Thread: Ideas for how to make a matchbox compartment automatically slide up out of chest

Yes, those stays stop the lid from slamming down. Once I'd got them set up you could really slap the lid down hard but it would still gracefully come down at a measured pace. As I said the lid weighs about 5kg, it would easily break fingers if it fell down without them. At the time of the build my daughter was only about 7 so the stays were essential. They cost me $70, which was $20 MORE than I paid for the actual timber! Still very much worth it though.

Well at least I have a month and a half or so to save up and get them.. I really think they'll be required, just to keep Blake from accidentally smashing his fingers.. Plus, it will remove the chain from being in the way of the perspex cover.

Thanks everyone for the feedback and suggestions.

I'll post back in a few weeks with some progress photos, or just a completed photo if I get too carried away building and forget to stop and take progress snaps.

Luke

For your nephews safety please consider the stays. Google toy box head and neck injuries if you need convincing.
its also a good idea to think about how he may get out if he emptied out the box and climbed in it with a heavy lid.

Ok guys, I need some more advice please!

I've got the acrylic lid cut to size, as you can see in the images, it spans from one edge of the lid to the other. This edge sits just inside the 'walls' of the chest.

Now my problem will be when it comes to attaching the soft close lid stays.. I'm assuming that the edge of the lid that I'm about to cover with the acrylic lid is where I need to attach the bracket..

Am I going to have to cut the corners off of the acrylic lid? Have to remember that this lid will hinge down, so I can just cut out the section so that 'foot' of the bracket can screw to the lid..
IMG_20141111_160538.jpgIMG_20141111_160559.jpg

Thanks,
Luke

Originally Posted by denno020

Am I going to have to cut the corners off of the acrylic lid? Have to remember that this lid will hinge down, so I can just cut out the section so that 'foot' of the bracket can screw to the lid..

Unfortunately the problem is going to be the arms of the stays, yes cutting out a rectangle to fit the foot is fine but the perspex will move in an arc as it opens and will require the rectangular cut out to become much longer. It can be done but just might look a bit messier. An alternative would be to insert the lid within the swing of the stay arms.

Hey guys,

I have a follow up question, so I thought while I asked that, it would be nice to provide a progress photo.

First, the question: With the soft close lid stays, has anyone used them? I need to know if the lid will open to a greater than 90 degree angle. The packaging says 70-105 degrees, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to read that.. Does that mean the lid can open up to 105 degrees from when it is closed?

Maybe a picture will help..

LidAngle.png
Is that the angle that the packaging is referring to?

As for a progress image, I have so far cut all the shelving to length, and painted them in a brown, which no where near matched the lid colour, but I guess I was never going to get it perfect when trying to colour match mdf..
Anyway, this morning I glued the shelving into place, here it is drying, with scrap pieces used as spacers so the shelving didn't fall over whilst drying:

IMG_20141129_132722_optimized.jpg

Not much of an update really, but an update none the less .

I'm heading into Bunnings tomorrow, so hopefully someone reads this and can get back to me before then, as they're rather expensive to take a gamble on!

Thanks,
Denno

As I stated in a previous post I have used these stays which is why I recommended them to you originally. You are correct about the angle, from closed you can get a 105° opening as per your sketch, you just have to line them up pretty carefully. I used a couple of pieces of scrap to test the final fitting position because my box lid overhung the frame by about an inch in all directions meaning that if the lid went beyond 90° it would perform an act of violent fornication on the hinges!

Fantastic, thanks Chief!

$84 was going to be a very expensive gamble not knowing if they would work exactly how I need them to, but glad to know they will.

Do you happen to have any photos of your lid stays in operation, with the lid opened as far as it can?

Thanks,
Luke

Unfortunately not, I'm at work with no access to my pictures until I get home again on the 10th of next month. I have one on my phone but no way to transfer it to my tablet.

Ahk no worries mate, thanks anyway.

So Christmas is a couple of days away, and I've now finished the present for my nephew.

I've attached an image so you can all see what I came up with.

I'm very happy with it personally, despite how much it cost me in the end (I'm afraid to tally up the numbers..)

Snapchat-20141223024201.jpg

You can see the placement of the soft close lid stays.. Not exactly the best position, in fact probably the worst.. But for me to be able to place it where it would be beneficial, I would have had to cut the trim around the lid, but I was getting pretty frustrated, so I placed them there, and have decided that Blake is old enough that I can tell him not to be silly with it, and he won't.

Holding the perspex up are some earth magnets, which as you may know, are darn strong. To allow Blake to pull down the perspex, I added a leather strap (fancy way of me saying I cut up a dog collar) as a handle, so that he has leverage and doesn't have to use his fingertips.

The last notable thing would be how I attached the perspex to the piano hinge.. I wanted to drill and mount with nuts and bolts, but quite frankly, I was too scared that I would split the plastic, being so close to the edge. So I used heavy duty double sided tape.. I know it doesn't look fantastic, but it gets the job done.

So yeah, this is it. Feel free to let me know what you think.

Thanks to everyone for your help along the way.

I like what you have done it has potential for quite a number of cars. I do have some concern about the double sided tape but I have known mirrors being hung with this stuff. Maybe in the future you could use a U bracket or flat aluminum to add mechanical fastening if this looks like coming apart.

Looks great. I think the perspex would be strong enough to be drilled for bolts and nuts.
My concern, and I am not in a position to test, is that when opening the perspex that the magnets hold it shut and the lid closes instead.

I think you are on a winner.

Originally Posted by Handyjack

My concern, and I am not in a position to test, is that when opening the perspex that the magnets hold it shut and the lid closes instead.

I know exactly what you mean, and that's the very reason that I only put one strap on there. If I had put two, then that just encourages both of them to be pulled to separate the metal from the magnet, which just results in the chest lid being pulled down. With one, I can show Blake that one hand holds the chest lid, whilst the other pulls on the strap, so hopefully that problem doesn't come up .