Manufacturing of a mailbox with the “mail arrived” signaling system

A mailbox is an integral part of any home. How to make a mailbox on your own, unique in design and having a notification function about the arrival of mail, is described in this article..

If you have a home, it means that you have your own address to which you receive mailings – press, letters and other notices. To receive correspondence, you can buy a mailbox in any relevant store and hang it on the front door. Such a solution, in addition to the high cost, and high-quality mailboxes are quite expensive, it is also bad because the ready-made options are faceless and, accordingly, are not able to decorate your home. We will tell you how you can make a unique mailbox with your own hands, which has two indisputable advantages over purchased ones:

• located on the inside of the fence, that is, being on the territory of the personal plot, and having a decorative appearance, it will serve as a decoration for the garden;
• the box is equipped with an autonomous mechanical signaling device for the arrival of mail, that is, the box device will have a simple, reliable and trouble-free mechanism that is triggered at the moment the mail arrives, thereby informing the owner that the mail has arrived.

As a result, such a mailbox will cost you less than a purchased one, and you can make it yourself in one day..

So let’s get started.

Tools and materials

To make a mailbox house, we need:

1. Circular saw or hand saw.
2. Drill or screwdriver.
3. Sheet metal or any other sheet material. A cut tin can is fine..
4. Lumber trim.
5. Wooden skewers. We will use them as dowels.

Manufacturing instruction

1. We start by making the base platform. For this we use a rectangular piece of plywood 20 mm thick. We cut out a rectangle according to the dimensions indicated in the photo, process with sandpaper and cover with primer.

2. We veneer the edges with decorative covers.

3. The decorative trim is fixed with wooden dowels and wood glue..

4. After painting the platform to the bottom using self-tapping screws, we fix the stand and the slope, which are made of a profile pipe.

5. We fix the platform at the place of installation of the mailbox.

6. On the outside of the fence we make a damper. We cut out a vertical hole in the profiled sheet of the fence. From a metal plate with a thickness of 1.5 mm we make covers for the slot and the shutter itself. We fix the shutter with a self-tapping screw in its upper part to the plates on the slots. The flap moves to the left or right, thereby opening the entrance to the slot through which mail comes.

7. We proceed to the manufacture of mailbox parts.

8. Assembling the frame. We additionally fix the details at the gluing points with wooden dowels.

9. We fix the left side wall to the frame and start making the signaling device. It consists of two metal plates interconnected by a metal axis and located in relation to each other in perpendicular planes. We fix the plates to the axis using metal rivets. On the plate, which will be located outside the mailbox, we apply a thematic drawing (of the postman), using metal scissors, cut it along the contour of the drawing and paint with acrylic paints. The second plate should cover the inlet from the inside of the box. Thus, the empty box is alerted by lifting the right plate. When the mail is placed in the box, the plate falls, lifting the left plate with the painted postman. It is his appearance that signals the presence of mail.

10. The axis of the signaling device is fixed by means of angular metal hinges to the platform with self-tapping screws..

11. We fix the front wall and insert a thematic drawing into the opening of the future window.

12. We make the details of the window frame. Before installing the frame, insert the glass into the opening.

13. We glue the right side wall. In the center of the wall we make an imitation of a door and decorative cashing from fiberboard. We also make a back wall from fiberboard with a vertical slot, into which mail will enter the mailbox.

14. Decorate the outer corners of the house and the lower part with wooden corners.

15. Let’s start making the roof. We glue the frame of the roof base.

16. On the lower part we glue a piece of fiberboard. Next, we glue two pairs of rafters onto the frame. All connections must be additionally fixed with dowels.

17. Attach the roof frame to the house with the help of small loops, since the roof will act as a letterbox cover.

18. Roof gables are made of fiberboard and glue the ebb from the front side.

19. On the rafters we attach a rough roof from scraps of boards or lining.

20. On the rough roof with the help of small nails we fix the tiles cut from tin.

21. After fixing the tiles, we make a ridge and wind strips..

22. Making the porch.

23. Install the structure in place. Unique mailbox ready.