Replies

1. 
   BG | Apr 07, 2004 03:49pm | #1

   ArtHeft,

   I made a 25 cubby hole cabinet for my daughters (the teacher) class room last summer.  They were 5x7x12 and only 25 so its a bit different than your project, perhaps there are a couple of ideas that may be useful. 

   I used 1/2" birch ply and cut a double housed dado to construct the cubbies.  After cutting my boards to length, I set up the dado blade and ran a through cut half way on each board.  Then I ran a shallow cut (1/8") the other half of the boards using the fense and miter to set the distance for both cuts.   The trick was to narrow the through cut so that they would extend into the 1/8" dado.  When these were slid together no glue was needed.....and then I encased the whole thing in birch ply and put doors on it.

   In your case I'm sure 1/2" material is too much...but putting a face frame on all these cubbie holes to accomodate a persons name would be a real pain....

     
2. 
   RickW | Apr 09, 2004 02:19am | #2

   I've built a small mailbox with 30 slots. The techniques I used may be useful to you in this enormous project.

   I built the body of the mailbox from 3/4 inch material.I dadoed it 1/4 inch deep for 1/4 inch plywood vertical dividers, and 3/4 wide by 1/4 inch deep for horizontal dividers.I dadoed the two horizontal dividers on both sides for the vertical dividers.

   I ran all my dados before I glued on the 1/4 inch edgebanding.After I attached and trimmed the edgebanding, I assembled the box. After the glue dried, I slipped in the vertical dividers from the back and attached the back.

   In your case, I would figure out what the outer dimensions should be according to what configuration you want.If you made it 25 spaces across and 24 spaces high, you would have a box about 95 inches wide by 78-3/4 high, using 3/4 inch horizontal dividers.However, I would make it slightly wider by using two or three 3/4 inch vertical dividers to help support this enormous piece.

   You may want to build a step stool to reach the upper part of this case!

   As an alternative, you may want to build this thing in modular sections and then assemble it.

   Good luck with it!

   I hope this helps.

   Rick W.

1. 
   ArtHeft | Apr 09, 2004 01:19pm | #4

   rick...thanx for the info.  I am reluctant to use plywood because of the need to cover the edge ply, and of course, in keeping with only solid red oak as used in the rest of the church furnishings.  My original design calls for a unit not quite 8 feet long and about 4 feet tall, sitting on a table about 2 feet high.  This would give 300 slots, so 2 of these assemblies would be needed.  I made a 4 slot sample and submitted it to the committee that is looking at this project.  They may redesign it for me.  We'll see.  I will print and save your reply for future reference.

   Art

3. 
   mrles | Apr 09, 2004 09:45am | #3

   Art

   We have these in my church I attend, Trinity Episcopal Church in Baytown Texas. We have 300 slots I will try to get some measurements tomorrow and share them with you. We save a lot of money on postage, it's a great idea. On good Friday we have services from noon till 3:00 P.M. and invite  pastors from 7 different denomations for twenty minute sermons. It is a great service, some people come to hear their pastor and some come for the whole 3 hour period.

   Gods Peace this Maundy Thursday night

   les

1. 
   ArtHeft | Apr 09, 2004 01:25pm | #5

   Les...glad to hear from you on this wonderful holy week.  I will be waiting to hear back from you with the dimensions you supply.  I am looking forward to doing this project for the church, but since it is such a large project, I am kinda shaky about it.  I'm sure once I actually get started I will be fine.  The name of our church is Our Savior Lutheran, in Hartland, Michigan.  We have about 525 families, so I figure we should go with 600 mailboxes.

   Art

4. 
   mrles | Apr 10, 2004 08:34am | #6

   Art

   I don't know if I will be much help or not, I will try to describe what we have at Trinity.

   Slots are 2" high 4 3/4" wide 11"  deep. a business envelope or a 8 1/2 X 11 flyer will fit easily. I wouldn't want anything smaller.

   Our units are 17" X 30" wide and are pretty heavy 6 slots across and 6 down a total of 36 in each unit. We have them setting on narrow tables in a hallway 2 units high. The tables are 18" W X 72"L I belive, office supply product.

   We have a mail slot for each family not each member.

   Our outside shell is 3/8 plywood, the inside is masonite. You could use 5/8" or 1/2" red oak for the outside shell

   The builder of these units cut a dado inside top and bottom inside 4 3/4" apart the width of the masonite. He did the same for the inside of the sides 2 3/4" apart. He cut five pieces of masonite to fit the top to bottom and five to fit the side to side. He then cut the masonite to fit together like an egg crate.

   The place to put your members name was made by gluing strips of wood 3/4" X 1/2" X 4 3/4" to the top of each slot. I would run a strip all the way across. The name holders are made of plastic and the names slip in and out quite easily, they are available several places. You will want to leave some blank spaces when you set them up. People come and go and you don't want to have to move a bunch of names to add somebody.

   I hope this helps, if I haven't explained it clearly please ask questions. I would build a prototype first whatever you build .

   Gods Peace

   les

1. 
   ArtHeft | Apr 11, 2004 02:23pm | #7

   Les...thanx for your input.  I made my sample 2 1/4" high by 3 1/2" wide by 5 3/4" deep.  The reason for this dimension is that a box of envelopes will fit into the slot, but not so far as to get "lost" inside.  Paper will need to be rolled up to fit.  Yes, one slot per family, not per member...we would need 2000 slots to do a per member setup.  I buy my wood locally at 4 quarters and while it would lighten up the project to resaw to 1/2", it would make for a lot of extra work, so am thinking all parts of the project will be 3/4" thick.  A blessed Easter to you Les, and thanx again.

1. 
   ian | Apr 12, 2004 05:46am | #8

   FWIW I too suggest a modular construction, say 6 blocks of 100 slots.  This size might need to be smaller say 48 (8 wide by 6 high) depending on how heavy 100 slots would be.  This approach suggests a face frame to hide the join between the units.  You could then build the boxes out of 1/4 ply and face frame them with 3/4in wide lap jointed strips dadoed to accept the dges of the ply box.  Over the life of the unit it is likely to be moved many times so I'm thinking the lighter the better. 

   Also what will the mail boxes sit on?  will you also have to make a table(s) for the unit?  

   Ian

1. 
   ArtHeft | Apr 12, 2004 01:38pm | #9

   Hello Ian...yes, the 300 slot unit I talked about will no doubt need to be broken down into smaller units.  I dont believe I could get them out of my basement workshop unless they were broken down. I calculate a weight at 360 pounds for the 300 slot assembly.  And yes, a table will need to be supplied for them to sit on.  I visualize that everything will be solidly fastened to the block wall and they will be permanent and immovable forevermore.