Big Plywood Box (contains disturbing images)

[richard56]

I know this is not a thing of beauty. But to me it represents a change in my life.
After a long time of bimbling from one hobby to the next, knowing I had no real interest in any of them, this humble box gave me the hope that one day with a lot of hard work, patience and determination I may just produce something worthwhile.

It has also helped a friend by providing somewhere to store her horse's things.

It is made from 10mm shuttering ply and 40x25mm roofing laths.
I learned a lot during the build, hopefully with your help and advice the next one will be considerably better.

There is no internal frame the pieces are butted up and screwed together.
This made it a bit skewed and caused a lot of work adjusting it to fit the lid.

When I cut the base I allowed for the front and back panels, but not the end ones so the base can be seen from the end.
It does not look too bad in the flesh as the green paint from the end of the ply sheets match and make it look as if it is edged with something.

Measure twice, cut once.
I measured and marked about 10 times to get the hinges in the right place.
Then fitted the hinge on the wrong side of the mark!

I know there are lots of faults I can only put this down to lack of experience so all constructive criticism welcome.
As I say the next one will be much better.

At least "Dave" the cat likes it.

 

[dm65]

Its useful, and being used (at least by Dave - maybe a cat flap in the next one ?) so that makes it a success in my book

Thanks for the tale of the hinges though, that's the sort of thing I fall for

I made a table years ago out of 4 bits of 2x2, half a bed rail, some floorboard and biscuits - still in use now, had my dovetail jig on it a couple of weeks ago, and now the missus has her fan on it

Definitely in the 'that'll do' category, but fully functional

Remember that the things of beauty you see on here come from guys with years of experience, good timber, good tools and the they know hot use them as well

I'll bet you that each one has a story of horror on the road to success

Well done and keep it up

 

[MARK.B.]

Wont be long before you are making loads of different things and each one you make will increase your skill levels until one day you will be able to produce sawdust and shavings with the best em.
Usefull looking box but i would caution against putting too much weight in there.

 

[longinthetooth]

I used to have a showroom above the workshop, and people would wander in, go up, and shuffle about. Some came down again in about two minutes, some stayed up there longer. Twenty minutes was promising! Anyway once a couple descended and the woman, in a careful, received-pronunciation voice, said "you must have some lovely furniture in your home". Looking up from my work whilst thinking "Don't adopt that cloying tone in here, madam!", I said "My bedside table is a cardboard box".

Her eyebrows lifted & her lower lip speechlessly drooped.

But it was true. And still is, though a different box, up-ended with a piece of mdf balanced on the top ...

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Actually I wouldn't be nearly so hard on yourself, you have two big things going for you......humility for one and clear understanding of the areas for improvement.

The knowledge of the base and hinges issue alone will focus your future projects down the right path and your lack of ego will open you to advice from others. What you've done is make a prototype. You can take heart from the fact that the biggest blue chip R&D operations on the planet use this time honoured technique to refine their product sets.

If you see your project from that perspective then you've just begun the most absorbing apprenticeship.

 

[MickCheese]

With the hinges thing.

You may find using a tape is the issue. If you set the locations out on an bit of scrap and use that to transfer the marks you should not go wrong.

I have fallen foul of this loads of times, especially when making rails with tenons. I have found my rails short by the tenons and that means a skinnier piece or a remake.

Mick

 

[Baldhead]

Rich

It's a commission, you designed and made it, probably with very few tools? dont beat yourself up, I am in the process of making roll along carts for my workshop/garage and guess what, I made the same mistakes, does it matter? no it doesn't, simply because its a useful object, it's not a piece of display furniture.

Tell people the base ply being visible is intentional, you built it that way to transfer any weight placed on the top, ie saddles etc. :roll: :roll:

BH

 

[AndyT]

You've proved that however much we all enjoy reading about making things, the very best lesson is to actually get on and make something! That's worthwhile in my book and will give encouragement to other people starting out. Well done!

 

[mind_the_goat]

I'm making a small chest of drawers to fit inside a built-in wardrobe in our new extension. I have a bit of a hang up about not wasting wood so I'm making it with with left over ply from the extension build. It ain't going to be pretty, but it's going to be useful. Like you really, it's a big learning exercise. Cutting things square has been the interesting bit, and the thing I had least confidence in achieving before I started, but it's not too bad (with a few notable exceptions). It's very important, probably more so with cheaper power tools to check alignments regularly, don't rely on the built in gauges. I've created a couple of jigs to and it's quite remarkable how much difference this makes, well worth spending the time if you have more than one piece to cut or shape. Biggest thing I've learned though is that trying to reuse building quality ply (especially after it's been left outside) is a bad idea, luckily I don't have a lot left now so shouldn't be temped to try it again

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

lol...Ive been there after we built our house. Best thing I found for it in the end was bird boxes. It was WBP exterior grade ply but had been outside for years. It's as wonky as hell but just fine for nest boxes. In fact if anyone wants an RSPB recommended tit box design that's amazingly successful at attracting birds pm me and I'll mail it to you.

 

[barkwindjammer]

Superb job :!:

 

[Hardwood66]

Wouldn't be an Internet forum with our a cat nice job

 

[Graham Orm]

Great job. You have learned masses whilst doing this. The next one will be even better...and easier to make. How well equipped are you? Do you have a router?

 

[richard56]

Thank you all for the comments and encouragement.
Spurred on by them I am planning a mark 2 version.
I have seen them made from thin board and aluminum profiles.
I was going to use 6mm and make an external frame.
What do you think?
If you Google flight cases you will see what I mean.
Is there a pets thread? I have a few pics of Dave helping me out.

 

[richard56]

Great job. You have learned masses whilst doing this. The next one will be even better...and easier to make. How well equipped are you? Do you have a router?

Thanks. Yes I have a router. Have you got an idea?

 

[barkwindjammer]

This sort of thing
http://www.flightcasehardware.co.uk/ind ... h=60_86_87

 

[AndyT]

If you get some strips of (say) 20mm square section softwood, and rout 6mm grooves along adjacent long edges, you can glue your thin ply into the framing - result = light weight but rigid construction. It also hides the edges of the ply.

 

[Graham Orm]

Great job. You have learned masses whilst doing this. The next one will be even better...and easier to make. How well equipped are you? Do you have a router?

Thanks. Yes I have a router. Have you got an idea?

Rebates in the edge of the ply to take the adjacent edges.

EDIT: Or as the above answer would be better still.

 

[richard56]

This sort of thing
http://www.flightcasehardware.co.uk/ind ... h=60_86_87

Yes, that is the stuff.

 

[richard56]

If you get some strips of (say) 20mm square section softwood, and rout 6mm grooves along adjacent long edges, you can glue your thin ply into the framing - result = light weight but rigid construction. It also hides the edges of the ply.

Brilliant, thank you.
So do I butt the corners and glue them?
Or is there a special 3 way joint?
Thanks again