Hey Tim,

Lotsa stuff available, like the Southco stuff, and they have been
around a looonngg time so far, but then you mention "salt-water". Not
so good. So, try this, or maybe give them a call and see if they can
help.

http://www.westmarine.com/search?q=cabinet+latches%3A&page=0

Take care, Happy New Year.

Brian Lawson.

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On Wed, 31 Dec 2014 14:13:07 -0600, Tim Wescott
wrote:

I can visualize this, but have no clue what one may call it, so I can't do
web searches.

So please bear with the long explanation, and then make suggestions.
Better yet, suggestions with part numbers!

This is going into a product with small production runs but (hopefully) a
long production life. Hence, I'm primarily interested in things that I
can buy off the shelf, from known, established manufacturers (i.e., no
"Honest Chen's eBay Special", nor even stuff from McMaster-Carr). If I
absolutely must I can have stuff made to print, but I have to believe that
there's something suitable out there.

Imagine a plastic board, 1" by 10" by big. It has a 1/4" deep pocket
milled into the top (the 10" by big part) of it.

Now imagine a box, 6" x 3" x 3" on a 1/4" thick plastic plate. The plate
overhangs the box, and just fits into the pocket in the board. Put the
box into the board, and notice how well it's located from side to side,
and fore and aft, thanks to the fit between the plate and pocket.

Now turn the board over -- damn, the box fell off. This just won't do.

I'm looking for some suitable gizmo to clamp the plate onto the board,
either with 1/4-turn clamps (the sort that have a tongue that sticks out
to engage the plate), or some sort of overcenter latch.

The box will weigh in at less than two pounds, probably less than one. So
the worst loading that the latches will see is accidental. If someone
doesn't quite disengage them before pulling on the box, for instance, or
if someone drops the assembly on the floor (from waist height).

It has to look good, be made of materials that can stand salt spray, and
be fairly easy to use by the mechanically inept -- if the user can open a
door, they should be able to work the latches.

Some users will need to unclip the box from the board once every few
years. Other users will need to do so on a daily basis. So the clamp/
latches need to be able to withstand both hard use and neglect, and still
work in the end.