Carpentry and Woodwork DIY projects

LETTER BOX

PROJECT DETAILS:

Letter box was intended to meet its purpose, however I wanted a box that can have sufficient space to hold magazines and bills, large envelopes, etc. For security reasons a key-lock was also provided.

MATERIALS:

Plywood - 6 x 4 sheet, 12 mm thickness
Laminate sheets - 8 x 4 sheet, 0.8 mm thickness (choose color of interest)
Sand paper - 180 and 120 grit
Fevicol white wood glue - 500 mg
Fevicol sythetic rubber (SR) - 500 mg
Key lock - cylinder type
Wooden reaper/band - 1 strip
Nails - headless type and regular type (1+ inch long)
Paper sticking tape
Cabinet Door Hinge - 2 pieces

TOOLS:

Round saw machine with wood cutting blade
Big hand file for smoothing cutting laminate
Laminate cutting sharp knife
G - Clamps - 4 no.s
Hammer
Screwdriver

CONSTRUCTION:

Cut the plywood sheet to the specifications given in plan below. The center piece (10" x 18") must be cut twice.

Cut the laminate sheets in this same way as plywood specifications. This will cover the inside of the letter box. The exterior will be cut after the assembly.
Now we will take each piece of plywood and its corresponding laminate and stick them together one by one.
Spread fevicol white on one side of a plywood piece with a card board strip or brush.
Spread fevicol SR with a brush on the laminate piece and wait for 30 secs to dry a bit.
Once dried, sandwitch both plywood and laminate together and then apply pressure so that they stick together. Pressure inside out so that air bubbles get released.
Stick the edges of the laminated plywood with paper tape tightly.
Now, do the same for all the remaining pieces and stack them together suitably.
Once stacked, clamp them together with G clamp and let it to dry for a day.
After drying, lets start assembling each piece together.
Starting with the 18" x 7" piece, place the unlaminate side facing down on floor. Then place the remaining pieces around it to form a box shape. The triangle portion should face up and laminated sides inwards.
Drill holes in sides one by one and nail them together to join.
Now place the 22" x 8 " piece on top of the box and hinge it from both sides. apply fevicol white and nail through the wooden reaper around the edge of this plywood. Sand and scrape off unwanted material.
The box should now be functional.
Next, measure the exterior dimensions of the box and cut laminates matching the specifications. Apply fevicol white and SR procedure as earlier and stick all the laminates to plywood.
Finally fit the key lock through the round hole on the top and the letter box is ready !!!