Post #39,149
5/18/02 4:38:19 PM
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Well, congratulations to the wife!
As far as building stuff, are you thinking of doing it because you need to or because you really want to? If it's not something you want to do, consider trotting over to an IKEA (there's one in [link|http://www.ikea-usa.com/ikea_near_you/local_store/long_island/store.asp|Hicksville ]. They have stuff that might do at a reasonable price. But, perhaps I'm getting lazy in my old age.
Curious, how much more time are you losing in the commute to work now?
Alex
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." -- Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
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Post #39,151
5/18/02 4:51:42 PM
5/18/02 4:52:49 PM
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I *might* be able to avoid building it
The reason was need. I have a lot of paperbacks, and nobody seems to have good storage systems for them. (I want to get at them. I don't need them displayed. My wife doesn't want them displayed...) I tried putting them into a dresser, but the rest of the dresser is too big, and the shelves aren't meant for that kind of weight. Which is why I am trying a different design.
There is a shelving unit in the kitchen meant for food which we won't need that might be able to do. If there is enough space for 3 rows of books in it, it definitely will do. If not... (And theoretically good enough will not work if my boxmaking skills - which are probably horrible - aren't precise enough to turn theory into practice...)
I still need the boxes. But the material for that will be posterboard. At $3.50 for 10 sheets of 22x28, at least the cost of materials won't be an issue.
Cheers,
Ben
PS My new commute is about a 25-30 minute walk. But when the weather sucks, I am not in a good location for cabs...
"... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything."
--Richard Feynman
Edited by ben_tilly
May 18, 2002, 04:52:49 PM EDT
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Post #39,153
5/18/02 5:08:46 PM
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Prefab well-made boxes..
Another possibility for reading spines of Lots of PBs; The "under-bed" one-high (rarely high enough for two-high?) wide and deep solid box. (Sometimes even teeny ball-"wheels" can fit on bottom - if carpet permits)
Of course too, many folks already have plans for blanket- other storage there, but seems to me it's a natural for something the size of PBs. If forced to an inconvenient box-size: Labels like Aa - Az(imov), etc. can sometimes suffice for the lack of instant display of all the titles.
If floors are bare, and you use wood-boxes - don't forget those Teflon (or T-like) slider thingies for heavy objects: 4 of those on a Big underbed wood box full of 100# ... might slide out pretty effortlessly.
Lastly, you can hunt for local (cardboard) boxmakers and specify the "burst strength" etc. (lots of lectronic UPS experience here) and get nice clean and serviceable boxes close to a specified shape. What's your time worth, Oh non-handyman?
Ashton
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Post #39,168
5/18/02 9:16:25 PM
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What my time is worth...
about 4 boxes an hour once I get going. :-)
The final dimensions that I chose were 21.5 x 10.5 x 3.5. Most of those tolerances are pretty tight if it is going to work at all. Total time spent, including locating materials is about 4 hours. Cost about $40, most of which was purchases like a stapler, good metal ruler, and hobbyist knife which I will probably find other uses for in the future. The result is ugly, but functional.
Cheers,
Ben
"... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything."
--Richard Feynman
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Post #39,157
5/18/02 6:11:27 PM
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Ouch. You just reminded me of something.
Right after we got married, we bought this little 2 bedroom house in Newton, North Carolina. Big front porch and when you entered the front door, you stood in one of the two front rooms separated by nice cherry double doors. There were small ceramic coal fireplaces in the corners of each of these rooms and something I've never seem anywhere else. In the diagonal wall next to the fireplaces were little bookcases. They were framed in cherry, had glass doors and were the perfect depth for paperbacks (and the number of paperbacks my wife and I have are legion).
Man, there were nuances in that house that I miss still.
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Post #39,160
5/18/02 6:36:26 PM
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You might want to look into...
...plastic storage boxes...Rubbermaid or the like.
They come in lots of sizes and are stackable and sealable. So you can box them and store them and no critters will chew them up while they're out of site.
You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! Laurie Anderson
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
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Post #39,167
5/18/02 9:11:13 PM
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Absolutely the wrong idea
I am not trying to put books into static storage.
I am trying to put them out of the way, but individually easily findable. I don't want them to be somewhere, but impossible to get at.
After some looking, the odds of finding a plastic box that is even close to being right for my purposes appears to be nil.
Cheers,
Ben
"... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything."
--Richard Feynman
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Post #39,241
5/20/02 1:29:26 AM
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I'm looking at paperbook storage, too
since I happen to have quite a few, especially mysteries, and like to re-read them occasionally. And, I have way too much stuff in my apartment (although my throw away plan has started, so it's getting a bit better -- I'm helping out our local recycling place).
And, of course, the paperbooks don't fit well on any normal bookshelf. I'm thinking more along the lines of a lazy-susan type arrangement. Or possibly something with drawers, if the drawers were the right height so I can stack the books spine up.
I may look at building something in wood or plastic -- after all, I've got a CAD system I'm learning (Pro/Desktop, excellent deal for free -- 3-D design, assemblies, simple kinematics supposedly, and more) so it might be a good learning project. And, I have a friend who has access to a CNC router.... so I may end up with custom plastic storage units.
BTW, part of my sort term solution was to ship a lot of them off to friends and relatives. I'll get them back eventually -- and by then I'll be ready to re-read them and maybe I'll have a good place to store them.
Tony
Tony
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Post #39,251
5/20/02 7:27:11 AM
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Good luck
Drawers are probably not going to work. First of all because they are usually the wrong dimensions, and secondly because they are probably not designed for that much weight. (I had a couple of dresser drawers full of them, and the drawers would *not* stay shut.)
What I settled on is abusing a kitchen cabinet with movable shelves of size 22x24. I put 2 boxes on each shelf of dimensions 10.5x21.5x3.25, each of which holds 30 inches of standard paperbacks. (Yeah, 3 boxes across would hold slightly more, but meant a lot more boxes.) Add some extra shelves and you get a lot of books into a free-standing unit.
Cheers,
Ben
"... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything."
--Richard Feynman
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Post #39,165
5/18/02 8:07:48 PM
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Re: commute - not bad on time.
Somehow, when elsewhere you said Kips Bay, I thought Brooklyn and Sheepshead Bay. Don't know why I did that. That would have been a long commute to Manhattan. Having lived on the East Side during my teenage years, I should know better. Heck, I spent a night in a ward at Bellevue Hospital that I still remember.
You actually are not moving that far as the crow flies (should crows dare to fly in NYC :) ). Of course, one does not measure distance in NYC using miles.
Alex
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." -- Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
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Post #39,170
5/18/02 9:19:30 PM
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Hey, I didn't even change neighbourhoods
I just moved from having to walk 2 long blocks to get anywhere I wanted to go (one through the hospital, one from first to second) to having to cross a street to get somewhere I might be interested in.
Plus I get a fairly quiet place. (Birds and wind are louder than the street!)
Cheers,
Ben
"... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything."
--Richard Feynman
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