Wooden Crate – Homework 2

Author: Elena Nikolaychuk | Partner: Gabby Lea

For this second homework, students were paired and tasked with building a wooden crate to house their project materials and other assignments. I teamed up with Gabby for this project so it is nice we get to share this storage space that we collaborated to make. We decided to get pre-cut wood to save time, but some of the pieces we got were missing considerable chunks or were misshapen. We chose our wood in the woodshop, marked our measurements for the needed pieces, and used the miter saw to complete our starting set.

Our starting materials were:

• Wood Screws – 1.5” 
  
• 9 pieces: 1×4 lumber x 14-1/2” long 
• 6 pieces: 1×4 lumber x 12” long 
• 4 pieces: 2×2 lumber x 10-11” long  

After we cut our wood, we used the belt sander to get rid of drastic splintering on the ends of some boards. Once the pieces were no longer a splinter threat to our hands, we began planning our strategy. We made some mock assemblies and considered how we would space our screws for both proper support and aesthetic purposes. We agreed on a pattern and then marked and labeled all of the boards.

After marking our spots, we went over to the sanding table to drill our guiding holes for the screws. We wanted a uniform look to the crate and to account for any cracking during drilling before we did any staining or further sanding.

We were correct to air on the side of caution because we had some chipping and splintering in spots. We began processing by routing all blocks except the 3 planks that make up the bottom of the crate. This process removed the defined edges and avoided sharp corners once our crate was assembled.

We wanted to add some detail to our crate so we marked handles. The miter saw would have been the best option for this type of job, but Fabman would not grant us access even with the help of the TAs and a Lab Assistant. So, instead, Gabby and I took turns using the band saw to cut out as much as we could. From there we used serious sanding efforts, cycling between hand sanders, belt sander, and rotating sander.

We weren’t sure how different colors would look so we did some test runs on some scrap pieces. We settled on the Danish Oil for its simple, natural look and planned to finish this with a semi-gloss clearcoat. Following the instructions on the can, we soaked the pieces in the oil for 2 cycles. Instructions said to apply a clear coat 72 hours after oil application, so at this point, we had to just wait.

Finally, we assembled our crate. Using scraps to evenly space our boards and clamps to hold the crate steady, we finished the crate by drilling screws into the guides that we made earlier.

To finish the crate, we sprayed it with a semi-gloss clearcoat to seal our beautiful work. We did two coats in total and nearly passed out from the fumes.

After drying on the outside drying rack, our crate was complete! After each step, we made sure to clean up our area– put away all of our tools, and clean sanding debris and oil residue. It was very satisfying to vacuum away the sawdust.

Overall, this crate looks very neat, has smooth handles, and has the capacity to hold things. I would qualify this as a success! Gabby and I had a great team dynamic and collaborated well to delegate tasks and problem-solve effectively. Below is a cost analysis for this project if attempted from scratch. I have estimated it would take approximately $672.14 to make a similar crate using outside resources.

Table 1. Cost Analysis for Wooden Crate

Materials	1×4 Board 2×2 Sticks	$16.98/(16’ board) $7.98/(8’ board) $2.98/(8’ stick)	Lowes Lowes	9 x 14.5” long pieces of 1×4 lumber 6 x 12” long pieces of 1×4 lumber Total ~ 17’ 4 x 10-11” long pieces of 2×2 lumber  Total ~ 4’	$24.96 $2.98
	Screws	$5.98/(50 screws)	Lowes	~54	$11.96
	Sand Paper	$18.97/set	Walmart	2 sheets (60) 2 sheets (120) 2 sheets (280)	$18.97
Labor	Woodworking Operator (Me)	$21/hr	ZipRecruiter	8 hrs	$168
	Woodworking Operator (Gabby)	$21/hr		8 hrs	$168
	Prototyping Engineer (Me)	$36/hr	ZipRecruiter	2 hrs	$72
	Prototyping Engineer (Gabby)	$36/hr		2 hrs	$72
Overhead	Facility Cost (Machine Time)	Drill rental ($23/day) Miter Saw  ($57/day) Router ($15/day)	Home Depot Home Depot General Rental Center	1 day	$95
	Quality Control	$16.12/hr	Indeed	1 hr	$16.12
Design	Engineering and Development	– Danish Oil Finish ($22.15/can)	Self Amazon	~12 hrs total per person 1 hr	– $22.15
	Iterations	–	self	2-3	–
Misc.	Waste and Scrap	–	self	Wood scraps Screw Scraps	–

 

Thank you!