# Wood Lockers



## bwad40 (Oct 18, 2015)

Hello,

I am a woodworking teacher and since I don't get much in my budget to maintain my classroom and my current lockers are currently as old as dirt, I would like to replace them with ones my students build in class. This way we can slowly replace my lockers for much cheaper than buying some. My question is on the joinery for the shelves. I am thinking of building these out of 3/4" birch ply and doing 1/4" dados for the shelves. I am just concerned with the strength of this. I have attached a photo of my idea.


















I am open to any suggestions or ideas. I think this would be great project for my high school students to do for an end of year project.

Thanks for any input.


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

I was going to suggest a face frame on the front, but I am seeing it right, it looks like you already have one.

If I were to design one, it would look like yours. 3/4 inch plywood is pretty tough.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

I might make two cases and stack them.
Simple to do it that way and it allows more
material for the door overlays.

If you're doing face frames… well, I guess
students might learn more from that. I think
frameless is easier and cheaper if the work
is screwed to a wall.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

Are you planning on the dados being 1/4" wide or deep? I would personally have them 3/16" deep and the width of the shelf lumber, less depth gives more residual strength in the vertical partitions.


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## LesB (Dec 21, 2008)

If I understand the drawing correctly you may have problems with hinges on the doors. You are on a budget and concealed (Blum type) hinges are going to be expensive. Without that type of hinge you will have clearance problems when opening the doors. I think you will need face frames so you can mount the doors with less expensive hinges.
While dadoed fixed shelves will add stability to the cabinet I like to use floating adjustable shelves supported by shelf pins. If you are using more than one shelf in each space you could do a combination of the two.
I agree with Loren about making two units and stacking them. This would allow students to split the project into two groups.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

I think I would rather have individual lockers instead of a single unit with 8 doors. That way, each student will have the experience of making all cuts needed for a complete project, not just a part of a community cabinet. If the extra cost of plywood is excessive, you could use MDF for the box. Maybe a local lumberyard could be tapped to donate the material.

A 1/4" deep dado is standard. If you make each locker separate, you can use cheap hinges.


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