bloodsong- What are you using to model? In Max I would weld (really weld, make 2 vertices into one at the edges) the lids to the rest, and cut them out (detach in Max) again. I long ago found out that Poser wasn't happy about the weld command unless they were originally the same vertice. I also weld everything up when I make any change that has even the most remote chance of moving an edge. Max has a tolerence setting for welding, it makes for seconds of work on what used to take hours in Ray Dream Studio.