Display cabinet

I want to build my own display cabinet. Is there anybody out there how has built their own display cabinet. I want to know how they worked out and what features you would change if you were to build a second cabinet. All pictures welcome.

Regards Shane

Steve. Do you want your cabinet to have drawers?

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Steve,

I have posted a few photos of two of my cabinets, they both have draws, the wider one with metal runners. The smaller one has internal display lighting.


I am a retired carpenter/joiner, so making these was no great problem for me. The larger one is very basic while the second is a little bit better quality. Easy but however it requires much time and patience to make sure.

The larger one was designed for polished slabs, so timber shelves were used as they are a bit stronger. The draws have metal runners as the draw size is 1200mmx600mm and get very heavy when loaded with lots of rock...(oops minerals). The top two draws are shallower than the lower two draws. I keep boxes/flats of minerals in the lower two draws. I set the top section back so I had a larger display area which usually has a glass top.

The smaller one has five solid timber draws built in a traditional manner with timber runners. The draw size is 900mm x 500mm. The upper display area has two 10mm thick glass shelves with internal display fluorescent lighting. Each shelf is designer to hold a theme mineral/locality. eg top - USA/Mexico, middle - Broken Hill, bottom - Kara mine. I used a single glass door with thin timber frames to enhance the visual effect. Use piano hinge for the door as it us very heavy (6mm thick glass). The draws hold other minerals ready for future display.

Material cost in 2005 - A$950.00, around 100 hours of my labour (but I do this for relaxation so it does not count).

Interestingly I could have purchased a cheaper timer unit for less that the materials but that not the fun. I like the thought my favorite minerals are housed in something I made.

Steve, Just a couple of ideas - I hope this helps.

Hello Rock Currier and Andrew, I was thinking of putting in two drawers under the display part of the cabinet just like in the example photo that Andrew posted. Under that I want to put an area to store my books etc. I was thinking of building a stair type platform inside the cabinet so bigger minerals would be on the bottom larger platform and smaller minerals would be on the top smaller platform. I have not finished the design yet as I am hunting for ideas. Thanks for your comments so far,

Regards Shane

A large mirror backing along with lights mounted in the top and bottom make your specimens attractive. Also, try and seal it up as much as possible because minerals seem to attract buckets of dust.

Hey Shane!

Whatever you do, for any drawers you have put in - make sure you get fully extending drawer slides. They are more expensive but they will allow you to pull your drawers ALL the way out safely. My father in law is a cabinet maker and we have had him make us a few cabinets and display cases.
I am sending you a link to one of our blogs where we talk about one of the cabinets he made for us (with lots of pics). This might help you get some ideas and if you need help with finding special materials (i.e. the drawer slides), or any tips or pointers I would be happy to put you in touch with him.
Good luck!

Hello Jasun, thanks for the information, the link did not arrive on your last post, can you send it again.

Regards Shane.

Jasun,
A while back, I came across your blog and the pictures of your cabinet, and I really like the layout of it. I don't have room for a large case yet (and I don't even have enough samples to fill a large one) and I think that the case you posted pictures of is the perfect size. I also like the different drawer sizes and the cabinet at the bottom. Not to mention, the construction looks top notch. Whenever I get around to buying a case or having one built (someday!), that would be an inspiration to me. Very nice!

Shane,
If you can afford it, build your cabinet out of good clean hard wood but unless you are an accomplished wood worker this might be a bit of over kill. I have found that over the years that five eights or thee quarter plywood with a nice hard wood veneer is ok but in that case you really should make the front of the drawers with solid hardwood and put a half inch strop of hard wood on all the edges of your cabinet that face forward. The reason for this is that with time and moving etc that the cabinet will get dinged, and pieces of the veneer will get chipped or knocked or pealed off. The hard wood fronts will give you much better durability and look in the long run. Also I would strongly second the fully extensible roller bearings. There is a somewhat new kind that will cause the drawer to close itself if you give it a nudge forward. These are now commonly used on the better grade kitchen drawers. Any commercial cabinet make will know about them I should think. Also if you have someone make the thing for you, don't let them cheap it out by using a thin plywood or particle board on drawer bottoms. Also make sure that the bottoms are not just tacked onto the bottoms of the drawers, but slide into grooved slots in the bottom sides of the drawer sides. You will be putting rocks in there and they can get heavy and you don't want the bottoms of the drawers falling off. I have also found that making the drawers at least wide and deep enough to accommodate at least two standard three inch deep flats side by side to be real handy. If you will have glass shelves in the top display portion of your cabinet keep in mind that they should be well supported in probably three places. One support in the center of each shelf and two toward the ends, but not at the very ends. Also keep in mind that many specimens have minerals in them that are harder than glass, and that in time, these minerals will scratch the glass and at some point this may cause the glass to fail. Also if you live in earth quake country you should give some thought to how to minimize damage from a good shake. All of the above I have learned the hard way from life lessons. If you make it like a good quality piece of furniture, you will always be happy with it. If you slap it together, though you may initially may be pleased with it, later as your sophistication increases you will be less and less happy with it.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Couple things I would change about our cabinet if we could.

No. 1 opens from the front..... ours opens from the sides and it is a pain in the arse.

No. 2 lighting. ours came with one large lalogen in the top. not enough to reach the lower shelves. ( I added two more)

no. 3 size.. ours is 3' wide needs to be four.

No. 4 exhaust fan needs one to expell heat. ( I plan on installing one)

No. 5 DUST is your enemy! better dust seals.

I am going to build with hardwood, I have almost finished the design. Going to show it to a few friends for comments before I do a scale model. Looks like I will have to build it in 3 stages, the part that is still worrying me the most will be the display part of the cabinet as I need to make sure that it is very strong.

What you said about the earthquakes is important to me as well since I live in Peru. I will not be using glass shelfing. I will be going for steps inside the cabinet that go up 20cm after every 20cm. That will give me three 20cm platforms insided the cabinet to put my specimens on. I will make the steps out of something strong but light and then cover them all with some type of material, maybe the sort of stuff they use for snooker tables but a different colour.

I think by next week I will be able to post a design for everybody to comment on. Then it will be on to building the scale model.

Thanks for the help so far.

Regards Shane

I have mine designed to open from the front. I am thinking about 4 small lights instaled at the top shining down on the display, I don´t think heat will be a problem for me. I will be putting in good seals for dust, the less I have to clean the better.

Regards Shane

You've gotten some very good replies here. I'd further suggest: don't use oak, it emits vapors that can react nastily with some sulfides. Have a locking system. Good lighting is VITAL... dimly lit display cases are awful, and common. My usual policy is to spend the money on good wood, and apply a minimal finish, instead of buying crap veneer and having to put seven coats on. Carefully think out your drawer depth; depending on what size minerals you prefer, as too-shallow drawers are maddening. Spend the money on full-extension sliders, the best are painfully expensive but a cabinet without them is just meh... ask me how I know this. Also, think carefully about shelf height. If you're six foot, but most people viewing the cabinet are not, they won't be able to see the top shelf like you will. This is very annoying. If you're building a monster cabinet, consider the weight, and exactly where in the house you're going to put that weight. Buy good hardware, and hide it, the rocks are the star of the show, followed by the quality of the wood. Lastly, figure out how to fasten the sucker securely to the wall if you get regular earthquakes. There was an article in Min Rec about what quakes do to collections, might want to find it. Definitely have a drawer locking system to keep them from sliding out in a quake. Lots of tough design problems to figure out, I find the hinging and locking systems are the most annoying.

Hello!

You should think about the health of your specimens!

Would always contains acids.Over the years,noone has complained about changes on the specimens stored in cabinets made of wood,but better be on the safe side.

I would never store minerals and books in the same cabinet.You often draw books off to use them and the vibrations may
move the specimens.

The light you will add has to produce minimum heat and no fluorescence. Heat may cause crystals to crack and fluorescence may cause color changes.

Once you place the specimens in the dry cabinet,you will never clean it again.Chemicals for cleaning may attack your specimens.You have to isolate the cabinet as much as possible.Use elastic bands.No glue.

Leave space for one specimen only in depth.More specimen look fine,but a strong vibration (an earthquake) will destroy all of your specimens.

You could add curtains on the outside.This will prevent daylight attack you specimens.

You should place the Cabinet away from a radiator or a window.The specimens have to be in stable temperature.

You should add a door that will open smoothly,so that you won't produce any vibrations when opening to add or remove a specimen.

Be careful with the interior shelves.They shouldn't be tightly stuck to the walls of the cabinet.The increase of the temperature will increase the volume of the shelves and the shelves will break.

You should not place it behind a door or close to some wardrobe.

Good luck!
-Kostas.

Hey everyone,

I totally agree with Kostas, heat will attack my crystal and I will do anything to prevent it. But I also like to have very bright feel like crystal under the sunlight. Just find this new LED strip light is great for my display and only use 12V DC power. It use very little energy which product very little heat and it show very nice bright sunlight feel. The best thing is it can just tape on to anywhere in my case.

Johnny Chong

Where did you find your LED strip, Johnny? I could use one of those in my case.

Shane,

Earlier this year I bought a custom cabinet from Jasun and his father-in-law, and it's absolutely gorgeous! I'll have to take a few pictures and post them to show you.

It's kind of a cross between the two cabinets shown earlier, and it's made out of nice woods and very sturdy drawers that can hold a lot of weight.It has a glass display on top with 3 shelves, 3 low height drawers for thumbnails/micromounts, two deeper drawers for small cabinet speciments, and a storage area below with cabinet doors.

Unfortunately for me, my mineral collection has already outgrown the single cabinet! ;-) I display my garnet collection in the glass part and keep my micromounts in the lower part. I was keeping my small cabinet specimens in the lower part, but now I need more room for my micros, so out they went.

My point is, make the biggest cabinet that you have room for and can afford (or make multiples) because they fill up pretty darn fast!

Robert
"The Goofy for Garnets Gang"
Chief Goof

Hello All!

Robert - I am so glad to hear that you are enjoying the cabinet! I guess I just missed you at the Franklin show. Hopefully we'll get to meet up one of these days...

Shane - I have sent you the link to the blog via PM

I cannot tell you how many drawers I have seen over the years that problems - very dangerous ones too. There are drawers that either don't extend 100%, which makes it difficult to see specimens in the back and creates a risk of banging specimens together when accessing them tucked into that akward area - and then there are drawers that simply come ALL the way out... with catastrophic results.
Then there are drawers that are herky-jerky or sticky, which can result in specimens getting jostled around in a dangerous way.

That being said, the drawer slides that my father in law uses solve all these problems. I would be happy to get the info for you on who makes them and where you can get them. Just pm me.

Hi Jim,

I brought it from Canal Lighting & Parts email address support@bulbnbulbs.com. But also find it in internet like Amazon, ebay, or google it LED Strip light.

Good Lucy!

Johnny

Hi,

Here's one of my cabinets. I designed it and my wife made it for me :-)

Cheers

Harjo