Budweiser Cardboard Box Shelf

Being an insufferable alcoholic with a lot of time on my hands, I came across the instructable by aweekfromthursday titled  d.i.y. cardboard shelf. I took inspiration from it and having all these leftover Budweiser boxes, I figured I could craft something besides liver damage.

Things you will need:
A Budweiser 18 pack box
Xacto blade
Cutting Board
Hot Glue and Glue Gun
Roughly 5 feet of cheap clothes line
Clothing Iron
Yardstick (metal preferably)
Pencil
Paint (optional)
Scissors

Step 1: Empty and Open

After happily disposing of the contents of the Budweiser box, deconstruct the box by pulling it away from it’s glued seams.

Step 2: Your Box Dimension

Now I’m not just a boozer, but I’m a lazy boozer. The box has already got some folds and max dimensions I figure I’ll work with those. And I only want to use one box. The dimensions to the box are roughly as follows in the diagram. And yes, if you add them up they don’t match the max dimension.  There is a little fudging for the weird pucker that happens on the pre folds. So take another drink and cut me some slack

Step 3: Shelf Measurements

The measurement for the shelf template is overlaid on the boxes dimension. This will yield a shelf that is roughly 4 3’4” x 15 ½” ,

Step 4: Transfer Dimensions

Transfer the dimensions to your box. Use pencil. I used fat black marker for the purpose of this instructable..

Step 5: Cut Your Cardboard

Using your Xaccto knife and cutting board, cut away the dark gray areas of the diagram. Cut away the pink-ish areas and save them. Ooops another shot, the box is upside down. You will have to turn your monitor upside down to see it correctly. Careful with that knife if you recently emptied your Budweisers. Don’t cut off a thumb. Hard to hold a beer without a thumb.

Step 6: Trim the Saved Triangles.

Trim the saved triangles.

Step 7: Score Folds

 Lightly score the areas indicated. They are the dotted line on the diagram. Fold so that the printed sides meet.

Step 8: Add Hot Glue to Panels

Flip your beer o’ box over showing the printed side. Sweet luscious printed side, how I’ve missed you. This is where the reinforcing will come in.  The 4 5/8” will fold over the adjacent 4 ¾” panel and the two will fold over the adjacent 4 ¾” panel, printed sides torching.  The 3 3/8” will fold over the adjacent panel, printed sides torching.

This allows you to see how the back and top will fit together ultimately.

Add a lot of hot glue to the panels you want to glue together. Don’t be stingy. It takes about one glue stick per panel glued. Don’t rush big boy by trying to get a lot of glue down and assembling the shelf. Let it dry. It is more important to get enough glue down to aid the psuedo-laminating.

Step 9: Iron the Panels

This is where the clothing iron comes in. Haven’t ironed clothing in years, but ahhh now it has a use. Once you have the glue down, fold the panels and apply heat with the iron. This will reheat the glue. Ouch! Irons hot as a mother….

Step 10: Repeat

Repeat to the other panels.

Step 11: Side Triangles

The top and back are reinforced. The attached side triangles will act as braces for the shelf.

Step 12: Gluing the Braces

On the back panels triangles, apply glue. Fold towards the inner visible back wall and reapply the clothing iron. When folding over, even the most accurate cute will shift a bit. Trim the unwanted overlap.

Step 13: Gluing the Braces

Sandwich the back wall triangle braces between the shelf top triangle braces and hot glue. When aligning use the boxes preexisting right angles. You could use the iron again on a table corner if you wanted to. I didn’t find it necessary for this step and it probably would be as awkward a rocket-cow on a pogo stick. Have a drink.

Step 14: Gluing the Braces

The saved pieces, fold in half and hot glue.

Step 15: Gluing the Braces

Glue these triangles about 5” from either side to reinforce the shelf.

Step 16: Trim With Clothesline

Starting to look like a shelf. The only thing is that it still looks like it’s made from stuff you probably would use to start a fire. I hot glued clothesline to trim off the shelf.  This is the tedious part. Glue a little. Glue a little more....It honestly took longer to glue this rope on than the actual shelf fabrication. If I hadn’t used black marker I would have probably stopped here.

Step 17: Paint It

You can paint the shelf to suit your fancy. I did learn something in this step. Seems that Cardboard and spray-paint just don't get along. It takes way too many coats. After an exercise in spray-painting  futility I ended up painting with white latex house paint. Now it's suitable for a beer can collection.

Step 18: Mount It

Liking the raw look of cardboard, I made smaller one from a twelve pack adding some craft paper to dress it up.

Depending on how much you care, you can mount this to a wall using a staple-gun. A few upholstery tacks will also do the trick and looks more polished.

That’s it. Have fun emptying your boxes. And if you are working on a Budweiser box library, you can get help here.