Build a Crate! | ENGI 210: Prototyping and Fabrication

By Kairong Xu

In this project, we used precut wood to build a wooden crate together. Before we start putting in screws, we “modeled” it to see how we are going to build it and where we want to put screws.

Jessica first labeled each wood for their usage. She labeled each edge, face, and space to put screws. Then she put together the base after sanding them.

Then, We decided to add some special features: handles! Jessica drew, cut out, and sand the handles while I was sanding parts she previously made.

After preparing all the assembled parts, we began assembling the crate. Our process of assembling the woods includes clamping the woods together, and then predrilling with a ⅛’’ bit, countersinking, and drilling with a star-shaped Phillips bit. Jessica assembled a base first. All the other parts are assembled starting from this base.

We first drilled the vertical support into the base made by Jessica.

Next, we started to assemble the top frame and the middle frame. We used the same process of assembling wood as before by clamping the wood together and then drilling it after predrilling and countersinking.

We routed and sanded all the edges of the wood.

Here is our finished top and middle frame!

Then we assembled the frames to the vertical supports of the crate. We put a piece of 1×4 wood to ensure an even space between frames. We cut and sand the extra vertical supports of the crate after that.

Now our wood crate is finished, and we decided to spray some color. It is worth noting that spraying color in a dark place will lead to inefficient spraying since we are constantly spraying the same area multiple times. Our color spray ran out soon. But many areas on the crate aren’t colored yet.

Therefore, we use purple to spray it again the next day since there are 2 purple spray which ensure enough color spray. Finally, here is our finished crate!

Here is the picture of cleaning up

Raw materials:

$13.33

2×2 lumber in Home Depot: 0.37/foot, in total 40 inches;$1.23
1×4 wood plank in Home Depot: 0.39/foot, in total 200 inches; $6.5
40 wood screws: 0.14/screws; $5.6

Labor:

$80

3 hours of Kerry’s time & 5 hours of Jessica’s time. Each hour of working as a TA gets $10, in Rice University

Machine Time:

$45

Assume the rental price of a scroll saw to be $40 a day, router $20 a day, drill $15 a day, and sander $15 a day. Assuming the hourly price to be half of the price. The total cost of using machines is $45

Total:

$138.33