Heavy Duty Mailbox

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More like a mailtube but I finally finished it, built from 6 inch 1/8 thick tube out of my scrap pile, My aunt including her neighborhood had their mail boxes bashed by some hoodlums last week but its not the first time so she asked if I could build something that could stand up to the repeated abuse. I lost one of my jobs yesterday so I will probably be posting more pictures of the work I will be doing around the shop. I am charging $85 on the mailbox, if it wasn't family I would of charged $150, I am hoping my aunts neighbors will want to purchase one so I could make extra cash.Tomorrow the box gets picked up but before it does I will probably be putting a fresh coat of 2k clear over the box.Attachment 868181Attachment 868191Attachment 868201Attachment 868211Attachment 868221
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Reply:that mailbox looks babe ruth proof.i.u.o.e. # 15queens, ny and sunny fla
Reply:Originally Posted by docwelderthat mailbox looks babe ruth proof.
Reply:A buddy of mine needed some help.  His ex girlfriend's new boyfriend kept busting up his mailbox. So I built a 1/4" plate box. He busted out the back window when the bat bounced off it. The new guy chained the mailbox to his bumper and was going to pull it out of the ground.  He left tire tracks as he ripped off his bumper.  I used 4" sch 80 filled with concrete anchored in a 5 gal bucket burieddeep the ground.
Reply:Originally Posted by JeffKiperA buddy of mine needed some help.  His ex girlfriend's new boyfriend kept busting up his mailbox. So I built a 1/4" plate box. He busted out the back window when the bat bounced off it. The new guy chained the mailbox to his bumper and was going to pull it out of the ground.  He left tire tracks as he ripped off his bumper.  I used 4" sch 80 filled with concrete anchored in a 5 gal bucket burieddeep the ground.
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPThat is a classic!I don't know how true the story is, years, and years ago. A guy and his wife separated, he moved out. The wife got a new boyfriend, he would park his convertible car in front of the wife's house. Thing is the husband drove a concrete truck, story goes he filled the new boyfriend's car up with cement!
Reply:Looks like it would hold more if the windows were rolled up.SlobPurveyor of intimate unparalleled knowledge of nothing about everything.Oh yeah, also an unabashed internet "Troll" too.....
Reply:I always wanted to do one like that, but was told you can be held responsible for damages if a car hits your box and someone gets hurt. Sure would like to see someone take that one on with a bat tho. LolYeah, I know, but it'll be ok!Lincoln Square wave 255Miller Vintage mig30a spoolgunThermal Dynamics Pacmaster 100xl plasmaSmith mc torchEllis 1600 band saw
Reply:Originally Posted by welderjI always wanted to do one like that, but was told you can be held responsible for damages if a car hits your box and someone gets hurt. Sure would like to see someone take that one on with a bat tho. Lol
Reply:Luckily I have never had any mailbox problems. But my last house did have a 10" metal pipe buried around 4 feet in the ground that was also filled with cement PLUS had a 3' cement ring around the bottom of the box that stood around a foot high.12v battery, jumper cables, and a 6013.I only have a facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/pages/VPT/244788508917829
Reply:Originally Posted by SlobLooks like it would hold more if the windows were rolled up.
Reply:Originally Posted by BistineauIf you look closer, you can see the windows ARE up. At the about 2:15 mark is where you see the right side and rear windows break from the weight of the concrete against them. Car windows are not made to be concrete forms.
Reply:Think about the mailboxes that are bricked in these high dollar houses.  If you hit one of those they don't move much either.
Reply:Heard of one mailbox build where the guy put a bit of steel sticking off the post just under the surface.  When the mailbox was knocked over, it tilted and the protrusion punched into the oil pan.  He found where the oil slick stopped, tracked down the towing outfit and nabbed the guy.  "USMCPOP" First-born son: KIA  Iraq 1/26/05Syncrowave 250 w/ Coolmate 3Dialarc 250, Idealarc 250SP-175 +Firepower TIG 160S (gave the TA 161 STL to the son)Lincwelder AC180C (1952)Victor & Smith O/A torchesMiller spot welder
Reply:Yup, if some little punk gets hurt trying to smash your aunts new mailbox their parents can sue...
Reply:Originally Posted by JeffKiperA buddy of mine needed some help.  His ex girlfriend's new boyfriend kept busting up his mailbox. So I built a 1/4" plate box. He busted out the back window when the bat bounced off it. The new guy chained the mailbox to his bumper and was going to pull it out of the ground.  He left tire tracks as he ripped off his bumper.  I used 4" sch 80 filled with concrete anchored in a 5 gal bucket burieddeep the ground.
Reply:Originally Posted by Bob E.Yup, if some little punk gets hurt trying to smash your aunts new mailbox their parents can sue...
Reply:15 years ago. Turns out that years later I worked with new boyfriend.  He was still a d1ckhead all those years later
Reply:Originally Posted by SlobThe postmaster herself told me the same thing when I asked. Probably best to take a short term rental on a post office box till the harassment ceases with time as it will.Had the same thing happen a couple different times after teminations of employees. Comprehensive insurance covers it without problems as it falls under the catagory of vandalism.
Reply:My friend built a mail box and post for a guy that keep loosing them on a busy road , he brought in a backhoe dug down 8' took a sch 80 pipe with railroad track in side ,made the box from 1/4" and 3/8" plate. filled hole and pipe with concrete  back filled to grade , I think he used like 8 or 10 yd ,s concrete . after it wrecked the second or third snowplow the town said it had to go , . he told them to take it down  it was still there 20 years later when they widened the road  and use a big excavator to dig it out.gxbxc
Reply:I don't have a photo of it but my uncle in MO had problems so he bought one of the stainless mailboxes you could drive a dozer over and welded up some dozer track to reach out nearly 8 ft from the ditch to the road. Legality or not, the postman loved it so much he begged my uncle to make him a smaller version for his house. I don't think he ever did. This is a copy of the original mailbox, identical in every way but the "latch" http://www.steelmailbox.com/html/vee...el_mailbo.html
Reply:Originally Posted by docwelderyou would figure these vandals/cretins got better things to do with their time? no sheep or cows that need shagging?
Reply:I've probably built 30 or so heavy duty mail boxes for people. They always want it to look just like a mail box so who ever is smashing their box with a bat or pipe, will shock every joint in their body. I build them on a 45 degree pipe that slips over the pipe in the ground. If a car hits it, it will just spin around. Here is a picture of one in place. Attached Images
Reply:Why not just build a heavy tube inside of a cheap flimsy mailbox and let them hit it.Building a obviously solid one isn't any fun and makes you seem kinda paranoid to us normal folk lolWelding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.comextreme mailbox builders should incorporate exterior exploding armor on the outside shell of the box so when the next juvenile delinquent takes a swing at one he really gets a surprise.i.u.o.e. # 15queens, ny and sunny fla
Reply:They are not going to convict a minor of a felony for smashing a mailbox. I'm just repeating what I was told when I went through this years ago. Would they sue? Probably depends on the extent of the injury. Could they win? Probably depends on how good of lawyer mommy and daddy can afford.The best legal thing to do would be to set up a security camera. If you can identify them and prov they did it you can get a new mailbox out of them...
Reply:Around here, kids started tossing big rocks when the bats broke.  Trouble is, a rock can bounce and end up doing a lot of damage to a vehicle in the driveway."USMCPOP" First-born son: KIA  Iraq 1/26/05Syncrowave 250 w/ Coolmate 3Dialarc 250, Idealarc 250SP-175 +Firepower TIG 160S (gave the TA 161 STL to the son)Lincwelder AC180C (1952)Victor & Smith O/A torchesMiller spot welder
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPThat is a classic!I don't know how true the story is, years, and years ago. A guy and his wife separated, he moved out. The wife got a new boyfriend, he would park his convertible car in front of the wife's house. Thing is the husband drove a concrete truck, story goes he filled the new boyfriend's car up with cement!
Reply:Originally Posted by SlobThe postmaster herself told me the same thing when I asked. Probably best to take a short term rental on a post office box till the harassment ceases with time as it will.
Reply:My brother in law had trouble with smashed mailboxes and he built a box out of steel and on a steel post, but it had a plate with four small bolts at the ground that bolted it to a buried post with a matching plate. That way if it was hit by a car it would break the bolts at the base. But if hit by a bat......no damage.Last edited by sirknucklehead; 10-12-2014 at 09:01 AM.Reason: can't spell :)Quality work is never Cheap, and Cheap work is never Quality!!If it's broke, and you're not, we can fix it!!  Lincoln Idealarc sp200Century 230amp ac/dcSmith O/A TorchesHuth Hyd. Pipe Benderother misc "cool" tools
Reply:Well I ended up with the mail box as my aunt tried to con me, She tried having my uncle take it since I rent the shop from him, My uncle refused as he doesn't want to get into the situation. After hearing how she ripped off my sister with 320 dollars I decided to keep it and will probably put it up on craigslist or gift it to someone for Christmas.  I don't do work for friends and now I have to add family