Hidden drawer locks

[Kevin Flynn]

I am looking for help and ideas...........I purchased REV A LOk ......only to find out my 1 in thick Barnwood is too much for the magnet to work through...and I dont know alot about rare earth magnets........So I am looking to now come up with an easy to build locking system......magnetic or not......Let me explain......The hidden drawer will be the top rail of the face frame, it will have a dental type trim at the top........the problem is the top will made from 2" thick material.......I have seen where guys and gals....use a nail that sits in a drilled hole between the drawer and the top vertically, so that when the rare earth magnet is set on the top it lifts the nail and lifts the nail which lifts the section of it that sits in a hole in the drawer top.........probably doesnt make sense.......I am just wondering if someone out there has experience with hidden drawers and locks.....the customer will keep a weapon in it during the day and wants it locked. The pictures show looking down from the top and one from inside looking in from the back.....The piece under the hidden drawer is the front for the main drawer.......

[Grant Wilkinson]

I made a toy cabinet for a friend's daughter with a "trick drawer" using magnets. It was similar to your idea of using a nail, but I used a small diameter rod magnet for the locking mechanism. It was set vertically in a hole that ran from the top of the cabinet into the back of the drawer. The hole in the top was not a through hole. It stopped just short of the top surface of the top of the cabinet. (I drilled all the way through the top of the cabinet, inserted the rod magnet, then veneered over it.) A toy duck had another rare earth magnet glued into its bottom. When the duck was placed over the spot where the rod magnet was, the rod magnet lifted and the drawer was pushed open with a spring. The combination of the two magnets was strong enough to get through the wood.

Here is a link to the rod magnet that I used. I don't know if this will work in your application, but it may give you some ideas.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=40076&cat=1,42363,42348

[Larry Frank]

You could go to a place like K&J Magnetics and get a more powerful magnet. Give them a call or email to ask about which magnet.

[Paul Girouard]

Stealth Lock , or Invis-a-locks , remote controlled locks.

[Jamie Buxton]

Rather than inventing your own, stick with the Rev-a-lock. They've already done the hard work for you. For one, I'm looking at the installation instructions, which say that you can make the lock work correctly with 1"-thick wood. 1" wood is what you mention first. Later, you mention 2"-thick wood. For that, relieve the back so that you have just 1" thick in the area where the lock will go.

[Steve Peterson]

I used similar locks on all our kitchen cabinets when the kids were little. They came with various lengths of metal rods that are inserted into a hole drilled from the back. I usually drilled holes about 1/8" from the surface. It seems like 1-7/8" of rod would work for a 2" thick surface.

Steve

[Lawrence Nitz]

I used similar locks on all our kitchen cabinets when the kids were little. They came with various lengths of metal rods that are inserted into a hole drilled from the back. I usually drilled holes about 1/8" from the surface. It seems like 1-7/8" of rod would work for a 2" thick surface.

Steve

When my granddaughter was a baby, we found a set of magnetic locks for cupboard doors. The latch mounts inside, and a magnet operates it through the door. Our doors were 15/16ths ash and the magnets worked perfectly. The only consideration is that to remember where the lock is, we put a sticker on the door right over the latch, so we would remember where it was hidden.

[Steve Peterson]

When my granddaughter was a baby, we found a set of magnetic locks for cupboard doors. The latch mounts inside, and a magnet operates it through the door. Our doors were 15/16ths ash and the magnets worked perfectly. The only consideration is that to remember where the lock is, we put a sticker on the door right over the latch, so we would remember where it was hidden.

There must be different varieties of those locks. I don't think the brand we used could operate further than about 1/4". They required a small hole to be drilled from the back. The upside is that it was easy to find the operating location. Just wave the magnet in the general location and it will be pulled to the correct spot.

Steve