Wedge Design

[Paul Lawrence]

I have a children's project that I am designing. It is basically a desk toy. I designed it to be held together with small wedges about 3/4" square by 3" long. Of course, these are choking hazards if left around loose.

Any ideas on a better way to "wedge" these intersecting sheets together?

EDIT: I didn't show that there is a hidden stop-block behind the vertical piece.
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[Yonak Hawkins]

Can you tie the wedges together using a stick ?

[Paul Lawrence]

It would be possible to glue a strip across, but not ideal because it adds more corners to bump heads on. :)

Along the lines of your suggestion, I had thought of a single piece with wedge "fingers", and also making the slot for the wedges longer and putting longer wedges in them. Long enough so they couldn't be placed in a kid's mouth.

Entertaining all suggestions, though.

[Alan Schwabacher]

I assume this needs to come apart. What if you replaced the wedges with spiral shaped wheels that turn to wedge it together?

Or the wedges could be tethered to the part with a short flexible strap, perhaps leather.

Depending on the required strength of the assembly, you might be able to do away with the wedges and lock it all together with completely hidden magnets. Of course you'd need to make sure none of these came loose, as magnets are a much worse swallowing hazard than other small items.

[Paul Lawrence]

Yes, mother will want to put this up and down at will.

The idea behind the wedges was to pull it tightly together, and minimally to provide a "nail" for a youngster's "hammer" to provide another teaching moment.

"Spiral shaped wheels" ... thinking what that looks like in my mind. Ah ha! Perhaps you mean a disk("wheel") that is attached in the center and rotates around to lock the shelf into the notch? Not a lot of room for motion, but that doesn't sound bad at all.

[Jamie Buxton]

Can you make the wedges so they can't escape? For instance, put a slot in the wedge, and a headed pin that goes through the slot. The wedge can slide back and forth to tighten, but cannot get free to be a choke hazard.

[Paul Lawrence]

Good suggestion, but mother will not be able to disassemble the project at will. Besides, a headed pin will only be another "nail" for the little tykes to try to remove! :)

[Jamie Buxton]

So here's a drawing of a captured wedge. The round thing is the head of a pin, which goes through the slot in the wedge. The tip of the pin is glued into the vertical part. That is, the wedge can slide to do its wedging thing, but it can't escape to become a choking hazard.
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[Paul Lawrence]

I do see your design now. Nice. Something to think about.

A bit more "machining" than I was hoping for, but perhaps I'm trying to be too simplistic for the necessary design.

[Paul Lawrence]

Can you tie the wedges together using a stick ?

Perhaps something like this?

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[Lee Schierer]

Or the wedges could be tethered to the part with a short flexible strap, perhaps leather.

Buy a couple of round shoe laces to make tethers out of. Drill a hole through the side of the thick part of the wedge. Slip the cord through the hole tie a knot, then apply some super glue to the knot. Drill a hole adjacent to each slot and slip the other end of the tether through that hole and tie a second knot. Again apply super glue to the knot. This will eliminate the choking hazard and also prevent wedges from getting lost. Make the tethers long enough to allow removal of the wedges but not long enough to get tangled.

[Frederick Skelly]

Would it work to simply make the wedges larger - say, 2" wide, by 6" long by 3/4" thick? (Or some such size that fits your design.) Gives your son a better target for his hammer and makes it a whole lot harder to swallow?
Fred

[Paul Lawrence]

All good suggestions! Hard to get around the simple operation of a wedge. I can think of a hundred electronic and magnetic ways, but this is a woodworking project! :)

[Bob Hoffmann]

How about putting a thin piece of wood that would slide pass the wedge holder and ten pop out and prevent the wedge from being taken out unless you push the thin piece back into the wedge to get it out ...

[Jamie Buxton]

You might step back from the idea of wedges. They're inherently small loose pieces. They can be captured, but it is a fair amount of work.
Instead, look for tool-free knock-down hardware that is fastened to the work. For instance, consider trunk latches. It can be hooked and unhooked without tools, and it has no loose pieces to become choking hazards. http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/page.aspx?p=48576&cat=3,41399,41433

[Paul Lawrence]

Yes, of course, a mechanical latch is a solution that I've also thought of. Thank you for your thought, too.

However, I'm designing a woodworking project that is less practical than purchasing latches.

I'm sure my little project will never rise to the level of the pegs that held old barns together, but I still aspire for the wooden solution.

[paul cottingham]

Buy a couple of round shoe laces to make tethers out of. Drill a hole through the side of the thick part of the wedge. Slip the cord through the hole tie a knot, then apply some super glue to the knot. Drill a hole adjacent to each slot and slip the other end of the tether through that hole and tie a second knot. Again apply super glue to the knot. This will eliminate the choking hazard and also prevent wedges from getting lost. Make the tethers long enough to allow removal of the wedges but not long enough to get tangled.

the laces provide a handy way to fish the wedge back out if swallowed as well!

[Paul Lawrence]

I was trying so hard not to say something about using strings as fishing line! :)

It still is a good suggestion for keeping the wedges close to the furniture, though. Close must be really close, because the little munchkins have voracious "eating" habits.

PS. My grandson is 1-1/2 and just chewed the rubber pushbutton cover off of my brand new Pelican LED flashlight that his father gave me for Christmas! No, I'm not waiting around for its return. ;)

[Paul Lawrence]

I've incorporated two suggestions from this thread. At least to build one project. Perhaps I'll find out a whole lot then ... ya think? :)

Wider wedge and use a string to hold the wedges on a short leash. We'll see.

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[Paul Lawrence]

So, I finally did some needed research and had the "Ah Ha!" moment that I've aged to expect.

Door Stop!

And then I found:



Sterling Gaming Plastic Slate Shims (Set of 12) $7.50
These are heavy duty plastic shims used for leveling the slate quickly and easily. Each shim is flat on the bottom and ribbed on both sides to lock the shim in place. Comes in sets of 12. Each one measures about 3"x1-1/4"x5/16".

It isn't a wooden product, and I might have to glue two of them together to get the right size, but looks real promising.

Thanks for all the brainstorming!

[Jamie Buxton]

So, I finally did some needed research and had the "Ah Ha!" moment that I've aged to expect.
..!

So how big do things have to be to not be a choking hazard?

[Paul Lawrence]

One of my DIL's nephews came in with a Lego block stuck up his nose. The other one had one of those notched log blocks in his mouth from cheek to cheek. I'm praying that my grandson didn't inherit those genes.

Perhaps there is some documentation on choking hazards like the specs about the maximum distance apart for stairway balusters?