Locking up a chest of drawers

**apple8** · 5th February 2005, 08:42 PM

Part of the brief for storage drawers for the B-B-Q area was to have the drawers locked. (Pic1)

I didn't want to have multiple locks as I thought it was too inconvenient and costly to have so many locks, so I came up with a single lock for all drawers. The idea may have been discussed here before, if so apologies but here is how I did it. (I know, it ain't made out of wood, but it is part of the project.)

I used a metre of angle aluminium and rivetted cross pieces to align with notches cut int the top of the drawer sides. Using some packing pieces to reduce twisting and keep alignment it was secured with enough play to allow it to drop under gravity into the slots. (pic2)

A single cupboard lock was installed in the side and secured. A hole was drilled in the locking tab and using some stainless steel fishing line trace, to eliminate stretching, connected the lock to the aluminium locking bar via a spring. (pic3)

The spring allows full turning of the lock after the bar has completed its travel and allows the key to be removed in the unlocked postion to hold the locking bar clear of the drawers whilst in use and maintain some tension on the trace wire.

I did get to thinking now what would happen if for some unlikely reason the trace broke and could not get into drawers again. For this reason I ran a seperate trace to an out of sight place to manually lift the locking bar.

Overall I am pleased with the result, saved a few $$$, a lot of fiddling around with keys and got some kudos from my wife.

**ozwinner** · 6th February 2005, 06:16 PM

You must live in a bad area, having to lock up your barbie tongs and egg flip. :eek:

Al :confused:

**bitingmidge** · 6th February 2005, 09:23 PM

I had a somewhat less sophistocated version at one time in the deep distant past when living with a few "less than savoury" types (not that I ever tasted them mind)..... just screwed in a self tapper.

They were too stupid to see it there and couldn't work out how I was the only one who could open the wardrobe door.

:confused: :confused:

A bit like your alternative catch I guess apples!

cheers,

P

**ozwinner** · 6th February 2005, 09:27 PM

Is that before you got wed to Grumpy.??

Al

**bitingmidge** · 6th February 2005, 09:41 PM

She was round the traps after all she's the Blight of my life!!, (But there were plenty of Dopeys around too!!)

Cheers,

P

**apple8** · 6th February 2005, 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by ozwinner

You must live in a bad area, having to lock up your barbie tongs and egg flip. :eek:

Al :confused:

It's not that so much but I do have a reserve behind me and it also keeps little grandchildrens' fingers out and from being jammed.

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

A bit like your alternative catch I guess apples!

I guess so, so people never see the obvious. But I just didn't want to destroy my work in case it ever broke and murphy's law dictates that if I didn't have it I would need it.

**jackiew** · 7th February 2005, 02:00 PM

[QUOTE=bitingmidge]just screwed in a self tapper.

They were too stupid to see it there QUOTE]

I am aware of a big cupboard located in a semi-public building ( identity with-held to protect the contents

) ) which contains power tools and has a huge great padlock on it. Anyone with a screw driver and a spare minute can just remove the hinges.

**Wood Borer** · 7th February 2005, 02:11 PM

Very clever mechanism - cheap and it works.

**Barry_White** · 7th February 2005, 04:46 PM

It is true the obvious never occurs. It's just like opening a security screen door when the owner has locked the door and lost the key.

A battery drill, a 3/16 drill bit, a screwdriver and 10 seconds and you can open the door to fit a new lock.

But what a criminal usually does is try to rip the the security grill out and make a lot of noise.

**apple8** · 8th February 2005, 10:01 PM

Originally Posted by Wood Borer

Very clever mechanism - cheap and it works.

Thanks - costs where under $20.

When I first considered the idea I searched through the net for some ideas and couldn't find much at all, so I thought I would put it up here for others that might be looking for something at a later date.

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