Thread: Help with shadow type boxes

Hi Ian,
The timber does not really matter all that much it depends on your construction as to the strength.

10 mm thick wood is very strong. I would recommend that a base is glued in and if need be the mounted item is on a second base.

I find miter joints with keys or splines are very strong and the contrasting timbers can make an attractive feature.

regards

Exactly, the main construction of the box part of the project can be as strong as you like using any method. Depending on the way you are going to construct the frame. The box part will not show if you build it and enclose it with a frame as I usually do as you can see in the picture below. you can only see the surrounding frame and not the main body of the box.

Attachment 186567

Ian, I don't have an WIPs on the frames/boxes I made but here are some pics that you may gather the information you need to produce one yourself. The cricket bat has a hinged framed/door as you can see and it held shut by a magnetic catch.also shown in the picture. this of course enables the bat to be taken out of the frame and examined. It is also easy to insert the bat this way, through the front door so to speak

Other items such as the boxing glove has the front frame fixed in place from behind simply attaching a surrounding piece of timber on the box part, creating a lip all around the top of the box and then screwing the facing picture frame through this surround. Hope thats clear.

I always make my frames/boxes so that I can access the item either by unscrewing the front frame from the box from behind the front frame so no screws show at the front.Or by having the bottom of the box screwed into place for easy removal.

you can see , using this method of construction, the box can be made using simple but strong joinery. I usually paint the box section mat black.
The part that has to be nicely made is the front frame of course. For this I use mitre joints.
I have included a few other pics of the stuff I have done so you may get more of an idea as to the methods used.
Hope this helps.

Box section with front frame open. note the magnetic catch on the side of the box
Attachment 186573.
Close up of the catch
Attachment 186574
Next pic below shows the front frame open
Attachment 186575

Next pic with the front frame closed
Attachment 186576

Other pics below giving you some idea as to their construction.
Attachment 186577
Attachment 186578
Attachment 186579
Attachment 186580

Hope this gives you some ideas to work with. Good luck.