swapping out dimensions...risky?

[Fan]

I've got some chest plans

that call for a top made out of 3/4" plywood. I've got an extra sheet of 5/8" 11 Ply Baltic Birch lying around that I'd love to use instead. Since the top does not appear to be weight bearing (see plans), is there any downside to downsizing from 3/4" to 5/8"?

Thanks!

[Clarke Echols]

The 5/8" Baltic birch is probably stronger than regular 3/4", based on what I've seen of the two materials. Given the construction shown on the web site cited, you could build it with 3/4" MDF and it would be fine. In fact, 1/2" plywood would be strong enough structurally speaking, but it doesn't offer much in terms of holding the screws for brackets, etc. if you run them into the plywood or MDF.

CE

Fan wrote:

[Dick Durbin]

Trust me, someone will sit on it and break it.

Dick Durbin

[Doug Miller]

Doubtful that you could break 5/8" 11-ply Baltic Birch in this application by jumping up and down on it, much less by sitting on it. Anybody heavy enough to break that by sitting on it is gonna break darn near anything he sits on. More likely IMO that the joinery at the corners would fail from racking stresses, long before the top would fracture.

-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

[terry boivin]

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 12:43:56 GMT, [e-mail] (Doug Miller) wrote: Couldn't agree with you more Doug. Baltic birch is study and stable stuff...(with a price tag to match) I think the only concern about the chest is that it will be about 1/8" shorter...LOL

I've always rooted for Ms. Maine...maybe someday...

TJB

[Andy Dingley]

Go for it. 5/8" baltic birch is much stronger than 3/4" jummywood.

3/4" is over-sized anyway. You could even use 1/2" - there's a rail across the front.

Play with the sagulator if you want more

' spamionam