I'm deeply impressed with the ingenuity of Instructables member roggie1994. This drawer fits snugly into its frame. Inside the face of the drawer are steel bolts. They can slide in and out of grooves in the frame. But the only way to easily open or close them is to use magnets to move the bolts through the wood. The handles come off and can be stored separately.
Roggie1994 envisions this design for a secret compartment. It would probably be hidden from casual thieves who didn't know what they were looking at. It's like a wooden safe.
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Lee Valley has carried latches like this for years. This is just a kluged-together homemade version.
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You can get kid-proof door latches that use a magnet to release them. Nothing new here. Example: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/magnetic-baby-locks
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This is not as original as you might think -- it's probably inspired by the Invis Mx, a commercial product that uses the same principle to assemble screws that are completely inaccessible and invisible from the outside.
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You can make fun electronic variants on this with a thing called a 'reed switch,' which makes or breaks contact in the presence of a magnetic field.
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