I've been following along and enjoying the progress of your project. Thank you for sharing the details and your thought process. I particularly like the combination of spacers and neos to build your lock, and I'm looking forward to hearing how it all comes together.

Thanks Lin and you're welcome! I went the route of the spacers (maybe "risers" was a better word?) so I did not have to drill sink holes to house the neo's. Instead, I'm just gluing the neo's down on the actual bottom and filling in the space between them with pieces of 1/16" craft wood as support/flooring underlay(?) for the new bottom then gluing the cardboard backed suede on top of the craft wood risers/spacers. A lot easier, especially since the actual bottom of the wallet box was only 1/16". I thought about removing the suede bottom of the box and drilling a bunch of holes all the way through, then adding back a new cardstock/suede bottom. But I figured that would increase the likelihood of an accidental and unrecoverable mangling of the box. ( I know about clamping the box down on a block of wood to avoid splitting and cracking, but I was adverse to any drilling, lol!)

My main concern at the moment is the precision I'll need to attain so the box has a clean deployment.

As a picture is worth a 1000 words (give or take a couple), here is a photo of neo's glued in between the spacers that will provided the support for the cardstock suede new bottom.

Click here to view attached image.

And here is a better photo with the neo's hidden by the new suede false bottom. Also suede top glued in. The fl*p (still to be completed) will be double sided suede so that it (both top and bottom ) will present the same before and after triggered. A test of the neos on a nude fl*p indicates that the locking is pretty good it will be even better once the fl*p is covered as the suede on suede will increase the static friction so that any attempt to slide/jiggle the bottom a bit within the small margin due to the required tolerance between the fl*p and the box walls will be very very difficult (I hope !)

Click here to view attached image.

Well the box is nearing completion. I am very pleased with the final appearance! First off I added two more neo's on the center line of the box for a total of nine! The triggered fl*p is perfectly locked! Yay. (I bough a pair of 14 lb hook magnets as the "key" to the "lock") The fl*p is near perfection in its final form too. The final issue is as I suspected. The tolerance I allowed between the fl*p size and the bottom cavity is tight. After gluing the suede on to the steel and making nearly close cutting of the suede to the size of the fl*p with a razor knife the fl*p still had some go2 glue and fuzz that I scraped off and sanded away. Yet, the fit is very close and the triggered fl*p still hangs up about 50% of the time.

First idea to fix is to bevel the lip of the bottom cavity slightly (greater than 45 degree slope) as the walls of both the top and bottom are vertical --any tilt of the box from the vertical as the top is closed creates that 50-50 chance of an unclean fall. (Plus I cannot confirm that the top and bottom cavities are perfectly aligned to begin with)

I need to ponder how to do the beveling in a way that is minimal and unlikely to result in a botched and hard to fix alteration of the box. These presentation boxes typically do not have high quality wood.

So I'm on pause at the moment but I sense a final success!

Beveling of lips of walls under way with a sand block ... by hand. A little at a time!

Thanks for posting the photos.
Looking good and shaping up well.

I finished the prototype of my new card box this morning.
It combines the card box prop and slate/ spirit writing effect.

Do you have a particular routine in mind for your box?
All the best
Al

Very nice on your card box project, Al! If you have time and would feel free to show your project I'd like to see your finished box too.

As for routines, I have always wanted to do a torn and restored card routine, classic for a card box, among others. I also decided to build the box after recently reading "CUT POST CARD MYSTERY" in "My Best" by J. G. THOMPSON.

Phil

Oh one update on status. I left the triggered box on the dining room table with a Joker in it and pointed it out to the Mrs as my latest project. Asked her to take a look. She picked it up, removed the Joker looked around inside the box, rubbed the suede and said "Very nice!" She knew what the original blue lined box looked like and she liked the black suede which is why she felt around inside the box !

She didn't suspect a thing!

It's examinable! Yay!

Thanks again-- enjoying following your progress very much!

Very nice on your card box project, Al! If you have time and would feel free to show your project I'd like to see your finished box too.

As for routines, I have always wanted to do a torn and restored card routine, classic for a card box, among others. I also decided to build the box after recently reading "CUT POST CARD MYSTERY" in "My Best" by J. G. THOMPSON.

Phil [/quote]

Thanks Phil,
I'll post some photos over the weekend.
Just had to dust of my copy of 'My Best' to look up that routine, looks really interesting & different.
As they used to say, "Novel".
Has a lot of potential for a spooky / macabre presentation.
👍 Al

I need to post this correction so no one else follows my first configuration.

In the home stretch. Chalk the following up to "I should have known better." The occasional fl*p fall failures were due to the neos along the inner edge (near the hinges) of the bottom. I put those there to minimize the possibility of the spec twisting/slightly rotating the fl*p with fingers after triggered. It was a needless worry. Unfortunately in the first configuration the fl*p was occasionally attracted to those neos near the edge if the fall was slightly off and that would hinder the fl*p from settling flat in the bottom as that inner edge was stuck to neo's and could not slide.

I positioned all 9 neo's into the center area and the problem is solved.

Here is a photo.

Click here to view attached image.

Box completed. Here are two photos, they can't show a lot. Need a video!

Here is the box before change:

Click here to view attached image.

Box completed.
Here is the box after the change. Did we see the change? :

Click here to view attached image.

Looks great! Your progress has kept me inspired on my suitcase box. Thanks for sharing all of the photos.

Looking forward to seeing your project too!

Meanwhile I've gone back to the prop suit case a la Hoffmann. My first attempt at decoupaging the Mondrian paper onto the suitcase was an abject failure


I had to peel off the paper and toss it in the trash. Will try again in a bit.

Your box looks Fantastic, nice work!
And I didn't see or hear a thing!
What adhesive did you use for the Suede in the end?
For my box, I used 'Fuzzy Felt' and 'Prit-stick' :-D

Thank you blamobox! I'm pleased with the box. For a while I thought it wasn't going to be successful. Just took my time and tinkered and experimented until things came together.

I used Hot of the Press (HOTP) black suede craft paper from the craft store and my main glue is Loctite Go2 Glue which I used for the steel fl*p and suede. For the suede paper glued to those false bottom risers I switched and used an Elmer's Xtreme glue stick. For the latter I decided to use something that would be easier to pry loose if something needed fixing.

Thanks again for sharing your process. I found it really helpful. I have a couple of boxes I'd like to convert, and your advice will almost certainly cut the (my) inevitable frustration factor down significantly.

You're welcome Lin. Glad that the posts are useful!