Cosette and I built our crate together. We decided to cut the wood ourselves using the miter saw in the woodshop. For each plank length we measured it once, cut it, double-checked it, and then used it to create a stop at the end of the miter saw table. This allowed us to quickly cut the same lengths multiple times without having to remeasure. There were really no issues with this step and we were able to get all our pieces fairly fast. We also ended up with a couple of extra scrap pieces of the 1×4 wood (they will come back later).

      

Next we screwed our wood planks into rectangles following the instructions provided (corner clamp, pilot hole, countersink, screw). The wood was about 8.5 cm wide and we decided that a 3 cm separation of two screws at each corner would be an easy-to-mark and even spacing. We found it was easier and more stable to screw two separate corners first and then screw the two corners together. This is because having the structure of the screwed corners, as well as having two contact points (instead of one if we did the frame one plank at a time) helped us to ensure the frame is screwed on so that it fits and is perpendicular. We had some trouble with the wood being fairly weak and splitting/chipping easily when using the drill. We simply tried to minimize this by being careful with the drill and then filing/sanding down the damage during post-processing.

     

Once the frames were put together, we used a hand router tool (we didn’t have access to the table router) to create smooth curved edges. We could not use the router at the edges right next to the screws, as it would chew up both the router and the screws, or on edges that were already broken/distorted (due to the lower quality of the wood). Instead, we used a file to smooth out the hard edges and chipped pieces in those areas.

Once all the edges have been routed or filed to be nice and round, we put together the bottom of the crate. With how we put the frame together, the planks meant for the bottom were actually just a little bit too long to fit in the frame. However, a few passes of the orbital sander on the ends of the planks took care of that. We screwed two screws into each end of the bottom planks using the exact same method as before.

   

Before putting more pieces together, we started to file and sand down our wood. We focused on the inside surfaces and edges of our frame, as well as the 2×2 pieces that would be the vertical struts. These would be the hardest to resand once they were assembled. We smoothed and refined the surfaces with a hand file, 60 grit sandpaper, 120 grit sandpaper, and sometimes the orbital sander if it seemed necessary. We sanded it down until we were satisfied with the smoothness of the wood and could run a flat object against it without creating any splinters.

   

Now it’s time to go vertical. We placed our 2×2 pieces of wood into the corners of our bottom frame, facing what we considered the “worst” sides (the most imperfections) towards the outside so they could be blocked by the frames. It seemed logical to put screws in at the same height as the top-most screw of the frame on the side that was parallel to the pre-existing screws, and then in between the pre-existing screws when drilling in perpendicular to those screws. This is repeated for all four corners. Then, when placing the next section of the crate, we used our scrap 1×4 pieces as convenient spacers to give a modest gap between the bottom and middle frames. We screwed the middle frame in and then repeated again for the top frame.

   

With the crate assembled, we finished sanding the outside of the box. The same methods were used, file off the especially poor areas and then use sandpaper with increasing grit. Trying to smooth out and clean up the areas around the nails was especially tedious, as countersinking the holes really chewed up the wood around it.

   

After dusting the crate off, we’re ready to start coloring the crate. We wanted to give the crate a nice natural wood look, so we decided to use one of the wood-colored stain as our finisher. We tried a few different ones on a 1×4 scrap piece until we chose a color we liked. Then we simply followed the instructions of the stain and coated the crate. I will say one thing, moving the orbital sanding usage to the same area we use for painting was not ideal. I was constantly worried that the sawdust from the orbital sander would get on my crate as I was painting it, which could leave the final paint/stain job looking very spotty.

Bada bing bada boom, we have our finished crate.

   

Cost Type	Cost	Price	Source	Quantity	Total
Materials	Lumber 1×4	$1.06 /ft	Homedepot.com	16.875 ft	$17.88
	Lumber 2×2	$2.99 /ft	Homedepot.com	3.67 ft	$10.97
	Screws	$0.025 /screw	Homedepot.com	60 screws	$1.50
	Stain (Danish Oil)	$12.98 /pint	Homedepot.com	0.3 pints	$3.89
	Sand Paper	$1.74 /sheet	Homedepot.com	3 sheets	$5.22
Labor	Woodworking Operator	$17.93 /hr	Salary.com	8 hrs	$143.44
	Prototyping Engineer (You!)	$38 /hr	Ziprecruiter.com	1 hr	$38
Overhead	Facility Cost (Machine Time)	$13 /4hrs (orbit sander) $16 /4hrs (drill) $26 /4hrs (miter saw) $25 /day (router)	Homedepot.com   Pascorentals.com	2 hrs 2 hrs 0.5 hrs 1 hr	$18.79
	Quality Control	$20.64 /hr	Indeed.com	1 hr	$20.64
Design	Engineering and Development	Included with prototyping engineer and quality control.
	Iterations	1			N/A
Misc.	Waste and Scrap	1×4 lumber: $1.06 /ft 2×2 lumber: $2.99 /ft	Homedepot.com Homedepot.com	3 ft 0.5 ft	$4.67

Total Cost: $265