GhoulishCop
09-30-2011, 06:55 AM
I received a request for a how-to for a mailbox I designed in the shape of a mausoleum, and though I hadn't planned on making one when I began the project I did take some progress pictures along the way.
So I don't know if this can be considered a proper how-to, but you should be able to figure it out as it goes along.
The building is made out of 3/4" MDF plywood, rigid foam insulation, and 1/2" PVC pipe. All of the wood, inside and out, was coated with marine spar varnish, primer, 2 coats of Dry-Loc, paint, and sealed with a deck sealer. I figured if someone wanted to have this outside and used as a real mailbox it needed to be protected.
The first step was to lay out the two gabled ends of the building. The width of the side is 12" and the height is 16". I didn't do any fancy math work for figure out the rise and run, but rather eyeballed what I thought would be a good pitch for the roof, drew a line across the width of the wood that intersected the centerline and connected the points to make a triangle.
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx45/GhoulishCop/Halloween%20Projects%20-%202011/2011%20Secret%20Reaper/DSCF1069.jpg
The back wall of the building is just a rectangle cut to size. The final width of it wall was 16" which was based on the mail slot opening size that would go in the front.
The front wall, with the mail slot was built out of stiles and rails to form a frame, rather than a solid piece with a hole cut out of it. The stiles (those are the vertical pieces) were 13" long by 1-1/2" wide; the rails (the horizontal ones) were 13" long, but the top one was 2" wide while the bottom one was 3".
The were then glued together with biscuits (a football-shaped piece of basswood inserted into a slot cut with a power tool call a biscuit jointer. I build a lot of boxes, cabinets, furniture, etc. so I have this specialized tool. A router with a slot-cutter bit could also be used to somewhat similar effect. Alternatively, a drill and dowels could be used just as well. And last, simple glue joints could also hold it together.
I then laid out where I wanted my biscuits to go, glued up all four sides, and clamped it together until it was dry. This is how it looked at that point.
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx45/GhoulishCop/Halloween%20Projects%20-%202011/2011%20Secret%20Reaper/DSCF1127.jpg
The entire piece was then sanded smooth with a random orbital sander which effectively made the joint lines disappear.
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx45/GhoulishCop/Halloween%20Projects%20-%202011/2011%20Secret%20Reaper/DSCF1128.jpg
It was then given a coat of spar varnish.
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx45/GhoulishCop/Halloween%20Projects%20-%202011/2011%20Secret%20Reaper/DSCF1132.jpg
I next cut the two roof halves to size, but gave it a 3/4" overhang for the eaves. The only tricky part was figuring out the angle at the ridge line (the roof peak) but that turned out to be about 35 degrees, and cut both sides on my table saw. The roof parts were glued and nailed using a pneumatic nail gun, though regular nails or screws could have worked too.
One word of caution: when using screws on MDF, pre-drill all holes because MDF has a tendency to split. There are specialized screws for use in MDF, but pre-drilling works if you don't want to go out and buy them. I filled in the nail holes with a sawdust-glue mix made up on a piece of scrap wood.
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx45/GhoulishCop/Halloween%20Projects%20-%202011/2011%20Secret%20Reaper/DSCF1142.jpg
Everything was then sanded smooth after the glue dried. You can usually work with the pieces after a few hours, but I like to give my glue a full day to cure before sanding or manipulating it in some way. So a lot of these things were actually going on simultaneously, i.e., I was cutting the roof pieces, etc. while waiting for the face frame to dry.
Part 2, next
Rich
So I don't know if this can be considered a proper how-to, but you should be able to figure it out as it goes along.
The building is made out of 3/4" MDF plywood, rigid foam insulation, and 1/2" PVC pipe. All of the wood, inside and out, was coated with marine spar varnish, primer, 2 coats of Dry-Loc, paint, and sealed with a deck sealer. I figured if someone wanted to have this outside and used as a real mailbox it needed to be protected.
The first step was to lay out the two gabled ends of the building. The width of the side is 12" and the height is 16". I didn't do any fancy math work for figure out the rise and run, but rather eyeballed what I thought would be a good pitch for the roof, drew a line across the width of the wood that intersected the centerline and connected the points to make a triangle.
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx45/GhoulishCop/Halloween%20Projects%20-%202011/2011%20Secret%20Reaper/DSCF1069.jpg
The back wall of the building is just a rectangle cut to size. The final width of it wall was 16" which was based on the mail slot opening size that would go in the front.
The front wall, with the mail slot was built out of stiles and rails to form a frame, rather than a solid piece with a hole cut out of it. The stiles (those are the vertical pieces) were 13" long by 1-1/2" wide; the rails (the horizontal ones) were 13" long, but the top one was 2" wide while the bottom one was 3".
The were then glued together with biscuits (a football-shaped piece of basswood inserted into a slot cut with a power tool call a biscuit jointer. I build a lot of boxes, cabinets, furniture, etc. so I have this specialized tool. A router with a slot-cutter bit could also be used to somewhat similar effect. Alternatively, a drill and dowels could be used just as well. And last, simple glue joints could also hold it together.
I then laid out where I wanted my biscuits to go, glued up all four sides, and clamped it together until it was dry. This is how it looked at that point.
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx45/GhoulishCop/Halloween%20Projects%20-%202011/2011%20Secret%20Reaper/DSCF1127.jpg
The entire piece was then sanded smooth with a random orbital sander which effectively made the joint lines disappear.
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx45/GhoulishCop/Halloween%20Projects%20-%202011/2011%20Secret%20Reaper/DSCF1128.jpg
It was then given a coat of spar varnish.
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx45/GhoulishCop/Halloween%20Projects%20-%202011/2011%20Secret%20Reaper/DSCF1132.jpg
I next cut the two roof halves to size, but gave it a 3/4" overhang for the eaves. The only tricky part was figuring out the angle at the ridge line (the roof peak) but that turned out to be about 35 degrees, and cut both sides on my table saw. The roof parts were glued and nailed using a pneumatic nail gun, though regular nails or screws could have worked too.
One word of caution: when using screws on MDF, pre-drill all holes because MDF has a tendency to split. There are specialized screws for use in MDF, but pre-drilling works if you don't want to go out and buy them. I filled in the nail holes with a sawdust-glue mix made up on a piece of scrap wood.
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx45/GhoulishCop/Halloween%20Projects%20-%202011/2011%20Secret%20Reaper/DSCF1142.jpg
Everything was then sanded smooth after the glue dried. You can usually work with the pieces after a few hours, but I like to give my glue a full day to cure before sanding or manipulating it in some way. So a lot of these things were actually going on simultaneously, i.e., I was cutting the roof pieces, etc. while waiting for the face frame to dry.
Part 2, next
Rich