Naturally, given I left all of this weekend’s work (this, diffe homework, and the laser cutting project) until Sunday, this is a speedrun. Going into the room, I knew exactly how I wanted the crate built and what the measurements were going to be. To save time, I only measured 4 times, one for 16 inch sides, one for 14.5 inch sides, one for horizontal beams at the bottom, and one for 11.25 inch vertical beams. The rest of the cuts were done with other pieces as reference and several cuts were done purely by eye. I used the table saw to ensure the sides of the vertical pillars were smooth to accept the side planks. Once I had all the pieces cut, I did a test fit with no fasteners to ensure everything fit snugly.

Afterwards, I had a small time loss when I tried to find the parts for the brad nailgun but gave up and used screws instead. To use screws with maximum efficiency, I had a 3 power tool setup with different bits on each one to use in order. I finished the entire structure of the crate in a reasonably impressive 2:15:00 and moved on the finishing.

For the finishing process, I first put the sides and top of the crate on the router table. Next, I sanded the entire box inside and out at 80 grit with an orbital sander before sanding just the outside at 300 grit. I also used a dremel to remove 2 screws ends sticking out. I ended this segment at about 2:50:00

For the last segment of the run, probably my biggest time loss, I applied a oil based cherry stain to the crate. However, I didn’t wear gloves and lost probably 30 minutes trying to get the stain off my hands. I ended the run after applying the stain to the underside of the crate

Cost Analysis:

Screws: $2.23 – 36 screws at $0.06 per screw

Wood: $13.33 – 246 in of 1×4 and 69 in of square at $.042/in, assuming 98% efficiency

Stain: $2.00 – assuming 1/5 used of a $10 pint of stain

Labor cost: $81.17 – 4.06 hours at $20 per hour

Total: $98.73 and I’m tired now