Help!! Hinge advice

[ebarr]

I am making a toybox for a very good friend of ours. Everything was going wonderful until the last few days. First I snapped a drill bit off flush with the wood when predrilling the holes for the hinge screws. 5 mins later when carrying the top out of the way I hit the edge of my bandsaw and scratched the top. I decided to call it a night and address it the next day. (after a few choice words) After sanding, steam ironing the dent out. I managed to repair most of the damage.

I purchased two non mortisen hinges from wood worker supply and two slow close rod type things. (upon the advise of the employees there) Tonight while putting on my hinges everything was going great until I put on the slow close rod things. This is what I got. the first to pics are fine. When you close the lid, the rods press the lid back and up, bending the hinges.:BangHead::BangHead::BangHead:

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Wayne, I've tried the "push-rod" mechanisms and wasn't very satisfied. So on the last few toy boxes I've gone this route for the soft close feature. These are also available from Woodworker's Supply.

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[Joe Scharle]

These work well...

[h=1]Lid-Stay Torsion Hinge Lid Support, Rustic Bronze Finish[/h] $26.99Each Average Rating: (58 customer reviews)

 

[Jeff]

Holy heaven those look like automotive shock absorbers. +1 to Bill's advice above.

Just thinking about the mechanics of their operation and how the lid could get pushed back and up. What does the toybox lid weigh? Surely the lid weight by itself wasn't enough to cause so much distortion. Did you push down on the front of the lid to make it close?

Also, accurate placement of the piston mounting hardware (fully closed piston) seems critical. This representation is purposely "out of whack" so the piston will be fully closed before the box lid is fully closed. Any further downward pressure forces the lid up and back because it has nowhere else to go. BTW, I'm not being critical but just trying to better understand your predicament.

 

[ebarr]

The lid itself is 32 x 19 roughly 3/4 sapele. hinge placement is per the instructions. It appears that the force of the rods and the material of the hinges simply caused the lid to push up and back.

Bill,
Those were the closures that I originally went to get. But was told that when the lid came close to closing it would force close which I was worried about. I think it will be a trip back to Woodworker supply to return these and get what i originally went for.

FYI, thanks for the help. Help in this forum shouldn't be taken as criticism Everyone here have always been awesome

 

[woodworker2000]

Just looking at this and drawing on my experience with these mechanisms on my boat, you may have the rods installed at the wrong angle causing it to push towards the back as much as it is pushing up. You don't need it pushing back. Also, have you checked the capacity of the rods you are using? Are you using two of them or just one? I wouldn't think that lid would require 2 rods. It is important to match the capacity of the rods with the weight of the lid. If the capacity of the rods is a lot more than the weight of the lid, the lid won't stay shut. Those rods will lift more than you might think.

 

[rcarmac]

I used the soft close hinges as well on the toy box I made for my nephew. They worked great. They have a formula for figuring out which of the size or spring tension you need. Once you get the sizing right, you are good to go. Its true that the lid drops right before its almost shut, about 1". But its not something that's really going to hurt a child. By adjusting the placement over the recommendations in the instructions, I was able to get that drop point down to about 1/2".