This week, our fellow classmates created a variety of brilliant crate projects with creative variations. In this blog, I would like to present my take on the project.
Design & BluePrinting
All good designs start with careful calculation. This was my first entry point into the project. With all dimensions considered and wall thickness taken into account, I was ready to cut the raw materials—or so I thought. The first issue quickly arose from some assumptions I made about the wooden planks. I thought they were 4 inches in width, but in fact, each one was more than half an inch narrower. If I were to proceed with my initial plan, I would end up with a 10-inch-tall crate. As a result, more time was invested in redesigning the box, prolonging the whole process.
Cutting Lumber
The final dimensions of the lumber are:
- 6pcs 1×4 13.2 in
- 6pcs 1×4 9.2 in
- 3pcs 1×4 16 in
- 1pc 1×1.75×13.2 in
- 4pcs 2×2 12 in
One of the draft pages and some scribbles & numbers
Components layout & dimensions (not drawn to scale)
Most regular dimension pieces were cut using the miter saw. The 1×1.75×13.2- inch piece was intended to fill in the bottom, minimizing the number of gaps. I used the table saw to make the longitudinal cut for this narrow piece of wood. The two 2×2-inch corner cuts on the other floorboard to make room for the two poles were done using the band saw. Overall, the cutting section didn’t cause too many issues.
Pre-Processing
1/4 in cove
3/4 in curve rounding
There were two parts to the pre-processing: routing and sanding. The routing patterns I chose were a 3/4-inch curve rounding and a 1/4-inch cove. All routing was done using a hand-held router, which is very useful when working with smaller surfaces.
These patterns routed perfectly on the longer boards with minimal splintering. Rounding the corners on the four poles was more challenging and produced a significant amount of splinters. The ends of each pole have dense wood grain, and when the router blade sliced into them, they cracked instead of being sheared off. Most of these cracks and splinters were removed by sanding with grain sizes 60 to 240.
Tears in the pole end after routing. Comparison of before (top edge) and after sanding (right edge).
Assembly
My crate was designed to have its poles on the outside, with all boards screwed to them independently. Assembling the bottom layer posed a challenge. Instead of having a wooden frame to secure the floor boards, I needed to attach each side separately.
I positioned all the normal-sized floor boards on the table, clamped them down, and attached one side board to hold the bottom together. The side boards on the opposite and adjacent sides were then attached to the floor boards. Two poles were fitted at the corners and secured to both the side and floor boards. This completed three sides of the bottom layer.
Overall layout and attachment of the bottom layer
The narrow piece of floorboard was screwed to the 4th side board first. This assembly was then attached to the two remaining poles. Together, they were screwed onto the other half of the crate previously assembled. This closes the bottom section of the crate.
Fully assembled bottom layer, and one side board on the second layer already attached on the right.
Once the bottom was fully assembled, assembling the top two layers went more smoothly. The side boards were attached to the poles, leaving half an inch of space between each layer.
Full assembled crate
Post-Processing
I chose to stain my crate in a solid walnut color. To add a personal touch, I used tape to create a large cross pattern on all sides of the crate. The taped area would retain the natural wood tone afterward.
Prior to staining
Post staining
The only issue with using the tape was that some sections were not firmly pressed down against the wood, allowing a small amount of paint to seep underneath the tape and cause jagged edges on some sections of the cross.
Cost Analysis
Prices of materials and equipment rental are sourced from homedepot.com. For the material section, I provided two separate sets of prices. One represents the cost if I were to order all the supplies myself to build the crate. I would pay the full amount whether or not all the materials were used (Entire Unit Price). The Used Material Worth corresponds to the actual worth of the materials consumed. For the equipment, the cost is also estimated based on individually renting those pieces of equipment. The hourly salary is based on the minimum wage in Texas. Based on the assumptions made, the reported cost is likely to be an overestimation as OEDK can bulk order materials and has full ownership over the equipment used in the project.
