For my crate, I wanted to “think outside the box” with the design. I thought that it would be fun to base my design on the Minecraft chest, as shown below.
In some ways, it might have been too big of a project to undertake in the time that I had to work with, but I found myself able to find time to make it work.
THE PROCESS
I elected to use pre-cut wood, which slightly constrained the size/design of my box, but it cut out a solid chunk of would-be labor time, which I’m thankful for. The first thing that I did was route all of my wood pieces so that I wouldn’t need to once I constructed the box components. The idea was to get the task out of the way early, but unfortunately, when it came to connecting the pieces, it revealed a slight problem.
When routing, I routed all four edges on one of the sides, which seemed like a good idea in the beginning, but it caused the connections between sides to have an enlarged gap (as seen above). Instead, I would have better planned out which edges to route, allowing for the best-looking finished product, instead of the short-sighted approach that I mistakenly took.
After routing each piece, I sat down and put down a show while I sanded each piece with first 120 grit sandpaper, and then 220 grit.
Next, I connected the side planks, with two shorter planks on the ends of two longer ones.
To connect them, I drilled a pilot hole, then a counter sink divot, and finally put in the screw. A problem arose when attempting to countersink, as the wood tended to split, as we were just using the tips of the 5/16 inch bits to countersink. The front part of the bit usually went smoothly, but as soon as the bit caught onto the wood, it would snag a large chunk out, and leave counter sinks that were both chipped too deep.
As I completed more of these I noticed that setting the drill at a lower setting, the wood had a lower tendency to split, even the 15 torque setting at 1 speed versus the driver setting made a difference. After completing all three levels of the box, I set the final three planks into the bottom layer. It was important to properly line up the bottom planks with the bottom layer, to provide a flush base for the box.
The next step was to align the four 2x2s inside the box and stack the 3 levels evenly––I used spare test planks to consistently separate the layers. The time-consuming part of attaching the 1x4s to the layers was creating a 3-clamp system to fasten each 2×2 to the sides properly. To attach each screw, I had to clamp and unclamp the system 8 times per layer, working out to a total of 24 times. Although rudimentary, the process of removing and reattaching the clamps each time was tedious.
After I completed the beginner-level box, I went outside to spray paint the box (and box’s lid) with Real Orange spray paint. The next day, after applying two coats of spray paint, I used a protective Polycyclic finishing coat to protect the wood.
Finally, to complete the “chest” look, I attached the main frame of the box to the lid using two hinges, and a buckle I created (SEWING!).
I ran into a problem with the hinge connections when they didn’t properly line up, causing there to be a gap between the box and the lid. I attempted to close the gap by pulling the straps taut, but the tension was too much for the straps, causing the stitches I created to rip.
To fix this, I opted to use smaller screws on the back hinges, allowing for the hinges to fall slightly higher, decreasing the gap organically. This allowed for the straps to connect less taut, but I added a second stitch on both ends for added security. I then screwed these straps onto the box, with the same pilot hole, countersink, and screw procedure.
I think that the final product come out well, but if I had more time, I would have added a black outline to the edges and corners (and maybe painted the buckle silver) to better follow the design of the Minecraft chest.
REFLECTION
This project took a lot more time than I had projected. Although I assumed adding the lid and straps would add a little time, it ended up contributing to an additional 2 hours given the problems I ran into while working on these parts. In total, I spent about 12 hours on this project, with the time split roughly in half between pre and post-processing work.
I think one of the main things that I could have done better with this project was properly planning out the precise procedure of steps. I built myself a loose outline for different actions that were constrained by proceeding steps, but I should have been more detailed with exactly how I would complete them. For example, routing each part individually, in the beginning, was a good idea, but I could have been more detail-oriented about which sides to route, instead of routing all of them.
The pre and post-processing tasks were simple, yet time-consuming: the sanding, the spray-painting, and applying the protective coating. The sanding likely took me around 45 minutes, since I neglected to use the power sander, and hand-sanded each piece individually, which allowed me to have better precision over the part, but cost me in time efficiency. The spray painting was both a time-consuming and slightly expensive ordeal, since after I had painted over 3 sides of my box, the spray paint ran out, and I had to purchase another at Home Depot (to match the color on the box). Waiting an hour in between painting for coats to dry also burned time, but I didn’t include that time in the labor cost estimate. With both the spray paint and protective coating, I had to be meticulous about what sides to cover first/last to minimize pooling/residue in crevices in the crate.
It was fun to bring back sewing for this project, and it was cool how I was able to quickly navigate through the process this time. Unfortunately, I still made the mistake of sewing the wrong side up at first, causing the bobbin color to show on top, so I needed to scrap those and resew.
Overall, I enjoyed this project, and I’m happy about the direction I took with my chest. I wanted to note, however, that I now realize that the Minecraft chest is not, in fact, orange, but more of a wooden brown. I’m red/green colorblind, so I definitely should have checked with a friend before, but hindsight is 20/20! I’m happy with the color of my chest, nonetheless, and I like the way it pops to contrast other crates made in the past.
COST ESTIMATE
Raw Materials
Labor
- 12 hours (@ $7.50/hr) = $90
Overhead
- Drills: 4 hours (Estimate) = $20
- Sewing Machine: 30 minutes (Estimate) = $2.5
TOTAL
The total cost of this chest works out to be $131.7, mostly due to labor costs. Although I believe that in the following iteration, I could be slightly more efficient, it would still be a pretty time-consuming undertaking. Mass production is likely the only way to cut down on this constraint to decrease the price of the box and compete with similar items on the market (valued at around $40).
