Trash to Treasure 8 the Treasure Chest

by l8nite

1.7K88

Intro: Trash to Treasure 8 the Treasure Chest

In the continuing saga of my reusing and repurposing objects I find during my curb mining expeditions https://www.instructables.com/id/Mining-for-suburban-gold/  is this outside storage unit

STEP 1: The Find

On a recent outing I found this assortment of plastic panels, I had no idea what they were until the next day when I unloaded the truck and looked them over, king of a jigsaw puzzle with no picture to go by, I eventually figured out what it was, unfortunately they had cut the sides instead of simply undoing the screws

STEP 2: The Fix

After a little mental gymnastics I figured I could add some straps to hold the cut pieces together and what better to use than recycled aluminum cans

STEP 3: Preparing the Straps

In a recent "ible" the author suggested using heat and weight to uncurl the aluminum cans, well I didn't feel like waiting that long and I didn't really need perfectly flat sheets so... I cut the top and bottom from the soda cans using a serrated knife (usually called a steak knife here in the U.S.) then using an old pair of scissors I cut the remaining cylinder, using the old trick to curl paper by pulling it over a sharp edge, I pulled each sheet over the corner of my work surface. I then cleaned up the edges left from the knife with the scissors

STEP 4: The Fix

after cutting some trips from the aluminum sheets, I used self tapping screws to attach the strips and hold the sides together. In the 1st pic is my 1st attempt with a long strip running down the seam, it was difficult to get it all held in place and screwed down, the next pic shows the way I did the other 3 corners. Although this repair seems to work fairly well, I'm going to add some full sheets to the outside corners. Since the hooks that acted as hinges for the lid are missing I may attach some recycled door hinges but I'm going to have to think about a cooler alternative

STEP 5: Treasure Chest

I guess it depends on how you define treasure, this is a perfect spot to hide a LOT of the granbrats toys so for them it's definitely treasure.

8 Comments

bajablue 11 years ago

Great save!

btw... how did Sprouts' Grand Opening go?

l8nite 11 years ago

The girls had a great first week, there were a couple of slow days, but then, that has to be expected. Thank you for asking

l8nite 11 years ago

Thank you Rimar

spike3579 11 years ago

Great score! If the aluminum fails over time from metal fatigue try rubber from a tire inner tube or leather for your hinges.

l8nite 11 years ago

that's a great idea, in fact I have several old bike tires that might work for the outside of the corners. Thank you for commenting