New Use For An Old Case

[shtoink]

Since I can't ever seem to turn off my brain, I find it interesting to see what it comes up with when I let it have some freedom now and then. The last time it was inspired by a very cool toolbox design that I have mostly worked out over here. This time I had discovered an old, but cool looking clarinet case for less than a five spot. I wasn't completely convinced that I should get it, but it seemed very likely that I could turn it into something else if I did. I walked around the store while holding on to it and ultimately decided that I'd spent more money on worse ideas and brought it home with me.

The idea of turning it into a small toolbox for leather tools started to grow and I kept staring into it trying to envision how it would all be laid out. It was difficult to do that until I pulled out the felt cover insert that was meant to hold the clarinet parts. After that, it seemed like everything fell into place in an instant. I got some paper and sketched a rough idea of the layout while the ideas were flowing. After that, it was just a matter of hacking up some bits of cardboard to mock up the ideas, test, and adjust as needed with the actual tools that might be in it.

This is what I came up with...

The idea is to have one section that will fit a #4 Garland rawhide mallet and a few other various bits and the other area divided up to hold punches, modeling tools, a few swivel knives and a good number of other small tools with handles. The area with the swivel knives and modeling tools will have loop type straps to hold them all to that panel, which is also a lid for the area below it.

With the lid lifted, you can see that it has a fair amount of space and keeps the contents relatively captive. The section next to it will have the punches, and the exact count is 33. That doesn't mean there isn't room to toss in a couple more, but that's about all that will realistically fit there. The idea I have for the part that hold the punches is that it will be hinged and lift up much like you see in the picture. I plan to have it lock in both the open and closed positions. This will keep them accessible while open, but also keep them from spilling out everywhere while closed.

Here, you can see that it was originally intended to carry a few music books. This seems to be a great place to carry any pattern books you might have that will fit, or risk being folded to fit in it.

All in all, I think it looks good and shouldn't be too difficult to make the necessary parts from a few bits of thin plywood. Maybe someone else in here will be inspired to cook up one of their own.

[immiketoo]

Dude, thats really cool. After seeing it, it's way more user friendly than I thought! A nice tooled leather outside and it would be styling! Maybe we can collaborate on this one

[shtoink]

I'm glad that you like the idea, Mike2. I was pretty sure there were people out there that might not want to transport their entire collection of tools if they didn't have to. This seemed like a simple and neat idea to solve that problem.

What I think is great is that it's a standard sized student clarinet case. I have seen quie a few of them around without an instrument inside. They can be found in music shops and junk stores alike. I would recommend that anyone wishing to make a similar toolbox keep an eye out the older style case and make sure it has a minimum, or no, plastic in it's construction. I didn't get an opportunity to check out many other instrument cases, but this one wasn't too difficult to pull out the support system for the clarinet. It would make sense to keep an eye out for that, as the more difficult it would be to remove the guts and modify, the work that will be involved in converting it.

I realized early on that it would be difficult to carry around just about any toolbox that has a granite/marble slab hiding inside. It'd be the equivalent of purposely putting bricks in you backpack, purse, or briefcase. I worked on the assumption that there is a great deal of variance in the types and sizes of slab one might have and it would be far easier to just have it carried separately, if it needed to be brought along at all.

[Basically Bob]

shtoink, I like it a lot & am going to be on the prowl for one, now. I find it especially interesting because a lot of the guys in my "music world" use old, small, suitcases that look much like the clarinet case, but larger, for P.A. and electrical cords. Thanks for posting.

[shtoink]

I'll definitely be keeping the updated with progress pictures as the project moves along.

If there are any idea that anyone might add, this is certainly the stage that they should be suggested. I'm still not 100% solid on how I'll be doing the locking mechanism for the punch holder or if I might need to account for any other tools/details that have yet to mention.

[benlilly1]

I agree with Mike, you need to cover the case with your own leather work! Cool case!

[shtoink]

I know that the mapping of the wood texture isn't quite right, but I wasn't aiming for realistic with this. I was getting an idea of how the hinges, the locking mechanism, and everything else will all fit together.

I was thinking that it might be easier, and lighter, to construct the punch block from a few thin pieces of plywood rather than a solid block of wood. This means that I don't need drill press, but I will need to potentially place some tubes into those holes so the punches don't fail to align properly when inserting them. I may end up just getting a block of wood and borrowing access to a drill press if it becomes too much of a hassle.

[shtoink]

I was in the chat room not too long ago and we were talking about some of the finer points of this modification. One of the things that came about was the possibility of getting some small(ish) diameter plastic tubing bundled together to hold the tools. I did a little research and located some cheap plastic tubing of 1/2', 3/8", and 1/4" that just needs to be cut to the required length.

Here's what I came up with after taking real life measurements of the tubes. I think it looks pretty good, so far. I still need to figure out exactly how I am going to get them all to stay in place, but I do have a couple ideas on that one already. The added bonus is that it increased the number of tools it'll hold from 33 to 43 by doing it this way.

Edited May 8, 2013 by shtoink

[immiketoo]

Thats really cool dude

[shtoink]

After quite a bit of searching around through the multitude of hinge types, I managed to find what I think might be the ideal solution. The hardest part was trying to find a hinge type without knowing what that type is called. Ugh....

So, for the side with the punch block, I wanted it to pivot a certain way and the hinge needed to take up very little space. I was thinking that a chunk of piano hinge might to the trick, but I'd end up having to put screws right into the walls of the case. The problem with that is that the case walls aren't very think and it might fail prematurely.

Here's what I think might work...

Hinge 1 and Hinge 2

For the side that'll have the strap and lift to allow access to the space below, I need a different style. I think a quadrant style hinge might work well, since it won't be carrying a heavy load like the side loaded with a bunch of punches/stamps. Although, I may end up using a section of Velcro so it can hinge, but also be removable if the need arises.

The trick now is to source the hinges for a reasonable price and in the correct size. I'm not excited about dropping upwards of $30 or so for a pair of hinges that you'll never even see. I thinking much cheaper than that.