Flight case lid stays. Advice needed (DIY flight case)

[handyman]

We build DIY flight cases as we can get the parts for very cheap, and since we're a small company we often have staff hanging around during quiet periods and we muck in and do the case building during quiet periods.

 

I was wonder if anyone else builds their cases? There seems to be a lack of communities for us case builders and no technical manuals around.

 

We've bought a tonne of these without hinges. and wanted to know how they worked

 

http://cpc.farnell.com/productimages/farnell/standard/DP2879906-40.jpg

 

The ones we're supposed to use have hinges which help line up the lid as it closes. I'm not sure if these will line up the lid correctly.

 

They're not cheap at £5 a pop and we bought 10. I'd like to use it if we can.

 

This is what we should have orderded.

 

[can't embed image due to being a newbie]

 

we cant return it because it's b2b and not covered under DSR and the supplier doesn't even answer emails asking to return this :)

[J Pearce]

Piano style hinge should work fine with that. As the case opens it should sit back onto the bar holding the lid open.

[Simon Lewis]

Piano style hinge should work fine with that. As the case opens it should sit back onto the bar holding the lid open.

 

Exactly.... When I made 4' x 2' x 2' cable trunks, I'd locate the lid stays about 10 - 15cm in from the edge and put piano hinge at the edges and between the stays. Seemed to work fine!

[handyman]

Thanks for the feedback. I have the lidstays set aside for future in case we ever need to use them again.

 

I think it would add to the build time to put hinges AND lid stays so we'll just order some proper lidstays with built in hinges.

 

It's 2 x lidstays per case so that's £10 loss per case. So in the grand scheme of things not a huge waste.

[Simon Lewis]

I must admit that with a heavier lid, I'd prefer to have piano hinge across the width of the case. If it's not too large or heavy, hinged stays are probably fine.

[handyman]

I couldn't work out why someone would use a lidstay without a hinge. I guess they're useful to have for rack style cases with a deck at the top. So you just want the lid to fall down to the side by itself but not have to stow it away like in a fully removable lid.

Are the lidstay only lids is to remount for end users? Or are they fidgity to put back on as you have to line them up?

 

We have a hire company and we have to make equipment super east to use hence why I didn't like the idea of just using a lidstay without a hinge. If it isn't overly difficult to use I don't mind using them to be honest.

 

Equipment gets damaged if they're not super easy to use. I don't want someone to not be able to line up the lid and then mess up the tongue & groove or injure themselves. We supply events so people have limited time to unpack and install so common sense goes out of the window.

[dsharp7th]

it would seem its main benefit is to stop a lid getting lost or mixed up where there are a lot of similar looking but different case lids, but where usage dictates a hinged lid isn't suitable...

[handyman]

it would seem its main benefit is to stop a lid getting lost or mixed up where there are a lot of similar looking but different case lids, but where usage dictates a hinged lid isn't suitable...

 

I was taking the better the devil you know approach to this as I haven't used a lidstay only piece. Always used the lidstay and hinge and I assumed that is what I was ordering.

 

I think the riveting holes are the same place as the hinges + lidstay pieces so I will trial them out. If it doesn't work I can always drill them out and put the correct ones in.