Hi everyone! Harshita and I used the woodcutting, drilling, polishing, and staining skills we learned in class to create this beautiful box below. Through patience and strong teamworking skills we were able to complete this project efficiently and effectively.

In this project we used 6 12 inch 1x4s and 9 14.5 inch 1x4s and 4 2 by 2s. All of our wood was pre-cut and we decided to sand everything after the entire box had been assembled. When drilling, we used the vertical and corner clamp seen below. Using the clamps helped maintain a stationary position when drilling the wood. The clamps helped keep everything secure and ensured that we drilled everything in our desired orientation.

 

We first assembled the three main rectangles of the box and planned to place them over the 2×2 pillars after. To reduce the time in between replacing drill bits, we developed an efficiency method that helped us speed-run the entire process…that we have yet to patent. This method involved using three drills that already had the necessary drill bits tightly secured within each one. We understood that this may be unfair to those waiting to use the drills, so we did this method only when very few people around. Using this method, Harshita would create the holes in different areas, one after the other, while I would counter sync all the areas, and Harshita would come around again to screw in the screws, like a relay race.

 

After we had assembled all the rectangular frames and the base, we had to make sure that all of the frames would be able to slide down the pillars easily and remain tightly attached to each of them. We decided to use screws economically and only have one screw per side height of the planks into the pillar.

While everything went smoothly for the first two frames, we ran into a problem with the third. The third frame did not slide easily or with force onto the pillars. We did not want to start form scratch, so we took off one of the sides of the frame and the three sides to the pillars first. Then we screwed  on the last side, after it had been secured. This method worked, however it created a gap where you could see a little bit of the screw and some of the wood had been exposed that we would fix later.

We then sanded the entire box, both the interior and the exterior, with the 200 and 800 grit and finished the sanding off with the 2000 grit using the orbital sander. I should specific, we first sanded all the rectangular frames and pieces, individually, before assembling the box, aswel as sanding it after. Some of the areas of the wood were hard to reach, the nooks and crannies, so we used the glove blow to reach some of these areas. Overall, we tired our best to make sure the wood was smooth, and most importantly even all over. To ensure evenness across the wood, we made sure to put in the same effort in all areas when sanding. We then stained the entire box with Danish oil and finished it of with a clear enamel spray.

To solve the problem of the large gap that showed he nail, we decided to replace that one wooden piece. We cut another piece of wood, that we purposely measured larger than 12 inches just in case it was too short. We then made sure it was large enough and cut any excess of using the electric saw. We then had to sand the piece again using the same protocol as above and stained it aswell.

Overall, I’d say that this project was far more enjoyable for myself than the previous. There was something very therapeutic about using the drill and make something compact and strong. Here is my box and bellow is my cost analysis.

Materials:

• 1×4 lumber, Price: $3.32/8ft, Quantity: 16.875 ft, Total = $3.32/8ft * 16.875ft = $4.50
• 2×2 lumber, Price: $2.99/3ft, Quantity: 12ft, Total = $2.99/3ft * 12ft= $11.96
• Screw, Price = $5.98/233 screws, Quantity: 60 screws, Total $5.98/233 * 60 = $1.54
• Danish Oil, Price = $12.98/pint Quantity: 0.2 pints, Total $12.98/pint* 0.2= $2.60
• Sand paper, Price = $0.66/unit, Quantity: 4units, total = $2.64

Labor

• Wood working operator(Carpenter Salary): $24/hour, Quantity: 4 hours, Total: $96
• Prototyping Engineer Salary:  $38/hour, Quantity: 4 hours, Total: $152

Overhead(Facility Costs)

• Orbital sander: $13.00/4 hours, Quantity: 1.5 hours, total = $4.875
• Cordless Impact drill: $16.00/4 hours, Quantity: 3 drills, 2 hours, Total= 1$16*(2/4)*3 = $24

Miscellaneous

• 1×4 lumber, Price: $3.32/8ft, Quantity: 1ft, Total = $3.32/8ft * 1ft = $0.42