How to light proof 2 door cab with HINGES ON THE INSIDE!

Hi everyone,

I've searched for hours and am still plenty stumped.

I tried using some foam board to make a frame like this
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and then placing an addition whole foam piece over it, but it didn't stop the light and I'm not going to be able to make it work.

I've found some good threads about the proper way to apply weather stripping, but it's always for hinges on the outside.

One method I am keen on is apply vaseline to the cab doors and ue black silicone where they meet the cab.

Has anyone here done this? 100% light tight? I need complete stealth for peace of mind

The problem still is I have the part where the 2 doors come together. How the hell am I suppose to light tight the gap!? If weather stripping would work I need a detailed description of how and where to apply it for this to work.

My cab is so close to ready and this is killing me! Please Help!

-catman

Take a bicycle inner tube and cut a piece the length you need. Then slice the inner tube lengthwise so you have a flat piece of rubber. Glue/staple the inner tube over the hinges and gap.

i like blynx method with the rubber tube... flexible enough to open and close. as for the center gap between doors, i used duct tape( i like the gorilla tape more) and made a flap on one side. you have to close the door with the flap first and has worked for me to be able to keep the light from peeking thru the doors. just kinda have to mess around and try things out to see what works.

blynx said:

Take a bicycle inner tube and cut a piece the length you need. Then slice the inner tube lengthwise so you have a flat piece of rubber. Glue/staple the inner tube over the hinges and gap.

Click to expand...

That's fucking BRILLIANT! I wish I'd seen this 2 weeks ago. I went through all the hassle of making a customized "door jamb" to seal my hinge side.

To seal the space between the doors, I just put a piece of weatherstripping on the edge of one door where the 2 meet.

why not use a router and make it so that the doors seal within the door frame better?

Or add a board to the cab door that is the same exact width of the opening and attach it to the door itself, it will have the "safe" style of setup and odds are would seal the door up completely. Just make sure the board added is wide enough, or deep enough depending on how you understand it.

I don't see white foam board doing anything productive on stopping light. Not sure what your cab is made of though BUT if wood then you have plenty of options.

I do see adding a 1/4 or 1/2 inch board the size of the opening to the door doing the trick though. If course make sure it is a "hair" smaller than the opening so it fits BUT snug. You could also paint the sides of the board flat black to further eliminate any light.

Thanks everyone for the ideas! Never heard anyone mention what blynx said and it sounds like a good method. I couldn't find any inner tubes at wally world however

I used black rubber silicone and vaseline technique. My doors are far from flush on the outside of the cab, but the middle where the meet is perfect. Like most of my other carpentry work, the application was sloppy, but it filled in the gaps nicely and blocks all, but the tiniest of sliver of light. Hell, you old farts probably couldn't even see it

Now I just have to wait and pray my doors aren't glued shut.

Some solid ideas in here

true, we may not knowtice the little "sliver of light", but ya can be sure us old farts never sat around with worry wondering if our doors were glued shut!!! heeeheeeheee Party On Garth!! pax.....

yeah, and this old fart was wonderin', are you gonna hafta do the
Vaseline and silicon dance every time you open the door?

blynx gave you a great idea for the hinges, and inner tubes are kept in
the sporting goods department, look for bicycles, or maybe ask someone,
and maybe you should re-read medmaker420's post 'cause that 'old fart'
gave you a great idea also. you know, like putting a lip on the door that
closes first!

anyway, good luck and have fun!

I still have to test this idea as I haven't finished that part of my cab yet, but my idea was to have a large flap with a zip sewn into some lightproof cloth, the whole piece being slightly larger than the total door frame area, and attached around the edges to the door frame.

So you'd open your door or doors, and then you would unzip the lightproof flap, and thats when light would be visible. I racked my brain for months on this, and that's the most reliable, simplest way I could think of. I had trouble finding zips but got one on the 'bay, it's actually a good source for zips if anyone else wants one. I haven't decided on a lightproof cloth yet but I want to consult with the sewer (er, the person doing the sewing) to make sure I don't buy some industrial shit that their machine can't handle. Otherwise I was thinking of getting some thick panda or mylar and glueing the zip to that.

Anyone done anything like this and got anything to report?

You "youngin's" are pretty oblivious sometimes....You probably have 5 or six examples of how to accomplish this in you pad right now...Just go look at the way any door and frame are constructed and copy that....come on boys this stuff ain't rocket science here....lol

Chomp

Thanks for chiming in everyone. Sheesh, Didn't mean to rile up the seniors!

ejashidrow - Party On Wayne! Listen to this. My cab has a door stop on the door that gets closed first and being the stoner that I am, I forgot about it. And for about a minute I had come to the conclusion that my doors where indeed glued shut. lol ... This stuff is so rubbery I got it all over the hinges and ZERO light leaks around them.

justanotherbozo - Why would I have to do it every time? The silicone rubber is molded and still elastic enough to be a good insulator. Once I get my hands on a digital camera I can throw up some pictures to help explain.

ScrubNinja - I'd suggest panda film. I've read many threads of people having problems with zippers though. Could make a flap with velcro.

Chomp - I disagree. See below why.

First, vaseline was spread where I did not want the silicone to adhere to. I did an initial caulking of about 1/2 inch width between the 90 degrees between the frame and door. I let this cure for 24 hours and a few gaps let light through. Still, very effective. I then globbed on about three to four times as much even mixing in some normal white caulk for added strength on the floor. Let cure for 24 hours and eureka! Currently blocking ~98% of light and I will easily be able to make it 100% light tight, which was my goal. Adjusting my doors to make them flush in the middle where the doors meet made the outside ends off by more than a 1/4 inch from top to bottom so weather stripping was not much of an option. I think blynx's tire tube idea would have worked, but would have proven difficult to get 100% tightness.

I feel the vaseline/silicone method was the only method I could have used to meet my objectives. I had only seen it mentioned twice after searching many forums, so here is one more to hopefully help a few folks out. It may have seemed like a silly question, but we got a new idea from blynx that I haven't ever seen mentioned else where.

Because I've paid great attention to even the smallest of details I have designed a cab that I could have a friend sit 4 feet from the cab and not know what is inside the cabinet. Nothing out of the ordinary can be seen, nor heard. So quiet my PC is loud enough to drown the cab's noise out. I'm very grateful for ICMAG and thanks again for taking the time to post fellas and gals!

you can kinda see the hinge here on my friends cabinet.

-the entire cab is just a box frame.
-it attaches to inside of the wall, and onto the inside of the door.
-when it opens there is a gap between the frame and door.
-it collapses under itself.
-you put weather stripping (get medium compression kind) and let the door -close onto the weather stripping.

I think those who know hinges that make a door and the cab light/air tight would be a good thing to chat about as well.

Anyone know great hinges that make a light tight seal?

My cab is a prefab ClosetMaid deal. The "hinges" are actually pins that are in the tops and bottoms of the doors that go into holes in the top and bottom of the cab. All well and good except for the fact that they're inset about an inch from the edge of the door. I tried everything I could think of to get these things lightproof and the problem I had was that the front edge of the door ALMOST hits the inside wall of the cab during the open and close process. I ended up using a piece of 1x2 set back from the edge of the door to give open and close clearance (I even had to carve a corner off) and then screwing another 1x2 to that set further forward with weatherstripping to seal the door.

Pain in the ass... Like I've said before... The first thing I learned from this whole process is that it's easier to build a cabinet from scratch than it is to make a prefab one fit your needs.

^^^I disagree with you...lol I didn't realize you had those crap hinges...you would have done better to buy a regular set of door hinges and put a strip of wood where the doors meet....makes light proofing much easier....but hey if what you have works...go with it.

I was having a similiar problem myself. I bought a closetmaid 2 door pantry from Target. Dimensions are 24"W x 12"D x 60"H. My first issue was the gap between the two doors, approximately 1/2" after adjusting the doors. I ended up getting two 3' sections of the cheap plastic things that you put on the bottom of doors, $3 each. They were simple to do since they were sticky & no screws were needed. I did end up stapling them to the inside of the left door to make sure they stuck & didn't just peel off. I then ran weatherstripping along the inside of the right door & that took care of that problem.

My new issue is getting the doors to close completely so its light tight. I tried a padlock which didn't really work. Then I used two 2" Barrel Bolts which didn't work at all. The doors just opened right up with no resistance whatsoever. Maybe there to small & I need longer ones? After reading this thread I'm gonna try a few of the methods listed here & see what works best. I was thinking maybe just sanding/cutting the weatherstripping located where the hinges are down some will help me get a better seal. Is there any type of magnet that would be strong enough to just hold the doors closed?

Except for figuring out a way to keep the doors closed tightly, installing my 150w hps & 23w cfls & purchasing a exhaust fan & carbon filter to vent out the heat & filter the air I'm just about done. Any recommendations on brands of exhaust fan & carbon filters that work good at a decent price? Also any recommendations on a magnet type lock or some kinda magnet to keep the doors closed?

coronasmith said:

Also any recommendations on a magnet type lock or some kinda magnet to keep the doors closed?

Click to expand...

I have used a roll of flexible magnet in the past to keep doors closed. The magnet is 1/16" of an inch thick x 3/4" of an inch wide and comes in a 100' roll. It is used by signage and similar promotional firms as the base on which to make small fridge magnets, etc. You can get it on ebay or perhaps purchase some from a local signage company if they do that sort of work for their clients.



it can work very well when glued to the back of a frame which, when covered with the magnet and closed, meets up flush with another frame which is also covered with the magnet. It then gives you a magnetic seal like on a fridge door.

The tolerances need to be exact though. You can't just eyeball this stuff. I have used it to stick a door to a frame that it meets on the inside when closed -- but it does not work well when I have tried it on the edge of a metal cabinet door, trying to stick to the edge of another metal door without magnetic material applied to the other metal door (my gap was not wide enough to permit that) It might be that if I could have put magnets on both sides all would have been well.

I'm not sure I would recommend this approach, but as you asked -- that's the material to look for. It's pretty cheap. A roll is like $20 on ebay -- though it is quite heavy so shipping costs may be a concern.

@ corona smith

I am not sure what your cabinet is built like. But these will work if you have 3/4" thick door panels. Placing one on the top and one on the bottom should suffice... otherwise you need to re-adjust your closure strips because they are too close to your doors for them to close properly and will eventually be damaged by opening and closing of the door.

As far as magnet locks. I use these http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?...campaign=PLA&gclid=COuRr6PaubkCFdAWMgod5CAAQQ

I like them... but don't leave the key inside the box! You won't have a magnet that strong readily available... atleast I didn't.

I use a piece of cardboard as the inner door. I just use silver duct tape to act as its henges. Zero light leaks and you prolly have the stuff sitting around to do it.