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Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

(OP)
Hello all, had our thin steel one flattened by the Country Golfers one too many times...

What would you think of filling the annular space within the mailbox's inner and outer walls with low-expansion foam? My thought is that regardless of temperature the combination of foam plus mailbox layers would form an excellent shock-absorbing "sandwich" that would greatly mitigate the possibility of damage to the box without exposing one to the possibility of being sued by some prankster sustaining injury while engaged in a patently illegal activity...

CR

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." [Proverbs 27:17, NIV]

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

I would fill the gap with grout or mortar. Of course the post would need to be a truck rear axle.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

crshears,

Is this vandalism, or inaccurate golfing? I was not aware that golfers were prone to vandalism.

I would think a vandal resistant mailbox would simply motivate the vandal to keep smashing at it, unless he is using his own expensive golf club. How would the prankster get hurt, repetitive strain injury? Perhaps you are anticipating my next idea of having steel spikes shoot out any time something bashes it.

--
JHG

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

I've heard of baseballers flattening mailboxes, but not golfers.

I think the foam would crush, and then not work a second time.

Can you fill the space with rubber?

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

(OP)
Drawoh, it's something like this:

Obtain pickup truck.

On Friday night/Saturday morning, after the bars close, insert six inebriated youth and one or more baseball bats.

Drive vehicle along as many country roads as possible, bashing mailboxes one after the other in an effort to obtain the best box demolition for the requisite energy input. Continue until energy depleted or, if additional beer has been included with the inebriated youth, until that is depleted.

The next day, listen to homeowners grumbling and cussing at having to bash the mailbox back into shape [ if possible ] and re-mount, or replace same and start asking around about how to armor a mailbox against future vandalism.

One enterprising individual gets creative with a plastic mailbox and fills the space between the inner and outer walls with concrete.

Next round of Country Golf, an individual sustains physical injury while attempting to destroy what appears to be an innocuous plastic mailbox, sues the homeowner, and wins [don't get me started on overly litigious societies].

I find the probable end result of the above sequence of events to be not to my liking, hence the question.

CR

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." [Proverbs 27:17, NIV]

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

A swinging mailbox?

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

" sues the homeowner, and wins "

Just crappy lawyer on homeowner's part. Is this in Florida? Can you apply "stand your ground" to a mailbox? Might be fun.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers Entire Forum list http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Buy a British postbox. They'll need something bigger than a baseball bat... lol

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Install a drainage ditch in the front of the letterbox narrow and deep enough so that when they drive along it causes significant damage to the vehicle when hit at speed? Probably prudent to offer to cover the injury insurance of the postman whilst you're at it.

Of course its not really a practical solution, but would be fun to watch the first time they hit it.

EDMS Australia

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

They have to be within baseball bat range, so set the box back from the road and some short rumble strips about 20 ft ahead of the box.

THAT should be fun to watch.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers Entire Forum list http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

first thought....fill with fluid paint stripper, Put a few well placed scribe lines to aid in blast projection!

But on a more practical, dry sand.

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Nah. Judo. Velcro the lightweight mailbox to the post. Add a loose piece of string between post and box. They hit it, velcro breaks free box flies off but drops to the ground.

Non judo. Attach string to a spray can of paint.

Very non judo - do you remember those targets they used to have for practicing jousting?

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

3 or 4 4" steel pipes imbedded into to ground on either side of the box and projecting above the top. Or a mailbox imbedded in a masonry enclosure.

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

I'm with David, even a drunk idiot will pause at hitting something that will jar the hell out of them and likely break the bat. Put the box on a truck axle or in a masonry (reinforced concrete) pillar where the box is inside the pillar or the box on the axle is made from 1/2" steel plate. Then there's no 'booby trap' arguments that will work and more than likely the vandals will skip it in lue of easier prey.

Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

(OP)
Thanks for all the replies! Some were good for a chuckle...

"Booby trap": excellent analogy, and precisely what I don't want to create, hence no concrete or grout.

Swinging mailbox: definite possibility, but very likely to tread on Canada Post's installation guidelines, depending on how it's done...and in my case doesn't comport well with box design - see link to the green MailMaster box at https://www.wayfair.ca/Step2-MailMaster-Mailbox-wi...

Dye packs; would have to be non-freezing for the Ontario, Canada climate...nice idea, though; non-injurious consequence but exceeding tough to explain...

Rubber: not a bad idea at all...but it would have to be pelletized or something so it could be poured through a 1" hole...also wouldn't want it to go ice-hockey-puck hard in cold temperatures...or would that make it behave like a dead-blow hammer? Hmmm...I'll have to think on this one...

Dry sand might also work by making the box a dead-blow target...or would that be blow-deadening?

Velcro: now THAT is intriguing!

CR

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." [Proverbs 27:17, NIV]

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Years ago, a neighbor had a hanging mailbox made from 3/16" plate steel. The horizontal pipe it hung from was mounted with a hinge and return spring on the ditch side so it could swing out of the way if it took a direct hit. Neither vandals nor a good hit from the wing on the snow plow ever damaged it. I have no idea if it's still there or not, but probably is since it was almost indestructible.

Another neighbor a little further away got sick of the snow plow knocking their mailbox off and used a small culvert filled with concrete as the post. It ditched the snow plow when the driver hit the post with the wing. Back then, the township used the road graders to plow so ditching it was no small feat.

I've never heard of a lawsuit for the vandals being hurt after going on a mailbox bashing run. But, as for that type of mailbox even the low expansion foam would distort it and you likely couldn't get it properly filled without using a bunch of holes.

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

I've seen several brick masonry structures with a little open rectangle for the mailbox such as davidbeach suggested. Seems awfully expensive but effective. the problem with most of the suggestion of ditches and other barricades is that the rural delivery driver must have access from their vehicle and if you make it impossible to get close you will get no mail.

Similar to the Velcro, for years I just had some long nails going from the box bottom into oversize holes in the support cross arm. It resisted strong winds but anything more would just knock it off.

I've see several counter weighted tilting mailboxes on a hinged arm with a rope or chain that had to be pulled to get the mailbox down to level.

----------------------------------------

The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

How about an amplifier / recording activating on reasonable impact, "stand still don't move, raise your hands, I have you in the sights of my (nominate what weapon suits your particular sense of humour). Won't stop all damage but the reactions could be worth watching.

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Drill some small holes facing forward, insert some baby powder right behind the holes, cover holes with small pieces of masking tape.

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

crshears....

I Googled "heavy duty vandal resistant mailboxes" ... there are some tough mudder mail boxes already designed [USPS compliant] with this in-mind.

Appears that mounting on a strong/large steel post or rail [with hidden fasteners or welds] is also needed to ensure overall resistance to vandalism.

However if 'Cool-Hand-Luke' comes by, all bets are off...

Regards, Wil Taylor

o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true. [Unknown]
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation,Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", Homebuiltairplanes.com forum]

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

best solution, get a post office box.

another alternative, get a game camera and collect video.

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Please, please don't put a fixed object in the clear roadside recovery area!

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

(OP)
Is that traffic engineer jargon? What's the "clear roadside recovery area"? Existing 4x4 post [which I re-used] is ~ 4 ft back from the edge of the asphalt / travelled portion of the roadway...and this is a side road, not a secondary road let alone an arterial route...

CR

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." [Proverbs 27:17, NIV]

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Mailboxes enclosed in a brick surround are very common here, especially in the "nicer" neighborhoods...

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

That's what I'm talkin'bout! Baseball bat free. Car bumper free. They look good too. Cheaper than buying a couple of replacement boxes. They're even bullet free.

Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

I myself live in an old neighborhood, where the mailbox is on the house, by the front door. No problems with the golfers, but harder on the mailpersons :)

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Fill the space with C4 and bb's.

No mercy!

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)


RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism



This has survived three winters' worth of rural Wisconsin snow plows.

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Wow Tick, where's my bat!

Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Roll 2x 1/2 x 1/2 steel bars into a pair of near-circles, welding both to 1x 1/4 or 1x3/16 plates to mount the pair of circles to the horizontal PO box beam. Baseball bat hits circle, circle bounces bat back off of the rolled circle and into the side of the pickup truck bed.

Circles could be parallel to each other, or inclined so they are welded at the intersection at the top. Flat plate on both side of the 4x4 cross beam are drilled to allow lag bolts to attach the plates and circles to the PO box support beam.

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Huge swing




I think the spring design would be fun but might encourage people to wack it.



RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Around here they sell fiberglass poles (about 6-8mm diameter) to serve as markers for snowplowing.

Putting one or more similar poles ahead of your mailbox would serve to dampen the swing of any oncoming club or bat. It would also likely yield an unpleasant experience for the (alleged) perpetrator.

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

Twenty five years made one out of 1/8" steel plate mounted to a torsion bar from an early 70's Eldorado. Its still standing.

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

I'll second the game camera idea.

You might need to booby trap the camera though.

Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East - http://www.campbellcivil.com

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

I tried a game camera to monitor my driveway. Three different cameras each had a delay before taking a picture. After a number of weeks, I had a couple of shots of the back bumper of some very slow moving cars. Never did get a shot of the school bus.
The game cameras I had were completely useless as surveillance cameras.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

A "dash cam" in a weatherproof enclosure would probably work better. You'd need to supply power (typically 12V DC) but they loop-record at high res and have pretty good low-light capability considering the low price (about $35). With a 32gb memory card you can get a couple days' worth of 4k video, so you'd only need to recognize the vandalism sometime in the next day-and-a-half and you'd still have video of it.

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

The quintain was a training device people used to practice jousting. I don't know the particulars, but you would ride at it, and if you struck it in the wrong spot, it would spin around and hit the rider.

RE: Hardening a New Double-Walled Plastic Rural Mailbox Against Vandalism

It always swung around to hit you. The idea was to make the rider mindful to get down or get whacked.

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