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The goal of this project is to build lockers for a middle school basketball team, providing them with a place to sit and somewhere to store their personal belongings in the locker room to accommodate their needs.
With this basketball team having many members being in IEP, team members are struggling with not having their own personal space in the locker room. There are very few, slender benches for the boys to sit on, causing many of them to have episodes. We were asked to build lockers where the players could store their personal belongings and have somewhere to sit, so they can be able to focus on what their coach is saying and on their basketball games. 
Frame: It must be wide and tall enough for the boys to sit down in them. The lockers also need to fit in the dimensions of the locker room that we were given.
Storage: There needs to be a space where the boys can keep their personal belongings. We may be able to place a mechanism where personal combination locks can keep the items secure.
Amount: We were asked to make around 20 lockers.
Safety: The lockers need to be anchored to the wall to prevent them from becoming a falling hazard.
Weight: The lockers need to be able to hold the weight of the storage that will be placed in them as well as the weight of the boys when they sit in them.
Our contact for the project gave us an image of what they were imagining for the locker room. We also looked at similar items on the internet for inspiration. Most lockers we looked at were structured similarly. They all had an open cubby at the top and a storage place on the bottom. Hanger hooks and dowel rods were common accessories as well.
This design shows a storage unit at the top with hooks for hanging personal belongings. The walls extrude all the way out to the end of the seat at the bottom of the locker. We mostly discussed how the lockers would be assembled at the site during this stage.
With the second design, we plan on keeping everything very simple with only 90-degree angles. This design also keeps each locker individualized. These lockers can be assembled individually, and they can slide together. One advantage of this idea is that we can put as many lockers together as possible to fit the different lengths of walls given. The disadvantage of this design is it involves a lot more cuts. Individualizing lockers means that we would have to repeat a lot of cuts that could potentially be avoided.
With the third design, we plan to utilize the layout of the individualized lockers. This will include the same hooks, hinges, and measurements, but these lockers will be assembled as a group rather than individualized. Using the measurements we gathered from the locker room, we will design the lockers to specifically fit each specified wall. This will cut down on materials needed and cost, but will not be as universal and will have to be assembled on-sight.
Judging the three previous designs on time to build, transportability, aesthetics, stafety, manufactorabilty, weight, and cost, design three came out the best. With the main focus on design three we began to work on this project with the other locker group as well. Here we came up with a final design combining aspects from each group to make a few minor changes to our design three, which we will talk about in the overview of the selected design.
Our final design came to be a locker that has a seat that will raise from a hinge with a spot for storage underneath the seat. This cubby will also have some slots integrated in the front for venilation. Up at the top will be a shelf for more storage and directly underneath the shelf will be hooks.
Seat: Strong enough to hold a child and wide enough for them to sit comfortably. Will lift up to have storage underneath. The hinge will be attached to the seat and the back of the locker. The seat will have an offset from the back wall of the locker so it will have the range of motion to lift fully.
Storage: Along with the cubby underneath there will also be a smaller storage area up top for other belongings. Also, the locker will have multiple hooks on the walls. Planning on having name plates for the kids to personalize their locker, per request of the school.
Safety: The lockers will be anchored to the wall so they are secure. Also, it will be held together with slot and groove with glue on the inside as well as screws.
After finding that the average weight of a middle school boy we made sure our design could hold that weight. The average weight of a middle school boy is about 120 pounds, and the sanded 3/4″ oak plywood we decided on will hold up to 75 pounds per square foot. The calculations show that the 17.5″x23″ seat can hold up to 209.6lbs.
We tried to inclued plenty of storage for the kids with a cubby underneath the seat, another up top and hooks on each of the walls. For the seat to lift up properly there will be a hinge attached to the back of the seat but with be offset form the back wall so it clears and will open all the way. The top sheft will have a lip on the end so objects do not fall out.
A big factor is to make these lockers as safe as possible. The lockers will be held together with tongue and grove with glue on the edges as well as screws. To make sure the lockers do not fall or tip we will use concrete anchors to anchor them to the wall. The tension and shear calculations can be seen in the image. The concrete screws can hold 250 pounds tension and 620 pounds shear.
The first step in this project was to get the material for the lockers cut. We used 1/2in sanded plywood for the frame of the lockers. A table saw and band saw were used to make all of the cuts for the frame. Assembly of the lockers started slow and quickly sped up since we made 20 of the same module lockers. Keeping the frame square and sturdy was the main focus of the assembly. We wanted to make sure that all of the screws did not break through for a seamless look. Screws of different lengths were used depending on how much clearance we had with the depth of the wood. After assembly was finished, the lockers were taken outside for painting. The paint created a seamless and cohesive look. Lastly trim was added to the lockers to have them look professional. Black Walnut trim was added to accent the wood. The lockers were hauled up to the school and screwed together as well as being mounted to the cinderblock walls for longevity.
The lockers are not for play. They should not be stood, jumped, or hanged on. One should be careful of the lids to the seat storage as they can create a pinch point if one is not careful.
Our group had a great time designing and manufacturing these lockers for the local elementary school. We enjoyed being able to see this project through from start to finish. A great feeling of accomplishment was had when the final installation was complete.
