A UNIQUE DISPLAY AND AWARD BOX

This display and award box was originally designed by me over 25 years ago, for my school, centenary excellence awards, in 1995/96. the one pictured here was designed for a sports association in the year 2000.

NOTE: The lacquered brass plate is in very good condition after 17 long years.

It serves a dual purpose of preserving a lacquered brass award from dust, and, it could also, be used to display an award or piece of jewelry, when kept in the upright position, the secret is the flip over lid which is unique in this type of box.

Given below is a pictorial view of the design it could be scaled to any required size. to suite your purpose.

The original box was made from 1/4 inch MDF, stained and lacquered to a matt finish.Displayed here is a box in it's closed stage, and, one in it's display mode..

Step 1: CONSTRUCTING THE DISPLAY AWARD BOX

Since the origins of construction was over 25 years ago, I have done a drawing, highlighting the pictorial layout, notice it has a very unique construction, and, the size of the box could be scaled to meet your requirements..

1. Pictured here is a box, 6.5” X 6.5” done in 0.125”(1/4”) MDF board.

2. The Second Box is 10’X 9.75” done in 0.5 inch (½”) plywood. Both boxes are stained and spray lacquered to a matt finish.

First the base of the box is cut to your requirements, and, then the front and rear ends are cut and attached. It looks like a wide ‘U’ channel, when complete.

Next the two sides are attached; notice that the height of the sides must include the thickness of the cover and the thickness of the bottom, the length of the sides is about 1” longer than the base, this is to accommodate the revolving cover, or else the cover will brush against the rear end of the base.

Once the sides are attached, the cover is cut to cover the top length and width of the box as shown in the picture. A more clear view is seen in the picture of the completed box.

With the cover placed on top the two holes are carefully drilled on both sides to attach a pin, so that the cover could be opened and flipped backwards.

Step 2: FINISHING LACQUERING AND VELVET LINING

1. Remove the cover and use a 340 grit sandpaper to smoothen the surfaces of the wood.

2. Coat with sanding sealer, allow to dry and sand to a smooth finish about two coats will do.

3. Stain colour if necessary…

4. When fully dry spray with lacquer either matt or gloss finish.

5. Cut pieces of cardboard to fit the areas to be velvet lined.

6. Paste the velvet cloth over the cardboard and trim the sides, paste the base velvet first.

7. Cut strips of cardboard to line the sides of the box, velvet them over by pasting the cloth and over turning the sides for a neat finish, paste the strips on the sides, taking care not to apply adhesive on the velvet cloth.

8. Now fit the cover lid...