Glove box

Taylorcraft glove boxes seldom survive.  They are often removed in favor of "modern" radios and instruments.  And, the original glove boxes were made of cardboard    so if they got wet or received rough handling they were destroyed. 

Following suggestions from Tailorcraft owners, the glove box is long enough to hold a sectional chart flat, it is cut away in the top front ends to clear the boot cowl, and the front end is sized to hold two 6V. lantern batteries.  I made my glove boxes of thin fiberglass over an aluminum tray (Photo 1).  I first made a mold (real moldmakers would call this a "plug") from 3 pieces of 2X6 bandsawed to shape and glued together (Photo 2).  I used two layers of boat cloth and polyester resin. 

Next, I made door springs using the "How to Make Springs" website and a photo that Keith sent me.  The spring is 15 turns of .025 music wire. (Photo 3)  I first made some simple tooling...a 1/8 mandrel held in the chuck of a drill, and a forming tool made of a 1/2 x 1/8 x 12 bar with two holes in it.  The first hole is slightly over 1/8 so the mandrel can turn inside it, and the second hole, about 2" behind the first, is sized to tightly hold a 1/8 pin.  (Photo 4)  To make the springs, the forming tool and the music wire are held in the right hand while the left hand operates the drill.  About $2 worth of music wire will make a dozen springs in just a few minutes.  Photo 5 shows a spring installed in a hinge.

I also made glove box doors of .032 aluminum sheet.  Photo 6 shows the setup consisting of two oak blocks with the 5 x 7 aluminum sheet clamped between.  The block behind the aluminum has a radius filed onto three sides.  A rawhide mallet is used to hammer the aluminum down around the radius.  (Photo 7)

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