In this week’s project of building a box, I made a 16x16x12’’ box with an open top out of plywood. I first selected a few pieces of wood from the woodshop which were ¾’’ thick. I then used a table saw to saw a 16×16’’ slab and four 15 ¼’’ by 11 ¼’’ slabs. After having all the pieces necessary to build the box, I fastened them together using clamps and corner clamps. I then used a ⅛’’ drill bit with a handheld drill and drilled pilot holes into the pieces. After drilling the pilot holes, I used a bigger drill bit and drilled countersunk holes on top of each pilot hole I drilled.
Measuring and cutting out the pieces using the table saw.
From there, I sanded down each piece with an orbital sander with a 60 grit sandpaper attachment on all sides. I then marked the edges I wanted to fillet and brought them to the wood shop to use the router to fillet the edges. However, Fernando and I broke the router machine after a few test cuts. I then decided to use a handheld router to fillet the edges of my pieces.
Added fillets using a handheld router.
After finishing the routing, I clamped all of my pieces together again and used the handheld drill to screw in the screws. I then used a filer to create curves on the corners edges of the bottom piece that I wasn’t able to make with the router. Then, I sanded the entire box again with an orbital sander with a 100 grit sandpaper attachment for a smoother surface. I then used a 100 grit sandpaper to add finishing touches on edges where the orbital sander was not able to reach.
Clamped together the pieces before screwing each screw.
Filed and sanded the edges that weren’t able to be done by the router or the orbital sander.
After vacuuming, wiping, and drying the box to remove the sanded wood particles, I post processed the box. I stained the box with the Restor-A-Finish Walnut colored stain, following the directions on the container closely. After letting it dry, the box was done!
Post-processed with Howard Restor-A-Finish stain.
Cost Analysis:
Materials:
Plywood: I used one 16×16’’ and four 15 ¼’’ x 11 ¼’’ rectangles of ¾’’ thick plywood. This amounts to 942.25 square inches of ¾’’ thick plywood. A ¾‘’ thick birch plywood panel that is 4ft by 8ft costs $80, costing approximately $0.018 per square inch. The total cost for the wood used in this project is $16.36.
Screws: I used a total of 16 screws in this project. At $11.99 for a box of 100 screws, a single screw costs approximately $0.12, the total cost for the screws used is approximately $1.92.
Sandpaper: A pack of five 9’’ x 11’’ 80 grit sandpaper costs $8.3. I used approximately ¼ of a sheet of the 80 grit sandpaper costing around $0.83. A pack of twenty five 9’’ x 11’’ 100 grit sandpaper costs $11.99. I used around ¼ of a sheet of the 100 grit sandpaper costing around $0.12. The total cost of sandpaper used in this project is $0.95.
Restor-A-Finish Stain: A 16fl.-oz bottle of the Howard Restor-A-Finish stain costs $9.98. I used approximately 1/10th of the bottle, the total cost for the stain used is $1.
The total material cost for this project is $20.23.
Machine Time:
Table Saw: I used the table saw for approximately 15 minutes. A table saw uses approximately 1560 watts, using it for 15 minutes will use a total of 0.39 kWh. In Texas, it costs $0.12 per 1kWh, so the total electricity cost of the table saw is $0.05.
Handheld Drill:I used the handheld drill for approximately 30 minutes. A battery-charged handheld drill uses approximately 100 watts, using it for 30 minutes will use a total of 0.05 kWh. In Texas, it costs $0.12 per 1kWh, so the total electricity cost of the table saw is $0.006.
Handheld Router: I used the handheld router for approximately 30 minutes. A handheld router uses approximately 2 horsepower, which is approximately 1490 watts, using it for 30 minutes will use a total of 0.745 kWh. In Texas, it costs $0.12 per 1kWh, so the total electricity cost of the table saw is $0.09.
Orbital Sander:I used the orbital sander for approximately 30 minutes. An orbital sander uses approximately 308 watts, using it for 30 minutes will use a total of 0.154 kWh. In Texas, it costs $0.12 per 1kWh, so the total electricity cost of the table saw is $0.02.
The total machine cost for this project is $0.17.
Labor:
Lab Tech: I needed a lab tech’s help when using the table saw for approximately 15 minutes. At $10/hour, the total cost of labor was $2.5.
The total cost of making this box is $22.90.
