Penguin isokon donkey

[Chris152]

Has anyone built one of these?

A friend asked me to do one a few weeks ago and I've been putting it off. Does anyone have plans/ dimensions or anything that could help?

More pics here:
https://shop.penguin.co.uk/collections/ ... uin-donkey
And here's a video of one being made, not terribly helpful but gives some history in the link:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2019 ... eing-made/

Thanks
Chris

 

[marcros]

No, I wanted to but my daughter grew up too fast!

 

[sunnybob]

Its a magazine rack with 2 shelf units, how hard can it be? (hammer)

 

[nev]

I thought you'd just discovered What3words

 

[Garno]

Its a magazine rack with 2 shelf units, how hard can it be? (hammer)

I'd find it hard to even take the photograph let alone build one :shock:

 

[AndyT]

There's this thread from a few years ago. I remembered it, as I'd never heard of it then.

penguin-donkey-t56474.html

 

[Richard_C]

I've often wanted one and keep thinking I should make one myself.

There were 2 basic shapes, same concept. The original has much bending of ply, late 1930's, and a rounded form, the newer ones are made up of mostly flat bits and look easier to make.

If you have a real genuine original, value £2k and upwards, modern genuine new ones come in at about £500, more for the curved version.

Penguin Books started out to sell inexpensive paperbacks to rail travellers and the 'donkey' came a bit later. One thing though, at the start the Penguin paperbacks were mostly the same size - thickness varied but not height and depth. The donkey shelves were the same both sides. If I were designing for function I would think carefully about the sizes of modern paperbacks, which seem to vary a lot, and maybe change the shelf layout a bit to give variety.

The V&A has a good short feature here:

https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-soph ... odern-home

This site has new ones, a few views from different angles and the overall dimensions, almost all you need, flat and bendy ones.

https://www.wonderwoodstore.nl/en/isoko ... key-2.html

https://www.wonderwoodstore.nl/en/isoko ... onkey.html

You might even be able to print out the end view picture and measure the leg angles. The truncated A frame legs are independent of one another, no cross pieces, screwed to the sturdy ply bookcase backs.

I'm probably not alone in wanting one and not alone in preferring to make than to shell out £££. Would you post an update when its done?

Take care with leg length, don't want it wonkey

 

[sunnybob]

I would want a wonky donkey, personally. :roll: :lol:

 

[Chris152]

Thanks all! Well, all except SB and Nev who clearly aren't helping...

Those links are really helpful, Richard - especially the end view you refer to, I can get that angle off screen i think.

I reckon the way forward is some careful templating, then lots of cutting and hope the dimensions are about right - as someone pointed out in the link you posted, Andy - paperbacks come in all sorts of sizes now so I guess sticking to the original sizes could be an own goal.

I'm going to have to have a go at this - if I'd said no at first it'd have been fine but having dithered so long, I think he thinks I'm getting on with it. :roll:

ps Nev - I clicked the link but couldn't figure it out - what on earth is it?

 

[nev]

...
ps Nev - I clicked the link but couldn't figure it out - what on earth is it?

A bit like google maps but instead of x degrees north etc. if there's no street name or if you're in the wilderness every point on the map has 3 random words attached to it.
Some emergency services and companies like western power use it to pinpoint locations of X, e.g power line down in field by river about 3 miles from village not far from Snowdon etc. is now ///uptake.poorly.probe

 

[sunnybob]

:roll: :roll: :roll:
Theres always one, isnt there? :lol: 8)

 

[Chris152]

...
ps Nev - I clicked the link but couldn't figure it out - what on earth is it?

A bit like google maps but instead of x degrees north etc. if there's no street name or if you're in the wilderness every point on the map has 3 random words attached to it.
Some emergency services and companies like western power use it to pinpoint locations of X, e.g power line down in field by river about 3 miles from village not far from Snowdon etc. is now ///uptake.poorly.probe

I thought the donkey thing was tricky.
Found this on their site:
'We have assigned each 3m square in the world a unique 3 word address that will never change.
For example ///filled.count.soap marks the exact entrance to what3words’ London headquarters.
3 word addresses are easy to say and share, and are as accurate as GPS coordinates.
51.520847, -0.19552100 ←→ /// filled.count.soap'
Brilliant!

 

[Chris152]

Getting the top horizontal could go wrong. Would I be best to make the two boxes, attach temporarily to the frame, mark for horizontal top, cut and attach tops, then reassemble? If so, am I best to cut the sides at the top carefully with a hand saw?

 

[AndyT]

Getting the top horizontal could go wrong. Would I be best to make the two boxes, attach temporarily to the frame, mark for horizontal top, cut and attach tops, then reassemble? If so, am I best to cut the sides at the top carefully with a hand saw?

If I was making one, I'd do a full sized drawing on lining paper or a board, of the end view, showing the required angles and leg lengths.

I'd then take all my measurements etc directly off the drawing onto the wood. But that's not the only way, you'll need to decide what you are comfortable with.

 

[sunnybob]

I've just had a surf because i truly have no idea what this thread is about.
Found some pics and looked at them.
Its a good job we dont all like the same things.

 

[nev]

As Andy says draw it full size and measure off that.
Looking at it as a saw horse with wall cupboards attached:
I would make the legs/ frame first and whatever angle off vertical the legs end up (as things rarely go to plan where accuracies are concerned in my experience ) can be used for the angle off horizontal for the top if that makes sense.

 

[Bm101]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MMiKyfd6hA0

God I miss Father Ted. Watch it all. :wink:

 

[Chris152]

Thanks fellas - I'm going to do the drawing today, waiting for the wood to come so no hurry.

SB - I thought it really ugly when I first saw the photo but somehow came round to it once i'd seen the scale, it makes more sense as a little thing with a few books and space for a coffee cup on top.
A small thing even when close up.

 

[Chris152]

Step 1:

The measurements are calculated roughly from the screen but more or less add up to the listed figures (535 x 400 x 395 mm).
And thanks for the tip Nev - I'll be making the frame first and working the angle of the top accordingly.

 

[HappyHacker]

Instead of an artificial donkey why not get a Real Live Donkey?

You can adopt at https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/s ... ing-scheme

or make a donation to help care for Real Live Donkeys
https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/support-us/donate

I don't recommend adopting a Penguin