Building a Glove Box

Materials Needed: * 20 Gallon Aquarium ($20 at PetSmart) * Exaust Fan Vent Kit by deflect-o. Or, other materials listed below. ($10 at Home Depot) * 1/8 inch plywood cut to size (About $3, cuts free, at Home Depot) * Tube of 100% silicone (About $3 at Home Depot) * 12 nuts, 12 bolts (at least) (About $2 at Home Depot) * 24 washers (at least) (About $2 at Home Depot) * 2 pairs of shoelaces (About $3 at Longs Drugstore) * 4 plastic hooks with sticky backing (About $2 at Longs Drugstore) * Disposable Latex Gloves (pack of 12 about $2 at Longs Drugstore) Tools Needed: * Drill with Bits * Scissors Total without Tools: About $45.

Step One. **Assembling the Materials** * PetSmart. Or a similar petstore. You'll want to go here 1st to pick up the aquarium, so you'll know the dimensions before going to the hardware store. Buy a cheap glass one with no lid or hood, you won't use it. There should be a lip for a hood to rest on though (you'll use the lip to support the plywood lid). Measure the open top so the plywood will fit snugly.

Our lovely assistant models a 20 gallon aquarium.

* Home Depot. Or similar hardware store. Go to the lumber section and have them cut a piece of plywood the size of the opening of the aquarium. They include 2 cuts free with the purchase of a sheet of plywood; there will be a lot of plywood left over.

Then go to the venting section. Look for a 5 ft. "Exaust Fan Vent Kit" by deflect-o.

This is what the box looks like.

This kit includes 3 essential pieces- a 5 foot piece of vinyl ducting, a thin piece of molded metal that snaps together into a circle, and 2 lock-tite plastic ties. If you can't find the kit, you can look for the ducting and metal seperately; but the vinyl ducting is hard to find (they only carried aluminum except in this kit at the Home Depot we went to). The lock-tite ties hold the vinyl ducting onto the metal, but you could use strong rubber bands or the like. Something to secure them isn't essential, since the ducting fits onto the metal exactly- but since they're there, use them. Pick up a package of nuts, bolts and washers while you're there, you'll need at least the quantities listed above, or double them (24 nuts, 24 bolts, 48 washers). We used 12/12/24, but may get some more later for aesthetic reasons.

The rest of the items can be picked up at a local drugstore or -mart. Here's some more chickens for your enjoyment.

Step Two. **Preparing the Materials** 1.) Cutting the thin metal to hold the vinyl ducting in place. The kit listed above is ideal because the metal is thin and can be easily cut with cheap scissors. Leave enough for 2 inch tabs and about 2-3 inches for the vinyl ducting to hold on to- make one for each arm. It will snap together into a circular shape. Bend the tabs down- we have 12 tabs on each.

Picture of Vinyl Ducting.

2.) Cut armholes in the plywood lid. Home Depot and many hardware stores aren't able to make circular cuts, so you'll have to do this yourself. You could do this in a few ways- a. Buy/use a hole saw with an appropriate mandrel. The hole saw should be 4" at least- the kit's vinyl ducting is 4" in diameter. Most mandrels fit 1/2" drill bit saws, so make sure your drill can handle the large bit of the mandrel. (Hole saw, about $17, mandrel $15). b. Buy/use an appropriate reciprocating saw/jigsaw/rotozip. (Cost=?) c. Trace out the appropriate sized holes (use the metal piece once its snapped together), and drill many holes along the tracing. You can then drill in between the spaces, or use a handsaw, to "pop" the circular pieces out. Since the plywood is so thin, this is easy to do, but time consuming. (How we did it). We chose to make the holes lower and not centered, because picking up petris from such a height felt awkward--where this placement felt easier and more natural.

Step Three. **Putting it All Together** 1.) Slide the metal rings thru the holes, and attach them with the nuts/bolts using the drill. Use a washer on each side to insure proper fitting. You can place the tabs against the lid and drill thru to make the hole, and then drill the nut into place. It makes a clean hole in the metal as well as the plywood. You can either alternate drilling every other tab in place, or drill each tab into place. Every-other secures it adequately, but drilling each one looks better and there is no loose metal to snag anything on.

This is what the outside of the lid will look like, with every-other tab drilled and secured into place.

This is what the inside of the lid will look like, with the bolts and washers in place.

3.) Cut and Attach the vinyl ducting to the metal rings. The ducting is 5 feet long- cut it in half with regular scissors. Then attach it to the rings. It will slide on top of the metal. Take care not to tear the vinyl- the metal edges can snag the vinyl easily if its pulled too hard. There is a long metal coil inside the vinyl ducting- push down about 3 to 4 rungs of this coil down onto the metal, then use the lock tite plastic bands (or rubber bands) to make sure they're attached.

2.) Apply silicone to the metal rings, on the inside, to ensure an airtight seal.

Silicone applied evenly between the metal and the wood.

4.) Attach the disposable vinyl gloves to the vinyl ducting. Just stretch the opening of the gloves over the 1st or 2nd rung of the ducting. It will snap into place with a seal- the metal inside of the ducting will hold the gloves in place. No additional seal is necessary. The latex gloves are nice because they're thin- it makes it easier to handle items inside the box. Lightly powdered gloves make removal easier.

Step Four. **Attaching the Lid** (You can always tape the lid on with duct tape, and remove it when done every time, if you didn't want to drill new holes and tie the lid down). 1.) Apply the plastic hooks to the bottom of the aquarium (the opposite of the open end), on the inside. Put one in each corner, four in total. The hooks should be pointing up towards the top of the glovebox (the aquarium on its side).

Glove box, ready for use. Note the hooks pointing upwards, towards the "top" of the aquarium.

2.) Drill 2 holes in the lid opposite each hook to lace the shoelaces thru and lace the holes with the shoelaces.

The shoestrings are laced thru the lid, attach on the opposite hooks, and are tied on the outside of the lid. Side view.

Side/Front View of Completed Glove Box.

Top View of Completed Glove Box.

Finished Lid of Glove Box.

Back View of Glove Box.

hongus & oscill8