Gumball
02-29-2012, 11:32 PM
Here are a few detail pictures of my home-made glove box. I started with pre-cut (water jet) dash panel with the blank remnant from the glove box door cut-out. Because I have a heater, my glove box is very shallow - only 1" deep or so. It's primary purposes are to be a place to lock my insurance card, garage door opener, and small items and to add a nice appearance to the passenger side of the dash, which on the S/C dash looks a little too empty to my eyes. I made the backing panel out of some .025 aluminum sheet that was real easy to bend with my benchtop brake, then I added some bulb seal to the sides and bottom to keep things from falling through. A couple of screws through the backing panel into the heater box help secure it in place. The final product will be leather or felt covered.
For the door, my goal was to hide the hinge mounting screws. I did that by using a pair of hinges from McMaster-Carr (Part No. 11205A11 - $2.09 ea) that I mounted to a piece of angle aluminum which will in turn be mounted to the dash panel where it attaches to the under dash support panel with three screws. To attach the hinges to the door and to give the door some added heft and vintaqe appearance, I cut a piece of fiberboard about 1/8" smaller than the door blank and this will be epoxied to the door blank and then the whole thing will be covered in leather. To attach the hinges to the fiberboard, I installed a pair of "T" nuts and cut a small relief in the fiberboard on the side that will be epoxied to the aluminum door blank. This will totally hide the mounting, keeping the final leather covering free from bulges or blisters.
The final product will include a cable to hold the door level when open. As with GregM, I used a stainless steel cabinet pull (called a "finger pull" - I got quite a laugh at that one when the guy at the store told me the name) and lock from a local RV supply store. All said and done, I think the entire glove box cost me somewhere in the area of $10 - 12.
Many thanks to GregM and others who documented their glove box fabrication, helping me figure this one out.
Photos available - PM me.
For the door, my goal was to hide the hinge mounting screws. I did that by using a pair of hinges from McMaster-Carr (Part No. 11205A11 - $2.09 ea) that I mounted to a piece of angle aluminum which will in turn be mounted to the dash panel where it attaches to the under dash support panel with three screws. To attach the hinges to the door and to give the door some added heft and vintaqe appearance, I cut a piece of fiberboard about 1/8" smaller than the door blank and this will be epoxied to the door blank and then the whole thing will be covered in leather. To attach the hinges to the fiberboard, I installed a pair of "T" nuts and cut a small relief in the fiberboard on the side that will be epoxied to the aluminum door blank. This will totally hide the mounting, keeping the final leather covering free from bulges or blisters.
The final product will include a cable to hold the door level when open. As with GregM, I used a stainless steel cabinet pull (called a "finger pull" - I got quite a laugh at that one when the guy at the store told me the name) and lock from a local RV supply store. All said and done, I think the entire glove box cost me somewhere in the area of $10 - 12.
Many thanks to GregM and others who documented their glove box fabrication, helping me figure this one out.
Photos available - PM me.