I’d appreciate some advice: I’m building a shadow box for a retiring Marine, and I’m wondering about how to construct the glass door, which will be hinged on one side. Obviously, the glass will be held by a mitered frame, but specifically, how should I secure the glass? My first thought was to create grooves, into which the glass will slide and then “cap” the 4th side with the last mitered frame-piece. My goal is to make the door as rigid as possible so that it won’t warp or bend when it’s opened (or worse, break). But, all the cabinet doors I’ve looked at, have the glass inlayed (sp?) from the back, into a rabbeted cut, then secured with a variety of clips. What do you think? Thanks ahead of time. I don’t have any plans for my shadowbox, but I have attached a photo of a good example. Mo
Replies
Hi Mo,
It's hard to make a
Hi Mo,
It's hard to make a box like the one that you are describing that will stay together. I've seen lots, and usually the top lid comes apart at the miter joints. If you can, avoid miter joints unless you are a box maker and know how to reinforce the usually fragile joint.
You might consider going to Michaels or Hobby Lobby and looking at their picture frames. If you can find a picture frame that is the right size and style as lid for your box, buy it and build your box around that. This solves your glass retention problem and lid strength both at the same time.
How ever you proceed, consider attaching the glass to the top's frame with a clear silicon bead. Think "gluing the glass to the frame" with clear silicon. GE is a good brand. If you clean the glass and the frame carefully before, and you put a thin bead of silicon down in the frame's glass recess (rabbet) you'll make the glass a strength member instead of a load on the lid.
Hope this helps,
Mike D
Mo,
Building the glass into the door is not a good idea, as, if (when) the glass gets btoken, the door must be disassembled to make a repair. Best practice is to lay the glass into a rabbet in the back of a strongly constructed door, and secure it in place by tacking a molding around it, or by fixing it in place with glazier's points and glazing with painter's putty, colored if need be with tinting colors and whiting. A bead of silicone caulk will do the job, but if the back of the door is going to be seen, it looks at best amateurish, in my opinion.
If the construction of the door (or the case) is mitered, adding splines to the miter joints increases their strength considerably.
Hi Mo... I made a similar box, but went in the opposite direction. I made the box WITHOUT a door or frame. I had a glazer cut a piece of glass exactly the same size as the outside dimensions of the box and round off all the edges of the glass. I then used four brass decorative corners to hold the glass to the front. Each brass corner is held in place with two brass screws. If I need to add anything to the case, I remove the top two corners, slide the glass out, add the item and then re-attach the corners. Sorry, no photo, but immagine a photo mounted with those small black corner mounts.
SawdustSteve Long Island, NY (E of NYC)
Rabbet the back and use silicone to secure the glass to the door.
I agree with the OP that mitered joints are too weak for this purpose unles they are reinforced with dowels or a floating tenon. Alternatively, use a traditional M&T frame.
Doug
Hi Mo,
I see you've gotten a
Hi Mo,
I see you've gotten a lot of suggestions already. Visit Rockler or Woodcraft online and look at their glass retention hardware. There are many options for nicely securing a glass panel in a door with a rabbett that allow you to replace the pane in case of breakage w/o "re-doing" the door. They look nicer IMO than a silicon bead.
I would suggest at least splining the mitre joints, or using s&c or m&t in their place for reducing the chance of issues in the long run with a door that might be opened to retrieve items more than originally anticipated.
Good luck!
Mo,
A case like this can often be screwed shut once everything is positioned in it.
If that is the case here, then I would make the front frame with a small rabbet in its back and then just sandwich the glass between the frame and the main part of the box. Two or three small oval head brass screws along each side of the frame would do the attaching and look nice. Doing the box this way would avoid the problems of hinges and latches and there would be no problems making it strong.
I agree with John. The number of times such a case would need to be opened could be counted on a finger or two. Screwing the front on solves many problems.
Thanks everyone for some great ideas. Certainly, one conclusion I've drawn is that I've probably made the problem more difficult than I needed to.
How lucky i am to see this discussion, im on the same situation finding some good advices about glass doors.
ny auto glass
Mo, I agree with John and Ralph that the box will probably not be opened often. With my dad's box there is no door. The back panel is screwed in place. I'm not sure how the glass is held in place.
Dan
Hi, I did quit e few of those joints strenghing it with a domino ( Festool) . They never came apart and is very strong.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled