Cajons School Project

I was asked to help a friend with a plan for cajons that could be made in a school workshop.

A little while back I made a cheap version of my solid timber cajons. It was similar to my first prototype cajon.
The box was 12mm ply. The front playing face was good aeroplane bendable ply with nice veneers.

It seemed like a good place to start.
Veneering might be a bit too much to expect from school students.

Attached are the cajons I came up with:
The box sides and back are 12mm ply. Locally it is $35.00 a sheet.
All the parts are glued and screwed together.
Additional bracing of the internal corners is done with 20mm x 20mm meranti. Again glued and screwed to the box.

The playing face is 3mm bracing ply, about $20.00 a sheet.
This is cut to size and screwed to the box.

Cut a sound hole in the back.
Round over the top corners.
Give it a good sand.
Apply a finish........Oil, Poly, House paint or whatever takes their fancy.

A sheet of 12mm ply and a sheet of 3mm ply makes 4 cajons.
With the other bits and pieces it works out at about $15.00 per cajon.

Once they have made their cajons, my friend will teach them how to play.

It is a reasonably straight forward project and won't cost them much.

I thought that my plan needed a Road Test so I invited my friend around.
We went to my local hardware store......She got a better price than I was quoted!!
Over the next two day we completed 5 cajons. Made a couple of variations that could be used. (Including some fancy veneers).
We cut an additional cajon but didn't assemble it.
The following week she presented the project and cajons to her fellow teachers. Even giving them a music lesson.
They loved it/her.

Now we will see how the students perform.