When brainstorming ideas for my box, I was inspired by a box that Danny made. The box featured edges made on the router that slid into one another in a sleek way, leaving the edges flush to each other. I thought it was a very unique way of putting a box together and ensuring its integrity, so I decided to incorporate it into my design.
In order to accomplish this, I needed to first use the table saw to cut five squares of wood of equal size (6”x6”).
At first, I tried using plywood, but once I passed it through the router, I immediately ran into problems. The layers of plywood were separating and cracking, and it wasn’t leaving a clean shape for the sides to slide together.
After many attempts, I decided that plywood perhaps was not the right material, and moved onto MDF instead. Though MDF is weaker than plywood, it allowed for a much smoother finish with the router, and accomplished the shape that I needed for the sides to fit together.
In the end, when the sides were put together, they looked like the pictures below. They were able to slide on easily and were jointed together. 
Next, I had to think of how the fifth face of the box would be added to the box. I decided to use the table saw again to angle the bottoms of the other faces and to bevel the fifth face, so that it would slip easily and smoothly into the box. The second picture below features the angled faces put together and the third shows the beveled fifth face on top of two of the angled faces.
After having cut all of the faces to the design that I wanted, it was time to decide how I wanted to attach the box. After many, many attempts with both the kreg jig and using the corner clamp to screw screws in, I was not happy with the results. Both of the techniques left the MDF messy, scratched, and torn, something I knew could not be fixed simply by filling in the holes. This definitely had to do with MDF’s consistency. Furthermore, attempting to attach the sides hurt the sleek edges that had been made by the router.
Because of this, I decided to glue the four faces that slid together, as they were already semi-strongly jointed by the router design. I left the four sides clamped and gluing overnight. 
I also decided to pre-drill holes at the bottom and then nail it to the other sides using eight small nails. Then, I used some saw MDF dust and glue to fill some holes in the box. I let the fillings dry and then sanded the edges.
Lastly, I decided to decorate the edges of my box by laser cutting corner designs. This also covered some of the corners where the box was uneven.
This is the finished product of my box. Woo.
If I had to estimate how much my box cost to make, I would say about $43.
The total MDF that I used to make the box was 1.25 square feet (6”x6”x5). At Home Depot, 32 square feet of MDF costs $21.57. With this ratio, 1.25 square feet of MDF would cost $0.84. I used about an eight of a container of wood glue. An 8 oz container of Gorilla wood glue costs $3.59, so I used $0.45 worth of glue. I also used eight small nails. A container of twelve small nails costs $2.58 at Lowe’s. Using this ratio, I used $1.72 worth of nails.
As for labor, I worked on this box for about four solid hours. The hourly rate of minimum wage is $7.25, so the cost of my labor was $29.
Lastly, I used the table saw, the router, and the laser cutter. The machine time usage for the table saw and router can be calculated by the cost of a membership for a workshop. The cost is $125 per month. This equates to about $3.67 per hour. I used both machines for about an hour, so this would cost $7.34. As for the laser cutter, the membership for a laser cutter is $120 per month. This equates to about $3.43 per hour. I used the laser cutter for an hour.
0.84 + 0.45 + 1.72 + 29 + 7.34 + 3.43 = 42.78.
A special thanks to Danny and Fernando for helping me.
