Toybox Lid Repair Went As I mostly Expected

Another project a long time in being resolved is my broken toybox, its lid damaged since I got it as a wee lad. It was made by my grandfather & right off the bat it was the hinges on the back of the lid which broke off & the wood they were screwed into which completely split & the lid never again worked as made. Also as a kid, I enacted the only repair I knew - simply rework the lid so the hinges would attach. And for the most part, that plan pretty much worked.

And that was the state of the lid ever since. For over 50 years this toybox rarely held any actual toys; when I first got it, it was where my Steve Austin $6 million dollar Man & associated stuff resided. And up until May 2018, I still retained Steve in his rocket until evil stole it from me. During the time in Mom's home, it was eventually home to 7 Atari 2600s. Also stolen from me. When I got older, it rarely held any toys, much like my dresser which never held any actual clothes but instead contained my oldest videotapes.

When I moved, the toybox became storage & a seat for my kitchen area. Being of reduced & limited physical ability, it was essential. But when I moved into my current place, I decided I would figure out how to completely repair the lid problem. I decided on using Piano Hinges (aka Continuous Hinges) to replace the 2 little failed & bent hinges originally put on it. I also found out about wood filler products to fix the damaged edges & had applied some but never finished that step. But I did get to see how well the product would perform. I hope the unused portion is still viable in the cans/ I bought 2 small cans, opened only 1.

Another item I obtained, this time from Amazon, was a lid stand. Actually I think of it as an action limiter. It will hold the lid up by itself, but also prevent it from opening too wide. I seem to recall there being one but it was angrily removed & lost to time.

The only problem in fixing the lid was its eventual split. I figured I would find a way to repair it using wood dowels & proper strong wood glue. The only problem with that is I needed a drill bit large enough for the dowels I would use & a proper way to drill them perpendicular to the surfaces of the wood & on top of that, in spite of the irregular edge it now has due to splitting. Elmer's glue was not strong enough.

After a visit to Lowe's, I obtained said hinges, a small hand saw for cutting the dowels I had bought months earlier at Walmart (5/16 inch diameter), and a proper size drill bit. What I also needed was a dowel drilling jig. I got 1 of these off eBay. It came with no box nor instructions, however a video or 2 on Youtube showed me the tricks of getting this doohickey to help me get it positioned. What I also needed was a way to keep it square. That task fell to my straight edge level & 2 Atari 2600 cartridges - at least their shells.

After that was a logic puzzle to sort out how to square things up, clamp in place, then drill. 8 drill holes later after developing a flow & technique, I was fitting the dowel bits, gluing it up, & clamped. The result of that you see above. The main part was applying enough glue to have it spill out during clamping. As Julian Baumgartner has said, you want that extra glue to squeeze out so the joint isn't starved of adhesive.

Once this step has finished drying, I'm looking to once again fix the edges with that putty filler stuff (I forgot what it's called but I got it at Lowe's), drill pilot holes for the screws, replace the cross bits inside the lid I had to remove years ago, add the lid stop, and do the hinges. And then maybe clean it out? I guess I should.

My next project is fixing the other assemble it yourself bookshelf. I need more screws maybe. I thought I had some for that already. Then getting a service manual for my Magnavox big screen TV. It turns on, but no picture & I believe the CRT is getting some voltage. I hope to see a burned out resistor or transistor.