Product
One wooden crate, 16”x16”x12”, stained dark walnut, with laser cut text engraved on two planks.
Front
Sides
Inside
Procedure
To begin, I started by sketching out the box’s dimensions so we would know how much to cut from each type of wood (1”x3” or 2”x2”).
Diagram of crate and list of pieces to cut
Then we went into the woodshop and picked up some long pieces of wood. The wood was measured, then cut using a miter saw. We measured each piece individually after each cut to make sure any error in the previous cut wouldn’t propagate to new pieces.
Cut wood
The cut pieces were then sanded to smooth out the surfaces. I sanded the surfaces of all of the pieces with a belt saw, as it was a lot quicker than sanding by hand and made sure the surfaces were evenly sanded. There were still some defects, but they were more related to defects in the wood.
Once the pieces were cut, I routed the four top planks with an angular bit. Next, I started what I call the “decoration” part.
To add the decoration, I first started by staining a top and middle level plank a dark walnut color. (I also stained one surface of the bottom, but this was just because it seemed like it would be hard to reach in and stain it once the crate was built.)
My idea was to laser cut the stained planks with the words, “Property of” and below that, “Rice University.” Staining before laser cutting makes the laser cut text appear lighter in color than the surroundings. At least, that’s how it normally works. My “Rice University” came out exactly how I wanted it to, but the “Property of”, instead of turning lighter, actually burnt, and recutting didn’t help.
Initial laser cutting attempt
My initial thought was to spray paint over the text in white to make the text more readable, and I went so far as to create stencils for this purpose. However, I ended up having to cut another piece that I forgot about, and while I was at it, I cut and routed a new plank to laser cut. This time it came out as expected – there must have been a wrong setting the first time, but I honestly don’t know what it was.
A much better laser cutting attempt
After laser cutting the two planks, I started building the crate. The first step was to put the frame together. This was a bit of a process – clamp the two ends down, clamp the corner clamp to a table, drill a pilot hole, drill the nails in, and repeat for each pair.
Corner clamp setup for building the frame
Unfortunately, I didn’t drill the pilot hole deep enough the first time, and the wood cracked pretty badly.
Cracks made when drilling into the frame.
While after this, I paid more attention to drilling a deep pilot hole as well as drilling a shallower hole with a larger drill bit to fit the screw head better, there were still a few more cracks.
Once the frame was built, the planks were screwed onto the outside with a similar process.
Setup for screwing on planks.
Finally, the whole box was stained. See final pictures at the beginning of this blog post.
Challenges
My attempt at laser cutting the “Property of” plank was frustrating, especially because I couldn’t figure out why the first time didn’t work while the second plank engraved just fine with (what I thought were, at least) the same settings. Fortunately, this wasn’t a permanent mistake, as I could get a new piece fairly easily. However, I never did a test cut of the engraving before starting on the plank. Next time, I think I should do a test cut on a smaller piece of stained wood, to make sure the settings are right, before engraving the full-size piece.
The other main issue with my box, which was permanent this time, was cracking the wood while drilling. The frame isn’t very visible from the outside, so it’s not a big deal aesthetically, but the cracked wood still decreases the box’s stability. If I were to make another crate, I would definitely be more careful about putting in pilot holes.
Cost Analysis
Wood: Used 15’3” of 1”x3” wood, 7’9” of 2”x2” wood, and a ¼”x16:x16” square
An 8’x1”x3” plank is $21.72 at Home Depot, and an 8’x2″x2″ plank is $31.50.
¾”x16”x8 ft plank is $30.97 at Lowes – 16” is 1/6 of the length, so 30.97/6 = $5.16.
Total for wood: $58.38
Labor: 10 hours at $15/hr. + 1 hour of laser cutter time at $25/hr. = $175
No equipment cost because all equipment used was shared
Total cost: $233.38
