Panicman's latest activity

I found a beat-to-death old suitcase at a second-hand store for $3. The handle was a near-identical match for mine, and the only thing...

Sure- I used M4 solid aluminum rivets very much like pictured below. I did trim most of the rivets down by 1/8" or so with some side...

Coming along nicely

I’ll second that… nice work saving that box! Steve

Amazon. I found a reinforced handle designed for a large amplifier. It does feel stout. I removed its loops and used the originals to...

I wish I found these! Thank you for posting!

I bought some here. https://brettunsvillage.com/tools-hardware/trunk-parts/suitcase-handles/spring-steel-reinforced-handles/

I decided to finish this dude, and save the handle restoration for a lazy day in the future. I used solid aluminum rivets, and refitted...

Finally, polished each part with Mothers, and refitted that tension spring.

Zinc plating is pretty basic. Having an adjustable power supply really helps. I struck these pieces 4 times, brushing them between each...

During the acid stripping, the internal spring tensioner broke in one of the side latches. I measured the broken parts and found that...

Time for that hardware. I am going with polished zinc, which should hold up fine indoors for a long time, and I'll try to keep it waxed...

In the evening, the paint had all dried, so I began re lining them all with black felt.

there was no reaction between the old paint and the new. I decided to just scrub the drawer fronts, mask the plastic pulls, and then hit...

I did an 80 grit sand on the whole box, followed by a flap wheel to remove any rust, then 400 grit all over. I scrubbed the outside of...