The Must-Have Safety Feature Your DIY Toy Box Needs
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Ah, yes, Christmas morning. Hot cocoa with a candy cane, sneaking the Raveonettes into the Classic Christmas playlist, the shrieks of agony when little Oliver's new toy box lid slams down on his fingers. It's a tale, as TikTok DIYer @huntsworkshop puts it, "as old as time itself." And even if the day doesn't involve a trip to the ER and splints, you'll notice that for a while Ollie will give the toy box you worked so hard on the side-eye every time you say "Why don't you put that in your new toy box?" For, you know, six months or so. You might be tempted to bail out of the classic toy box approach altogether and join the quest to build the perfect toy storage bins instead, but fortunately, @huntsworkshop has a solution, and it's as simple as a bag of frozen peas on swollen fingers: soft-close hinges.
You are familiar with soft-close hinges from such big hits as "Stop slamming the cabinet doors!" and "Is it necessary to slam the toilet seat so hard?" But while these do eliminate most of the jarring sound of a toy box lid banging shut, the safety function is what makes them special. After all, it's important that your child or grandchild be able to safely store away the lawn darts, slingshots, and Snake Eyes G.I. Joe Origins Ninja Strike Sickles. (We're not making that up.) And @huntsworkshop does soft-close a little differently than you might expect.
Soft-close is great; no-close is even better
The lid supports from Rockler ($11.99-12.99) that @huntsworkshop used in building his grandson's toybox are designed to close gently, and also have a "lid stay" feature, which keeps the box open at 85 degrees. They come in three foot-pound ratings based on the weight of the lid. If you get a slightly overpowered set, they will prevent the lid from automatically closing at most angles. The supports come in left-mount, right-mount, and center-mount options, and you can use one, two, or three supports to fine-tune the support you get. This makes it possible to get the right amount of resistance to closing for just about any lid. There's a handy formula for calculating this on the Rockler site.
If you have a child and have taken a look at these lid supports, you might already have an objection along the lines of "My kid would have that thing broken before a Snacktime Cabbage Patch Doll could bite your finger." This is the other place that @huntsworkshop's genius shows up: We know that piano hinges are great for everything from building a bench with under-seat storage to hiding a secret room under an IKEA loft bed. @huntsworkshop knows too, and he installed a piano hinge along the back of the lid to provide all-but-indestructible opening and closing and trapping your little brother in for years to come.
Alternatives to the Rockler hinges
Sometimes a soft-close mechanism is all you need, and there are a number of ways to get it. Some, like the Apexstone Soft Close Toy Box Hinges ($18.99 for a pair) are simple gas struts like you'd see holding open a car's hood or a minivan's liftgate. Others combine gas struts with hinges that lock the lid open at a particular angle, including the APFFSY Lid Supports ($35.99 per pair). APFFSY also makes Toy Box Hinges ($22.24 per pair), which use a simple friction mechanism to achieve just about everything all the other types of soft-close hinges can manage, such as setting the stay angle (at one of 75 degrees, 90 degrees, and 110 degrees) and adjusting the tension mechanism for different lid weights. But note that you have to manually keep the two hinges' tensions matched. Ravaver Toy Box Hinges ($36.99 per pair) appear to use a unique hydraulic mechanism for their soft-close functionality, and they can be locked open at 90 degrees.
Whichever you choose, read product descriptions carefully. Most will have minimum lid dimensions, and will also vary in weight limit according to the size of your lid. Descriptions will typically tell you how many hinges you need for various situations, and the few that are adjustable will detail the limitations of that function. Some, like the Apexstone struts, even have measured drawings you can use to determine if the devices will work for your creation.