As part of our first assignment for ENGI 210, we made a wooden box. In the process, we applied wood working and fastening skills learned in class. While the task might seem simple at first, I learned a lot about fabrication in the process. The finished product is shown below!
The Process of Making a Box
1) After considering the available materials in the OEDK wood shop, I decided on 1/2″ plywood for the sides and 3/4″ plywood for the bottom. Ideally, 3/4″ plywood would have been better for the sides as well considering the wood screws can easily split the wood. However, I went with the thinner sides since that wood was more easily available. The side pieces being thinner also drove the design, with my final setup relying more heavily on screwing into the thicker base piece.
2) Once the wood was picked out, I cut all the sides into 6″ square pieces using the table saw. The base was cut into a 5.5″ square in order to accommodate the side pieces in the design shown below on the left (bottom view).
3) After all the pieces were cut, a fillet was added to three edges on each side piece (the fourth edge was left flat because it needs to meet the flat surface of its adjacent side, seen in the bottom view). The router in the wood shop was used for this process (pictured above on the right), and I learned to change the router bit with the assistance of a lab tech.
4) Once all the pieces were ready, all the sides were drilled to the base one by one. This was done using the red right angle clamps, shown below on the left, for the first two pieces, and then using regular push clamps for the last two pieces. In order to fasten the side to the base using wood screws, pilot holes were first drilled out using a bit slightly smaller than the minor diameter of the screw, preventing the wood from splitting. Lastly, a wood screw was also used in a similar fashion to fasten each of the four interfaces between the sides. The image below to the right shows a side view with all three screws on each side.
Lessons Learned
There were quite a few challenges I came across that I was able to learn from. They are listed below.
1) I learned that the router should be used slowly with multiple passes to insure that the plywood doesn’t get messed up.
2) In addition to an initial pilot hole for the wood screw, I also started using a larger bit to make somewhat of a countersink. Some of the wood around the wood screws slightly split due to the force of the drill; in the future, I would like to learn how this can be made cleaner.
3) At the very end, I realized that I should have planned the box design better from the very beginning. Some minor details slipped my mind, leading to little things like an edge sticking out here and there.
Cost Analysis
The following is a cost breakdown for making the box. For material cost, the price of the entire piece of wood was scaled down depending on the quantity used. Reference links have been provided.
- Material: 1/2″ plywood, 144 square inches, $1.342
- https://www.homedepot.com/p/Columbia-Forest-Products-1-2-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-PureBond-Birch-Plywood-833185/100020218
- Material: 3/4″ plywood, 30.25 square inches, $0.354
- https://www.homedepot.com/p/Columbia-Forest-Products-3-4-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-PureBond-Birch-Plywood-165921/100077837
- Wood Screws, $6.24
- https://www.homedepot.com/p/Grip-Rite-10-x-3-in-Philips-Bugle-Head-Coarse-Thread-Sharp-Point-Polymer-Coated-Exterior-Screw-PTN3S1/100115639
- Work Time, 2.5 hours, $25
- Total Cost: $32.936
