Trinket Box

[9fingers]

Months ago a friend did one of those "Could you just make me a ...." questions.

Sorry not many WIP pictures but just a few towards the end.

Made from resawn oak sanded to 9mm thick and joints cut on my homemade box joint jig written up elsewhere on this forum somewhere. The front has a 3mm veneer glued inside to accommodate the lock. The lid is recycled meranti (AFAIK) also 9mm thick fitted with two 3mm diameter brass pins as hinges.

A fine vee groove cut on the front edge of the lid made it easier to lift the lid without a knob or handle to stick out.



Inside showing 4mm plywood base



The lock cut out was a bit of a faff. I ended up doing it on the milling machine.



The lock came with little escutcheon that finished it off nicely.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233028503642 ... K:MEWAX:IT £2.95 including screws



Inside I lined with blue felt and weetabix packets using Custard's method as written up on UKW



The gold plated chain also came from ebay at £1.69 for 2metres.

Finish was three coats of thinned satin PU varnish and wax applied gently with finest of fine wire wool to de-nib the final coat.

That's another Christmas present out of the way!

All made Bob's way with no hand tools apart from a no 0 pozidrive screw driver and a paint brush.

Bob

 

[StevieB]

Looks good - what is it for in terms of storage?

Interested in how you did the hinges - I presume the pins have to be level to make it work - did you predrill to 3mm and glue in? I have never tried hinges like this before but after a minor disaster fitting 25mm butt hinges on the last box I made an looking for alternatives!

 

[9fingers]

Looks good - what is it for in terms of storage?

Interested in how you did the hinges - I presume the pins have to be level to make it work - did you predrill to 3mm and glue in? I have never tried hinges like this before but after a minor disaster fitting 25mm butt hinges on the last box I made an looking for alternatives!

Thanks Steve.

I'm not sure what will go in the box. Having ascertained that no dividers were needed (relief!) and that exact dimensions were not critical so I could work round my stock of off cuts, I stopped asking for details.

It is all wrapped up now so I can't take more photos but I'll do some drawings and further details of how I did the hinges. If you look closely at the first photo you can see the pins sticking out. Tapping these home was the very last operation before declaring the job done as there is no provision for extracting them.

I'm supposed to be doing housework today but the washing is on and so sneaking up to the office to do some drawing sounds quite an attractive proposition compared to vacuuming and changing the beds. :lol:

Watch this space!

Bob

 

[Mike G]

..........All made Bob's way with no hand tools apart from a no 0 pozidrive screw driver and a paint brush.......

:lol: Go on Bob. It won't kill you! You'd have done that lock cut-out quicker by hand, for instance.

Anyway, nice box. I hope that lid stays flat.

 

[9fingers]

..........All made Bob's way with no hand tools apart from a no 0 pozidrive screw driver and a paint brush.......

:lol: Go on Bob. It won't kill you! You'd have done that lock cut-out quicker by hand, for instance.

Anyway, nice box. I hope that lid stays flat.

Not sure that I agree with you on the lock cutout Mike. Those two coaxial radii are 4.5mm 2mm deep and 5mm 1.2mm deep. So easily done with precision on the mill with 9 and 10mm cutters and digital readout to position the centres and no marking out.

I also hope the lid stays flat. The timber was from a small table made at school in the 60s and thicknessed down equally from both faces so fingers crossed!

Bob

 

[9fingers]

OK as requested/promised.

This is a section through the box and lid closed.



Before gluing up the box I drill 3mm holes precisiely in the desired position. Pillar drill and spur and lip drill.
14mm in from the back and 4.5mm from the top. Radius the back of the box in the inside edge.
Ideally this would have been a 4.5mm radius but I only had imperial router cutters so the radius is 3/16" or 4.76mm in new money. The same radius is cut on the lid

Once the box is out of the clamps, cut a piece of scrap exactly the inside height of the front of the box. Place that inside the box at the back as a support for the lid. Offer up the lid and check for it being perfectly level with back and sides. If needed reduce the packing piece height or shim up with scraps of paper until just right.
Cut a piece of 0.5mm card (cereal packets that I keep in the workshop for such jobs) and use that as a spacer between the rear edge of the lid and the back of the box.
with the lid held firmly in position (clamp if you like) drill through the holes in the box sides into the edge of the lid with the same 3mm drill. I went about 25mm into the lid on each side. my brass pins were also 3mm about 33mm long. chamfered on the inner end and polished flat on the outer. Only fit them partway in until the the job is finished and you are absolutely sure you wont need to take the lid off EVER!

This is the section with the lid open



The lid will open to about 70 degrees as shown. Small differences in position of the pin and the 0.5mm shim makes a lot of difference. Aim for less that 80 degrees so the box lid will stay up.
There is a huge amount of mechanical advantage with a lid of any size and so I fitted the chain restraints to define the opening angle to about 85 degrees making sure that the screw securing the chain did not hit each other when the box was closed.

No glue needed as the pins were a honeymoon fit in the lid. The holes in the sides of the box are unavoidably opened up a gnats tadger when used to jig drill the lid and so more that enough clearance to ensure the pin rotates in the box side not the lid.
Another hand tool, the handle of a nearby glue scraping chisel was used to tap the pins home without marring the polished ends of the pins :lol:

Hope this helps

Bob

 

[AndyP]

Disappointed that you had to resort to a manual screwdriver. There are some really small cordless pencil like electric ones available some are even reasonably priced and would fit down the chimney very easily

https://www.geekbuying.com/item/Wowstic ... 53755.html

I like the box two.

 

[9fingers]

Leccy screwdrivers are ok for carcassing work but I prefer manual especially for easily stripped screws. These ones are no 2 or 3 - 1.5 mm pilot hole seemed about right.

Bob

 

[RogerS]

Disappointed that you had to resort to a manual screwdriver. There are some really small cordless pencil like electric ones available some are even reasonably priced and would fit down the chimney very easily

https://www.geekbuying.com/item/Wowstic ... 53755.html

I like the box two.

Oooh...thank you for that link. Took a bit of finding as sold out everywhere but managed to snaffle one as a Christmas pressie to self.

That's a very nice box, Bob. Must look out the reference to Custard's use of Weetabix.

 

[9fingers]

That's a very nice box, Bob. Must look out the reference to Custard's use of Weetabix.

Thanks Roger.

Here is the link to Custard's tutorial
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/how ... 06375.html

Bob

 

[StevieB]

Excellent, thank you Bob for posting that description and images. Next time I make a box I might well try this method. Hoping for some workshop time between xmas and new year as I am off work for 10 whole days! :eusa-dance:

Much appreciated. :eusa-clap:

 

[Rod]

Nice box Bob

I mark mine out and then use an optical centre punch to get it spot on.
I’ve also made a small jig for my pillar drill to speed up the drilling process.

Custard’s method for lining is great, quite time consuming but gives fantastic results.
I got two more to do and might just make it for Christmas.

Rod

 

[Malc2098]

Nice box