PROCESS

My next assignment for ENGI 210 was to make a box. There were few constraints and the box could be made in any way. Earlier we had learned about a new method to attach joints. This method used a device known as a Kreg jig. I had traditional knowledge of how to make a box, so I decided to try to make the whole box using the Kreg jig.

I decided to make the box 6″x 6″x 6.5″. To achieve this, five pieces were cut. All of these pieces were cut with a 6″ height. One of the pieces (the bottom) was cut at 6″x 6″. Two side panels were cut with a width of 6″. The remaining two side panels were cut with a width of 5″ (3 – 6″x 6″, 2 – 5″x 6″). That makes five pieces for the five sided box.

All of these pieces were cut using a table saw and were cut from a large plank of plywood. Plywood was used due to its relative ease of use and the low cost associated with the material.

 

The next step was to use the router to round off all of the corners. To do this I decided to use a router bit that would get the closest transition from one face to the next. Each corner that would be exposed got rounded with exception of the top surfaces of the box. The pieces were all fit checked to make sure that they would work to make the box.

After checking all the pieces, the next step was to use the Kreg jig to begin building the box. Using the Kreg jig was relatively straightforward. Once the jig was set-up for the 0.5″ the drilling process began. Holes were drilled on three of the sides of the 2 – 5″x 6″ and holes were drilled on only the bottom side of the 2 – 6″x 6″ being used for the sides. Once this was done, the box was ready to be assembled. A few test pieces were cut in order to test what would be the best method to attach all of the pieces. I began with using the Kreg branded screws. The screws were too long for the parts used and they stuck out past the edge. Another type of screw was used and proved to be just as ineffective. Eventually, through trial and error, I was able to find the right size screw that would not protrude through the other side of the edge. I first joined two sets of the sides and they were then attached to each other. This was first done with an electric screw driver and then the hard to reach insides were done with a manual screw driver. All of the sides were reinforced with wood glue to provide additional support. Once all of the sides were joined together, they were then attached to the bottom piece.

After the box was completed I measured all the sides and there was a mistake. One of the sides was 5  15/16″. This happened because the pieces that were cut to 5″ were cut 1/32″ too short. In order to fix the problem the belt sander was used to file away and shrink the bottom dimension of the box.  This proved effective in rectifying the situation. The old saying still holds truth, “measure twice, cut once”, and this was proof of why that is important. Although it did not significantly impact the quality of the end product, the size was slightly smaller than intended. That was a lesson learned during this project.

COST REFLECTION

With a sheet of 0.5″ plywood only costing ~20$, using approximately one quarter of the plywood means that the cost of the wood was ~5$. The screws used constituted about a dollar, so that brings the cost up to 6$. Working on the box I spent a total of two and a half hours, though not all of that time was spent making the box. A portion of the time was spent on experimenting with the various screws. To sell the box, there would be about a 15 percent charge over the cost of the material and labor to account for the machine time and any additional cost associated with that. If I charge minimum wage of ~7$, then that would bring the price of the box to 27.03$; 6$ material, 2.5 hours at 7$ and hour comes to 23.50$ with an added 3.53$ (23.5*15%).

COST REFERENCES

https://www.lowes.com/pl/Plywood-Lumber-composites-Building-supplies/4294402501

https://www.rockler.com/how-to/set-price-woodworking-projects-home-workshop/