Catch For Secret Compartment

[ommadawn]

I need a way to catch the back wall of a cabinet for a secret compartment. Any ideas?

[Jimmy]

Rare earth magnets

[LRod]

Well, yeah, but now we'll all know...

[Bill D]

Make a wooden latch that uses gravity. Will that work?

Cheers Bill D New Zealand

[Andy]

I read about someone making an invisible lock/latch using a nail and a magnet - have the nail sunk through a piece of small stock inside the compartment which can pivot and the nail end can fall into a hole. When you move a magnet up past the nail on the outside of the compartment, the nail lifts out of the hole and releases the latch. Did that make sense? Sorry - it sounds confusing, and it may be more complex than you need, but it's really not a difficult concept and I think it would be fun to try. (This idea came from a book by Kary Mullis, inventer of the Polymerase Chain Reaction, if there are any other woodworking molecular biologists out there...) Andy

[Jimmy]

Andy if you use the big rare earth magnets Lee Valley sells. You can move a plate of steel through the wood let alone a nail. Nobody would ever figure it out.

[CW]

I'd tell you but it's a secret.

[Upscale]

A magnetic touch latch.

magnetically operated lock. Some people use them as child safety locks.

[LRod]

It might in NZed but then it wouldn't work in the U.S...

[charlie b]

Have I got a deal for you!

b

ps - the LV cylindrical rare earth magnets just barely work through 3/4" ply. Must be all that glue in Batlic Birch

[Jim K]