Videotape Cabinet

Being a HUGE movie and television fan, over the years I've collected about 1,200 movies, famous deciding games like when my Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series in 1992 & 1993, plus old classic shows. With recorded broadcasts and movies now numbering almost 1,400 on almost 400 tapes, storage was becoming a problem since the cabinet I had only held 200 tapes. Stacks of tapes were in those mismatched video cabinets that hold only about 20, OR,,, in piles in the corner of the recroom.

Needless to say I was getting some "static" from the boss - LOL. So I decided to do something about it by designing and making my own videotape storage cabinet.

This is what I came up with. It's a cabinet which is 70 1/4"L x 18"D x 30"H for additional tape storage. The unit has 16 drawers each of which holds 20 videotapes, giving storage for 320 tapes. The sides of the drawers extend 4" past the drawer compartment area which holds the tapes, so that it can be pulled out to expose the titles without falling out of the cabinet.

Drawing courtesy of Harry Godau

The unit is made from 3/4" oak veneer plywood with all exposed plywood edges banded with 3/8" strips of solid oak cut from 1" oak boards. The drawer fronts are cut from 1" x 8" oak boards. (the strips cut off the boards became the banding around the exposed plywood edges) The base is constructed of 2 x 4 material and is laminated with some off-cuts of the oak veneer plywood, cut to size.

All joints in this project were glued & screwed.

The drawing to the right above, shows the basic construction of the unit. Drawers are shown only in the left campartment but they are in each section. The hardwood runners are shown under each drawer.

Here's How I Made It

My first step was to build the base. I decided on a 2" deep toe kick at the front and sides, so the base was made accordingly, taking into consideration the thickness of the 3/4" oak veneer plywood strip which would later be laminated to it. The carcass would consist of a top, bottom and 5 uprights, thereby giving me 4 compartments, each of which would hold 4 drawers of 20 tapes. I calculated the size of the drawer compartments first, which ended up to be 16 3/16"W x 12"D x 2 3/4"H. This would allow for 2 rows of 10 video tapes or 20 per drawer times 16 drawers equals 320 tapes.

With the drawers being 16 3/16" wide, to allow the drawers to slide freely I decided to space the uprights 16 5/16" apart. By positioning my tool guide appropriately, dados/rabbets were cut in the underside of the top, and the top side of the bottom, into which the uprights would be inserted and glued and screwed.

The tool guide you see me using just above, was invaluable when making this project. It can be used to help you make those perfectly placed cuts when using any tool, be it a router, circular saw, jig saw, etc. etc. Check out the Rockler version by clicking on the small photo just below.

All-In-One Clamp Guide

The drawers were constructed from 1/2" poplar plywood. The drawer sides were made 16 1/2" long to allow all tapes to be visible with the drawer pulled out,,, but with the extended sides still resting on the drawer runners. The runners were made from 3/4" x 3/4" strips of hardwood - mostly oak but some cherry strips too, all cut from scraps. They were glued and screwed to the uprights after carefully measuring for their placement.

To the left is a shot of one of the drawers. Notice the extended sides I just mentioned at the rear of the drawer, behind the tape compartment

The next step in construction was the attachment of the back with small finishing nails, into 1/4" x 1/4" rabbetts all around, cut before assembly with my router. For the back I used 1/4" plywood to give the unit added strength, although 1/8" masonite would have been fine as well.

The drawer fronts ended up being 6 1/8"H x 17 3/16"W, and all of the front edges were rounded over with a 3/4" roundover bit. I allowed for an 1/8" spacing between drawer fronts top to bottom & side to side. They were then attached temporarily with double sided tape, so the positioning could be fine tuned if neccesary during final placement, and prior to final attachment. Upon reaching the desired placement, screws are driven from the inside of the drawer, into the back of the drawer fronts for final attachment, pilot holes having been drilled first.

The unit was finished with 4 coats of MinWax polyurethane varnish, sanding between coats for a nice smoothly finished surface. Hardware including oak drawer pulls was positioned and attached using a template for uniform placement, and the job was complete, and now all of the piles of videotapes are stored neatly and safely away.

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