Cabinet for vinyl record storage

RHob · 21 Sep 2019

Morning all,

Am starting to think about making a cabinet to keep my records and stereo away from daughters little hands.

Original thinking was to make a box out of 24mm birch ply and then poplar face frame but am thinking this is going to be quite weighty (will be *850*1400*400 mm) with 3 shelves.

Thinking has evolved to making a domino jointed frame and then skin both sides with 4mm ply and then the shelves would be dominoed into the frame.

Apart from time are there any disadvantages to this approach and if so would birch ply be ok for the frame or would I be better off with poplar?

Thanks

Rob

Racers · 21 Sep 2019

I made a load of birch ply cubes for record storage from 18mm with 12mm backs they where plenty strong enough.
Ply edge furniture is very trendy at the moment.
Or you could buy a IKEA Kallax and make some doors.

Pete

Eric The Viking · 21 Sep 2019

How often do you play each LP?

You might use something like green baize or thick felt for the "floor": you need something slippery enough so that the sleeves don't scuff as you put them in or remove them. Well used records stored vertically often have a slit in the cardboard sleeve at the bottom (worse with 78s and older LPs in heavier pressings). Don't use plastic or melamine for the base as it's too unyielding.

Regarding construction, plenty of dividers, which need to be fairly rigid but not necessarily thick: The operational BBC disc racks in studios simply had tightly strung PVC-sleeved copper wire. There's a pair of them (triangular shapes) fixed to the walls in this (rather blurry) picture:

They weren't storage though. The library racks had thin ply dividers (about 4mm in modern currency), spaced about 2-3" apart. They had a shallow arc cut out, to permit fingers to grip the sleeves easily. Sorry - can't find pictures of those.

sunnybob · 21 Sep 2019

24 mm is not needed. assuming the 1400 mm is the length then you need at least one support in there and two would be better. 12 mm ply would be fine then.
Thats a lot of weight once the records are in there, make sure you have a cross frame or solid back to stop it all sliding sideways, and clip it to the wall if the daughter is little enough to lean on stuff to pull herself up.