Letterbox - what is this hinge and how can I remove it??

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Letterbox - what is this hinge and how can I remove it??

duckDecoy

873 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#285870 22-May-2021 13:28

My mother in laws letterbox door broke off recently and I would like to repair it. I want to remove the existing door and glue and brad nail the piece back on and hope it lasts, otherwise I will make a new door.

Trouble is I cannot figure out how to get the existing door off. Instead of a normal hinge it seems to have a pin or something that it pivots around. In the photos below the hinge looks like 2 small washers. There is one at the top and one at the bottom. The door rotates around this.

Ive never seen one before, what are these called?

But more importantly, is this something I can remove so I can fix the door and then put back together again? I have tried some gentle wiggling but no luck so far. I am worried that it might be a hinge mechanism that is built in when the letterbox is being constructed and once the letterbox is built it cannot be pulled apart again. But maybe there's a trick. At least identifying what it is called might help me google more about it.

All help appreciated.

duckDecoy

873 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#2711284 22-May-2021 13:30

Front of letterbox

Close up of the "hinge"

Slightly less close up of the hinge and where it is located

Backblaze

Backblaze Unlimited Backup. World’s easiest cloud backup. Get peace of mind knowing your files are backed up securely in the cloud (affiliate link).

Bung

6395 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#2711294 22-May-2021 13:47

It will likely be pivoting on a pin or pair of pins held by. the strips of wood above and below the door. Are either held in with screws? If not you'll have to remove one of them.

blackjack17

1704 posts

Uber Geek

#2711297 22-May-2021 13:53

Try pulling down or up on the door. It might be a compression style hinge

Electric kiwi signup credit Sharesies credit

eracode

Smpl Mnmlst
8766 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#2711349 22-May-2021 15:29

All photos are a bit too close to see the overall situation - can you take a shot of the box as a whole? It looks like the hinge is on the right and the broken piece is on the left-hand side (the opening side) of the door - is that correct?

If that’s the case, why can’t you glue the broken piece back in place without taking the door off? Not trying to second-guess you but can’t quite see what’s going on.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2711570 22-May-2021 21:27

My mother in laws letterbox door broke off recently and I would like to repair it.

Do you know anything about the history of the letterbox? Looks like a DIY made of cedar cladding material, so it could just be a nail top and bottom with a few washers to assist that was built in when the letterbox was assembled.

Also from the first photo it looks like the end that's not hinged has broken, what about using a multitool to cut down where the groove is, only as deep as the door itself so leaving the cross-pieces in place, and then rip a strip wide enough to replace that?

Bung

6395 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#2711574 22-May-2021 22:15

Unlikely to be DIY going by the pin nails holding the battens on the door. Looks typical of Letterbox Warehouse stuff.

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2711575 22-May-2021 22:20

Bung: Unlikely to be DIY going by the pin nails holding the battens on the door. Looks typical of Letterbox Warehouse stuff.

Ah, OK. I was going by the use of what look like gib screws into the cedar, i.e. made from whatever materials were floating around.

Danite

42 posts

Geek

#2711581 22-May-2021 23:43

You could just saber saw/jigsaw/hacksaw blade it off where it hinges at the moment and then fit a conventional one? Might not be as nice but would do the job.

Edit: new hinge would need to be at top or side in that case

wally22

504 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2711622 23-May-2021 10:08

You could do it in position. Use clamps to hold the door firmly open at 90 degrees with packers between the door and the side of the box.

Then do your glue and brad job.

However, the load from the catch will break it again. I would suggest 2 or 3 small rails screwed onto the back of the door and extending to the (catch) edge to make it last. They don't have to be the full width of the door or as large as the existing horizontal rails. Just as long as you get some support where the existing rails don't give it. (designed to break and require new letterbox)

In the current weather, wherever you are, you can bag the whole letterbox if you need to let glue dry. Make sure you use waterproof glue as well.

Hope it goes well.

eracode

Smpl Mnmlst
8766 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#2712607 24-May-2021 20:35

@duckDecoy Hello?

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

mdooher

Hmm, what to write...
1420 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2712720 25-May-2021 07:30

you could try using a sharp knife to see if the pins move (into the door) but I suspect they are exactly what they look like, steel pins. in which case you would need to disassemble the whole letter box.

Matthew

shanes

257 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2712724 25-May-2021 08:09

The door looks to be made of tounge and groove?

If so just remove the batten along the back holding it all together, and the broken board should come off. If you are lucky, you may just need to get the brads out of the broken piece and it will come free leaving the rest of the door attached.

It looks like the are brads are the original build, and maybe the square drive screw is a repair.

Bung

6395 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#2712733 25-May-2021 08:38

The door will come off if the lower cross piece is removed. I believe that is held by some glue and a few very fine pin nails. I would test how good the glue was by tapping from inside the mail box with what ever you have that will fit.

Edit. The battens on the back of the door are glued and pinned. You can see that the glue was just a dribble. The screws are original if this was from the Letterbox Warehouse.