and lubed. Other than a little bodywork and a spot weld, they are ready for coating. The drawers are next, and the only problem is with one guide(?). It is bent and needs straightening. It rides along and between the bearings in the drawer slide. It is .160" (~9 gauge) steel. I tried taking a hammer to it to see how it would respond, but it didn't, other than giving me the middle finger. I didn't get carried away whacking it because I didn't want to make matters worse. This guide is spot welded to the drawer and I'd rather not have to remove it to fix or replace it. I was thinking about heating and then beating it, but want your opinions. In the photo, I placed a square underneath the guide to show damage. Thanks.

Lyon Drawer.jpeg
 
Clamp a hefty piece of steel to the ends just below it ,left and right of the bend and start hammering away!
 
It would help if you had included some overview pictures showing more of the working environment.
How/where is the bent rail attached to the drawer?
Is there a flange along the top rim of the drawer wall?
 
yep, need a view further out to see what's what. the closeup helps, but we need more context.
edit: do you have a hydraulic press?
 
Does it affect operation? I've got some fairly bent up drawer fronts but never bothered to try straightening them.
 
Sheet metal is usually pretty soft. A hammer and dolly should work, I think.
 
I have a lot of good luck using a large cresceny wrench 18-24”. The jaw depth is deep so I adjust the opening to tight on a good section of material. Then use your straight edge to see where the bending starts. Then put the crescent there and start bending in the direction you need to go. Move over alittle and do the same.
That will get you dam close. Then if their is a high spot or wrinkle then go in with the hammer. Flat swings to avoid denting the surface. Heat might take away the strength of the material I’d avoid it.
 
This is a working drawer.
Working Drawer Assembly.jpeg
The sheet metal drawer appears to be 20 gauge (.036" w/ my calipers). I do not have much sheet metal working experience and was surprised by how stout it is. There is a flange at the top of the drawer that overhangs the bent guide (9 gauge) that I need to straighten, so I can't get a swing on it. The distance between the top flange and the guide is 3.5".
Top View Drawer showing Flange.jpeg
The guide has to be straight because it travels between two bearings, one below and one above. The bearings are not adjustable, so the guide needs to be quite flat, perhaps not perfect.
Shows Bent Flange and Bearings.jpeg
The basic design has channels on the insides of the cabinets, left and right for each drawer. The guide with the bearings is a one-piece unit that rolls into the guides. The drawer resides in the guide. I guessing at these terms.
Overall of Drawer and Guide.jpeg

I have a 20-ton press, but I can't fit the drawer into it. At least I haven't figured out how to do it. Thanks
 
As far as hammering tbe guide without hitting the flange, can you use a large punch. Not sure if there's an even better way. I would also start with a crescent wrench as described above. Maybe two side by side (spaced just a bit) to spread the bending forces
 
you provided a lot of pics but not of the damage. I just wanted to see the same problem from a little farther out.

I would agree with Mikey, a hammer and dolly. if you are unfamiliar with Dollies you can use them to back up a hammer hit and limit how far the metal is deflected, you can also use it to hammer on and push the metal since it will be hard to hit that area directly with the hammer , you use the dolly to do the persuading, rather than only backing it up.

as far as fitting the whole drawer, it looked like a corner, back corner that needed to be pressed. just take 2 pieces of metal and sandwich the part.. you will get some rebound, but it will help. you can add dowel pins to move areas under the sandwich

like this
press.jpg

The top one will press on the middle of the area to move and the 2 lower will allow the metal to be pushed between them .
edit that didn't work: let me try again. sorry, the example is not working.
 
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