I thought it would be fun to make a sunglass case mixing a living hinge wood exterior with etched panels and a leather interior. It quickly became a project with structural credit (and a lot more) going to @chadmart1076 ! Several hand sketches and enlistment of my said in-house CAD designer we finally came up with a winning design
The front features an etched panel with a leather flag tab that secures the top flap to a button closure .
We weren’t without ‘several’ failed attempts in this project and learned when using a large living hinge a bit of patience when designing and trying to fit multiple tabs into tight curves is a minimum requirement and there’s a maximum amount of tension you can ask tabs and gorilla glue to hold. We knew this was our first attempt when we saw the bowing! Second attempt I snapped in half with with sheer strength!
But the third was a winner & in general we both learned a lot with this project! The least of which is my gap between concept to a final product!! I can see where personally I’ll make great use out of that credit for the design catalog!
Now, this is very cool… nice work! From concept to creation to refinement to final version is a great, patient, but worthwhile journey. I really like this idea. Still wanna do a living hinge project some time, and since I wear glasses, this is a perfect idea The interior leather with engraving and the outer piece for the clasp is really neat. And I like the blue! Did you dye it yourself? What did you use if so?
Thanks for sharing
Pin nails are good for this. A pin nailer is something like $30 on Amazon and the “nails” are cheap. They’re usually 23ga so fit nicely in holding slotted tabs. Helps keep everything tight as the glue dries.
Another vote for the pin nailer. They are just pins tho, so you have to remember to put them at an angle or perpendicular to the forces you’re expecting. (With a regular air nailer there’s enough holding power that you can just zap them straight in an use and clamps.)