Ken Acland's router case

Ken Acland writes:

I've had the router for some time and the cardboard box for it was breaking up. Also I had a case of router bits for a retirement present and I had nowhere to store them.

I was really impressed with those tool chests by the carpenters from Santa Catarina and the design seemed well suited to the needs of a router and its accessories. The sloping joint between box and lid provides a variety of storage space for differently sized pieces. I could really do with one for my woodworking tools to use in the workshop or off-site as necessary. I have come to appreciate this during a house refurbishment project for one of my children for which I have been using a mechanic's cantilever tool box. This is fine for things like spanners and wrenches, but it's not suited for the greater variety of shapes and sizes in the woodworking sphere.

The hinge parts were cut out of scrap pieces of the aluminium extrusion that is used to cover the joins in office partitioning.

I hadn't seen corner protectors small enough for this size of case, so I cut out the corners of some discarded computer cases using a cutting blade on my Dremel Tool.

The handle and the router retaining bar are from some packing pieces that were attached to a table that we purchased. I don't know what sort of wood it is, but it's very hard.

This is a Catch-22 situation that I have noticed elsewhere - that you don't have time during a project to make the things that would be ideal for that project! On the construction of the router case, I expected to be able to use geometry to design the hinge, striking off the positioning of the pivots from the closed and open positions of the lid, but I had to resort to trial and error. I ended up making a mock-up like yours because the case would have had holes all over the place.

I had to position the hinge plate higher than that on the Würth case to allow the lid to clear the handle. Also I found that if the links were exactly parallel they would not allow the lid to swing clear at the beginning of its trajectory.

I didn't have buy anything to build this project, it was all from materials I already had. I have to thank David and Jean for their inspiration, specifically for the box joints and, of course, any other features that I come to use if I ever get time to make a tool chest.

A difference I noticed was in the perception of size; you speak of your basement workshop as small, but that would be a luxury over here in the UK.

Best regards, Ken Acland, Ascot, UK.

There is an online tutorial on how to design a hinge linkage like this in Sketchup.