Upon reading the assignment, I wanted to create my box out of plywood. I saw others’ boxes being made and had a gameplan for how I would create it. However, when I went in to start (too late), there were not enough full sheets of plywood to make the proper size box. I did see a large collection of planks that could be used though, so I got to work with the new design.
I originally intended to make the planks directly touch, with no gaps in the box. Finding out how to affix them to each other was a problem for a later hour though, so I first cut the planks to the proper size. I cut 12 3.5″x0.75″ planks to 15.25″ long each. I was going to combine them in a square pattern where each side was the same (15.25″ of plank, 0.75″ of the end of the other plank) giving me a dimension of 16″ wide on each side.
I then ventured to the OEDK basement to create my squares. I used the corner clamps to get as close to a 90 degree angle as possible. The wood needed some convincing to form four 90 degree angles, as the planks were not totally straight. The warp wasn’t too bad, though, and based on my plans for the design it was ok that the three squares were not all identical. After sanding down the ends, the corners looked good enough for me and I moved on. I used the orbital sander to try to create at last a uniform flatness to each side.
Next, I used the router on each of the three sections. For two sections, I did both the top and the bottom edges. For the bottom section, I only did the top edge because I was planning on making a base out of plywood. I tested the tool that was currently setup and was happy with it, so I moved on by routing the edges. I routed the edges while they were assembled.
Next, it was time to connect the base. I selected two pieces of plywood from the scraps from other projcts to create the base. I cut them down to a close-enough size, and then lined them up so that there was a little bit of overlap. I attached the pieces to the bottom layer with screws. Then, I used the orbital sander to make the sides of the plywood flush with the square.
For the final stage of the construction, I needed to attach the supports to each square. I cut two 11.25″ long planks at 3.5 inches wide, and then cut these planks in half for my four supports. I attached each support in each corner of the bottom square with screws. I was unsure of how to attach the next layer. There was a nice “friciton” fit when I slid the next layer over the top, but there was inconsistent height. I decided to use popsicle sticks on all four corners to achieve uniform height. I clamped the square onto the support I was attaching it to. I did this for the top layer as well.
Finally, I decided to sand the entire crate well. I used the corded detail sander with 120 and 220 grit, and then followed up with 400 grit sand paper by hand until I was happy with how it looked and felt. I also sanded every edge I could find, primarily the router edges. I used a coarse and then fine grit but was not as concerned with it being super soft/smooth. Finally, I had completed construction of the box.
My sanding had create an unbelievable amount of saw dust, so I needed to spend a good bit of time cleaning up the work area in the basement. I suppose there are more efficient and cleaner ways of removing the amount of material I was removing, but it worked for my purposes.
Finally, I moved onto staining my box. I decided to use a black stain. I used an oil-based black stain and painted it on to all of the faces. I decieded to let the box dry overnight upside down. I put stain onto the top first, so it had some time to dry before I put it upside down onto the cardboard.
The next day, I came back and threw away the cardboard and the brushes as the stain had totally soaked into them.
The stain was still slightly tacky, so I decided to carefully move it to the ENGI 210 tables, avoiding the tacky parts. Overall, I was very happy with the color and consistency of the stain. I could see the grains of the wood if I looked closely, but it was a nice sleek black.
If I were to do this project again, I would definitely spend more time planning. I would have saved time if I had a better idea of what I wanted to do. Overall, I spent about 10 hours working on this project. I used 54 1.5 inch wood screws, 205.5″ of wood planks, and 256 square inches of plywood. With planks costing $3.50 for an 8 foot plank, a box of 50 screws costing $8.00, a 3072 square inch sheet of plywood costing $50, a half pint of stain costing $10 (a half pint covers 400-500 yards-much greater than my use), and minimum wage labor of $7.25 an hour, I would estimate the total cost of this box to be around $95. However, much of the labor time could have been avoided with better planning.
Overall, I was very happy with this project. I enjoyed the experience and enjoyed getting more comfortable with some of the machines in the woodshop, and was happy to create something that I was proud of.
