Introduction: Super EZ Mini Cube Shelf

By www.lux-O-mat.com
About: luxOmat is dedicated to making it easy for Makers to make things, for Designers to bring their creations to life, and for their customers to buy with confidence

Super EZ Mini Cube Shelf came to exist when Hunter's girlfriend wanted a variation of our Super EZ Shoe Rack, but with dividers for stacking and keeping pairs together.

THE BASICS
Dimensions*:
38 1/4" wide (97 cm) x 25 1/2" tall (65 cm) x 10" deep (25 cm)

Inside Cube Dimensions*:
8 1/2" wide (22 cm) x 7 1/2" tall (19 cm) x 10" deep (25 cm)

*It's really easy to change the dimensions in SketchUp before you cut these out, if you want another size.

Materials:

  • Free design files with DXFs - located here
  • Ply board (cabinet grade or better) - 4' x 8' x 3/4" (1220mm x 2440 mm x 18 mm)
  • CNC machine with at least 4' x 8' table

Optional Materials:

  • Rubber mallet or deadblow hammer (HIGHLY recommended)
  • Sandpaper, file, sanding block or electric sander
  • 12 x 2-oz bottles acrylic craft paint
  • 3-5 bristle painbrushes & brush cleaning supplies
  • 1 roll 3/4" painter's tape
  • maybe some gloves or something, and don't wear nice clothes while you're painting

Step 1: Cut Your Pieces

Start by downloading the DXF files here and cutting them out with a CNC machine.

You'll end up with:

  • 4 long pieces
    • 2 have notches cut into them
    • 2 are smooth on one side and have pockets cut into the other side
  • 5 short pieces
    • 3 have notches cut into them
    • 2 are smooth on one side and have pockets cut into the other side

Step 2: EZ Joinery: the First Slide

Lay out your shelf pieces (the ones with notches) and start with one long piece and one short piece.

I'd recommend starting by standing up one of the longer pieces so that the notches are facing up, then lining up a notch from a shorter piece with one of the notches from the longer piece. In the second picture, above, the notch from the short shelf is sitting in the notch from the long shelf.

Use a rubber mallet or just gently stomp the top of the short piece until it slides down and becomes flush with the long piece.

Step 3: EZ Joinery: Middle Shelves

Once your first short shelf is joined, tip your project back a little bit and slide the other long shelf into place. Line up the second notch on the short shelf with the notch on the long shelf, and once again tap or stomp the shelf into place.

Now, you have a really great frame to slide the other short shelves into. I recommend adding the middle shelf last, just because it'll be a little easier with the other shelves holding the whole project in the right alignment (no wiggling).

Step 4: Joining Top & Bottom Shelves

The top and bottom shelves have pockets carved into one side and are smooth on the other side. Line up the pockets with the tabs sticking out of the tops of the shorter shelves, and gently tap into place.

For the bottom, you can even just tip your project back and slide the bottom piece under, then tip the project forward until the tabs in the bottom of the shelves go into the carved pockets in the shelf bottom. (This part might involve some wiggling.)

Step 5: Joining Shelf Sides: Side 1

Joining the first side of the shelf is a little tricky. Because the top and bottom shelves aren't firmly attached yet, I decided to go with a sneaky trick that wouldn't knock those pieces out of alignment while I was banging the side pieces into place.

Here's the trick: Just keep the project on the floor. Grab one of the small pieces of wood with one smooth side and one side with pockets and lay it flat on the floor next to the bottom shelf. Grab that mallet that I recommended (or make sure you're wearing hard-toe shoes) and tap or kick the side piece so that the tabs are partly interlocked with the tabs in the side of the bottom shelf (see first picture). DO NOT tap them more than halfway in.

Once you have some interlocking action going on, slowly tip up the side piece (see pictures 2 & 3). You want it to be as close as possible to vertical without popping out the bottom tabs, so you should get some natural alignment with the tabs in the sides of the shelves and the carved pockets in the side piece (see picture 4), but your tabs at the top are still going to be sticking out a bit (see picture 5).

Fortunately, once you get the shelf lined up like in the fifth image above, you just have to tap the tabs more firmly together. I used a rubber mallet to bang in the sides and bang down the top tabs until everything was nice and tight (see picture 6).

Step 6: Joining Shelf Sides: Side 2

The second side shelf is even easier than the first - just flip your project on its side, line up the tabs sticking out of the shelves with the pockets in the last side piece, and tap the ends into place without even worrying about making one of the sides fall off.

Step 7: Enjoy!

Your final set of Mini Cube Shelves should be sturdy enough to sit on, with plenty of storage and a slim profile that makes good use of your floor space.

Finish it with standard wood finish, teak oil, or a super cool custom paint job!