To start with, I have a teammate, Lulu for the crate project, who was also one of my Engi 200 teammates, so we should be working well.
- Design
For the design, we decided to have the wood assembled at a 45-degree angle with each other to have a nice look. We also decided that we wanted a handle on both sides so that we can carry the crate around. After finishing the design, we had that crate sketched and it looks like below.
The crate is going to have an interior volume of 16*12*12 inches cube and an exterior volume of 18*14*13 inches cube.
- Cutting wood
The next step is to cut out the 1*4 wood into the desired shape. To do that, we used a circular saw to cut the wood to the desired length. After cutting all the wood, we noticed that the actual cross-sectional area of 1*4 wood is actually around .75*3.5. To compensate for the error, we added and cut the wood accordingly to have the right size.
Then we used the circular saw again but at a 45-degree angle to finish the ends of the wood. After that we used the circular saw again but at a 45-degree angle to finish the ends of the wood. After that, we used the router to deal with the edge. We created a nice-looking ending on all wood parts.
At this point, all the work in the woodshop is finished and it’s time to move downstairs to finish the rest.
- Handles
We first approximated the size of a hand and draw lines to represent the cut.
Then we used a wire saw machine to cut out the handle in two pieces of 14 inches wood and used the sand belt machine to remove all the sharp edges.
- Assembly
The next step is to assemble the crate. We start that the bottom by attaching a side piece to a bottom piece.
Then, we attached the side piece across from the current piece as well as all the bottom pieces.
We also installed the four vertical pieces.
After it’s installed, it can stand up-side down and we can sit on it. Works like a chair! After that, we attached the top layer and then the mid-layer. The crate is then assembled!
5. Sanding
Due to some errors and displacements, some of the edges aren’t as well-combined as we wish. We first used a hand saw to remove some of the unwanted parts and used the sandpaper, from 80 grit to around 300 grit. The box is now sanded and have a much better touch.
6. A creative element.
This is when we noticed the crate is too boring and we wanted to add something to it. Considering the paint that OEDK provides and the acrylic paint I have, we decided that we want to make the crate a pikachu.
The above is the sketch Lulu made to the crate. We then used some of the waste wood to create its ears and tail and attached them to the crate with screws. (The are made with wire saw and sand belt machine and had the same sanding process with the crate itself)
7. Coloring
Yellow is all we need. We did several layers of yellow paint to make sure everything are all covered.
After the paint dried, we moved it back and start drawing the face and all other elements of Pikachu to the crate.
8. Post-processing & Finishing
For the post processing, we decided to first use a layer of wax to protect the wood and the paint since we didn’t locate the clear paint. But after we had our chat with the professor, he suggested sanding the crate, apply clear coating before sanding it again.
We followed the procedure, and the crate turned out well.
9. Cost Estimate
For the cost of the Picratchu, there would be 3 parts:
- material cost
- wood: around $1.5 per 12 inches and the total wood we used is 252 inches, so total cost is $31.5
- paint: Used half a bottle of yellow paint, $6.99/2=$3.5
- colors: provided by myself, for free
- screws: provided by oedk, for free
- wax: Used little wax, can be ignored
- clear coating: Used half a bottle of clear paint, $6.99/2=$3.5
- tool cost
- sandpaper: provided by oedk, for free
- brushes: provided by myself, for free
- labor cost
- 10 hours of work*2 people = $200
The total cost would then be $31.5+$3.5+$3.5+$200=$238.5
