Fitting a lid stay

[Glynne]

I'm 3 parts through making an heirloom chest for a family birthday.
As you can see, there is a hinged lid and ideally I want to fit a brass stay rather than use a chain to support the lid when open.

Is there a standard way of fitting these please?
Obviously screwed into the lid and the side but how do I work out exactly where to place the fixings without risking having screw holes all over the place?
Thanks.

 

[Grawschbags]

You could mock up a few panels and try different locations to see what suits you best. I have done this previously for lid stays, and it works well.

I've never used stays like those in your picture though. Most of the ones I've used come with dimensions for whatever angle you want the lid to open to.

 

[thetyreman]

what I'd do is lean the lid on something carefully with it open, and attach it whilst in position, when I made my toolchest I ended up using a brusso lid stay which comes with very specific instructions on how to install it so there was not much working out to do, it just worked first time. You could try using a pair of eyehooks and string to get the lid angle just right when marking out the lidstay?

p.s that's a lovely looking chest, looks extremely well made.

 

[Glynne]

Thanks for the replies.
I’ve had a further play and I think my problem is that the top of the chest isn’t deep enough for the stay I have. If I didn’t have drawers in the bottom I would be OK.
So either something like the Brusso or perhaps a hydraulic one or even revert to a brass chain.

 

[sunnybob]

with a lid that heavy a gas strut would save a few little fingers.

 

[Bod]

Do you have a camera with a self timer on it?
Set it up inside the chest to take a photo after you have shut the lid.
Or shut in small person with a torch....
Attach one end of the stay, set the stay to the closed position, put graduated masking tape where the stay is expected to go, camera, shut lid, give the camera time to take picture, open lid, all being well the photo will show where to fix the stay.

Bod

 

[Glynne]

Thanks for the replies.
I worked out that I wouldn't have sufficient room for the stays I had and I didn't fancy gas struts so in the end I opted for a chain (which wasn't that easy to find).
A few pictures to show the end product.