Woodbloke
Sequoia
Bob9f of this parish recently sent me a pair of his Chinesium hinges and ‘suggested’ :eusa-whistle: that I make a small box for Salisbury Hospice in town. The hinges are detailed in the thread:
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=6110&p=103240#p103240
…and are made from some sort of cast zinc alloy with a pice tag of 88p a pair which is somewhat different to the my normal Smarthinge offerings.
At that very parsimonious price I could afford to spend a bit of time and make something half-respectable for the hospice in the hope that some dosh could be raised for a good cause. I’m also in the process of making a few small bowls from offcuts which I’ll take down there next week on the velocipede.
The box is a pretty straight forward affair made from a gash oddment of 11mm thick London Plane with a Birds Eye Maple lining. Splined and mitred at the corners, veneered lid and bottom but it’s the hinges which are worth detailing here.
First and foremost, I did a trial set up on the router table to sort out the exact fit of the hinges; it’s very handy to have a pair of handed router stops on the fence for this sort of job:
…after which the slots ‘proper’ were machined in the box:
The next thing to was to sort out some screws. By good chance I had a box of No.2 x 3/8” RH, ‘acquired’ :eusa-whistle: in another life which, with a little fettling, would be perfick for these hinges:
The ‘oles are supposed to be 2.5mm. They’re nowhere near so it was necessary to drill them out at 2.3mm to get the screw shanks to drop through comfortably:
The next job was to shape the round heads so that they would fit the rectangular offices in the hinge; note they aren’t countersunk! I did this little job by holding the screw shanks in a Proxxon mini-drill and passing a smooth file over them until they were the correct profile and fitted the holes in the hinge. The slots also had to be slightly enlarged with a junior hacksaw:
It was then time to assemble the box. I used Vaseline on the threads, using a bamboo skewer to smear a bit of lube into the 1.5mm pilot holes:
After further fiddling the box went together with a green baize lining on the bottom:
Finished with severial coats of Liberon Sanding Sealer and a goodly application of wax over the top.
Making a box with Smarthinges is fiddly enough, but these Chinesium one’s take it to a whole new level. It’s not the hinges which are tricky but manipulating No.2 screws is a complete and utter faff and not something I’d care to repeat any time soon; if you haven’t got No.2 screws then these hinges are IMO a non-starter.
I was going to suggest to the very nice lady in the hospice shop that they hold some sort of raffle so that the maximum amount could be raised in due course. I’d hate it to go for a measly pittance when so much more could be raised - Rob
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=6110&p=103240#p103240
…and are made from some sort of cast zinc alloy with a pice tag of 88p a pair which is somewhat different to the my normal Smarthinge offerings.
At that very parsimonious price I could afford to spend a bit of time and make something half-respectable for the hospice in the hope that some dosh could be raised for a good cause. I’m also in the process of making a few small bowls from offcuts which I’ll take down there next week on the velocipede.
The box is a pretty straight forward affair made from a gash oddment of 11mm thick London Plane with a Birds Eye Maple lining. Splined and mitred at the corners, veneered lid and bottom but it’s the hinges which are worth detailing here.
First and foremost, I did a trial set up on the router table to sort out the exact fit of the hinges; it’s very handy to have a pair of handed router stops on the fence for this sort of job:
…after which the slots ‘proper’ were machined in the box:
The next thing to was to sort out some screws. By good chance I had a box of No.2 x 3/8” RH, ‘acquired’ :eusa-whistle: in another life which, with a little fettling, would be perfick for these hinges:
The ‘oles are supposed to be 2.5mm. They’re nowhere near so it was necessary to drill them out at 2.3mm to get the screw shanks to drop through comfortably:
The next job was to shape the round heads so that they would fit the rectangular offices in the hinge; note they aren’t countersunk! I did this little job by holding the screw shanks in a Proxxon mini-drill and passing a smooth file over them until they were the correct profile and fitted the holes in the hinge. The slots also had to be slightly enlarged with a junior hacksaw:
It was then time to assemble the box. I used Vaseline on the threads, using a bamboo skewer to smear a bit of lube into the 1.5mm pilot holes:
After further fiddling the box went together with a green baize lining on the bottom:
Finished with severial coats of Liberon Sanding Sealer and a goodly application of wax over the top.
Making a box with Smarthinges is fiddly enough, but these Chinesium one’s take it to a whole new level. It’s not the hinges which are tricky but manipulating No.2 screws is a complete and utter faff and not something I’d care to repeat any time soon; if you haven’t got No.2 screws then these hinges are IMO a non-starter.
I was going to suggest to the very nice lady in the hospice shop that they hold some sort of raffle so that the maximum amount could be raised in due course. I’d hate it to go for a measly pittance when so much more could be raised - Rob
