Wooden Box Construction

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Done By: Diljot Gill
Step 1) Orthographic

• The first step in creating your box is to draw out the size
and dimensions of the box you want to create. Starting with
the front of the box use a ruler and draw to the size you
want the box to be ad afterwards draw lines going out to
the right and out upwards, Be sure to give a centimeter of
space for each side. Going from the lines you drew upwards
draw the top of the box and when done draw a line from the
top going to the right. Now going back to the lines, you drew
to the right begin to draw the right side of the box and when
finished draw a line from the right side and draw upwards.
Draw out a 45 degree line. Now begin drawing out the
inside of the box from the top side and when done draw out
lines going to the right and when they touch the 45, begin
to draw down to the right side and when the lines touch the
top of the right side draw out the inside from the right side
of the box with dotted lines and when drawing out the
inside from the front side do the same dotted lines. Now
that everything has been drawn out begin to measure and
write the dimensions of the box in inches.
Step 2) SketchUp
Now open sketch up and go to products and click on It should look
SketchUp Free and open a new project. Once that’s been like this
done click on rectangle and click on the floor once and then when making
click on the measurements and type in your measurements the dato
for the box and then do the same but click on the inside of indents
the rectangle and enter in your measurements for the inside <--
of the box. Once finished raise the box to the height you
want it to be at and then draw with the line tool and
connecting line from the corner of the inside straight across
to the outside of the box and then draw a line from the
middle of the line out straight across and then get rid of the
lines on the to make dato indents to make the parts fit in.
After that you want to begin making the indents for the
base to fit in and to do that you want to draw a line at the
top and one below it and then using the scale tool press in
on the part section out, repeat this process for the other
sides as well. Now it's time to begin making the lid and to do
that draw a rectangle the same size as the box and then
draw another one the same size as the inside of the box and
raise that up. Once done click on the three dots and then
the dimensions tool and size out your box and lid
Step 3) Choosing the type of
wood

Now that you have finished up with both the

orthographic and SketchUp you can begin to
choose the type of wood you want to use to make
your box, there are a variety of types you be given.
Afterwards you will want to measure out the
length, width and height of the wood piece and see
if your box will need that wood piece and then
have it run it by the teacher, so that you can use
that chosen piece of wood.
Step 4) Using the
Thickness Sander
If the piece wood is mostly fine with a small
blemishes, then the teacher will have it run
through the thickness sander to get rid of
those problems. The teacher will most likely
operate the machine and set it up, but if the
teacher grants you permission to operate the
thickness sander by yourself than you will
need to bring down the machine so that it's
barely touching the material and then while
wearing hearing protection and safety glasses
turn on the machine and run the piece
through and when doing so try and match the
speed the conveyer belt is going at, so the
wood doesn't burn.
Step 5) Plaining the
Wood

Now operating the plainer is much like the thickness

sander where you want to bring the table up until the
wood is barely touching the blades and you would use
this if the wood largely rough on the front or if you
used the thickness sander if you burned the wood,
remember to repeat this process multiple time bring
the table up by either a quarter or half turn until the
piece is fully flat.
Step 6) Using the
table saw
Once you have either jointed or if only one side is improper
you move on to the table saw and saw off the side that’s
improper by a breath of an inch as not to remove too much
material. To set up the table you have raise the saw so that it
will fully cut off the side you want gone and then you would
set your good side against the fence so that you know the
cut will be 90 degrees and set the fence so that you are only
taking off as little material as possible without setting off the
saw stop after use the feather board place it as close as
possible to the blade and then press in on the wood and
turn the knobs once done setting up, have your set up run
by the teacher and have them check if it's properly set up, if
so then put on hearing protection and safety glasses and
turn the machine on and run the piece through and once the
piece and your hand is close to the blade place your left on
the table away from the blade and grab a push stick with you
right and run it through.
Step 7) Cutting the wood
into separate pieces

Once the wood is cut with the table saw, it time

to move on to the miter saw and to cut up a
piece you want to measure out from the blade
and using a ruler and stop block , place the stop
block at the exact measurement you want and
remember to start with the short pieces first as to
lessen the chance of injury. Once you're done
setting it up, have it checked by the teacher and
wearing hearing protection and safety glasses
hold the piece against the fence on the left and
push the inhibitor to the right and press in on the
trigger and push down on the wood piece at a
constant speed as to not burn the wood.
Step 8) Using the Dato

After done cutting the wood in into pieces it's

time to use the dato and to do so choose the
which wood piece you want to dato, the long
or short pieces, after set the piece you're not
datoing against the fence and piece you are
against it and using a pencil draw a line from
the bottom and go up after draw lines on the
sides of the piece and choose the side you
want to get rid of. Once done with that, set
the blade so that it cuts and side you want
gone and little bit more and use the slider to
move the piece along the table and check if it's
going to hit the blade and then have it checked
and begin to operate it and go back and forth
along the blade and repeat for the other side
and piece.
Step 9) Sanding
• Once done with the dato you can either make
the indents for the base or begin to sand. If you
choose to sand than place a mat under the wood
to keep it in place and start with 60 and
remember not to sand the datoed sides nor go
over the edge as it'll ruin the sandpaper after
sand your pieces with the 60 move on to the 100
and sand your piece and when done with that
place your pieces under water in order raise the
grain and prepare it for 320 and once the wood
has dried out, you can sand with 320 to make the
wood feel smooth. After that you can break the
edge by using a piece of sandpaper and running it
along the edge to smooth it out.
Step 10) Indents for
the base
Once done with the dato or with sanding,
you can move to make the indents for the
base you have choose and to that you want
to set the blade low so that is doesn't touch
the dato indents and then with the side you
choose to be the inside cut from the bottom
and run all of your pieces through and then
choose one piece so that if your base
doesn't fit than shift the fence slightly so
that you can make your base fit and keep the
fence that way so you can run the others
through right away and not go through the
process again.
Step 11) Making indents
for the Partition
This step is only if you decided to have a
partition in your box, like making the base
indents choose where you what the
partition to be and cut through the side
shifting slightly if it doesn't fit and then
with what you choose to be the partition
cut that down until it fits in your box.
Step 12) Choosing wood for the lid
Now that everything is ready you need to choose the wood to make
your lid and to do that you will want to pieces of wood rather than one
long piece to avoid warping. The pieces you choose should be the same
thickness as your box pieces and be sure to cover the entirety of the
box even if you have a small amount uncovered.
Step 13) Gluing the Lid
the pieces together
Now that you've chosen your pieces, you need to
glue them together and to do that you want to
get some clamps and cover the bottom with
paper towels and then be sure the that grain of
the wood is all going in the same direction and is
even as if it's not than it will be hard to plain later
and when gluing rub your finger on the glue and
spread it all over the wood and after all pieces are
glued together clamp them together to keep
them secure and to be sure that they'll glue
together. Afterwards once glued you'll want to
scrape any squeezed out glue off the lid as it will
break the plainer.
Step 14) Plaining the Lid
After the lids was been glued and scraped you must plain the lid so like
when plaining the wood for the box set up the plainer and run it
through with teacher permission until it is flat.
Step 15) Lasering
Now that your lid is planed it's time for you to use the laser
and to use it you want to choose a picture to want on your
box and with masking tape cut out and piece and place it in
the center and with a ruler from corner to corner draw on
the tape a line and do the same for the other corner and
that will be the center of the box and now on your computer
choose a picture and save it on a flash drive and on the laser
computer insert the flash drive and open the image you
want and trace the image and get rid of the original and
send the trace to the laser and name it something you'll
remember and on the laser's file menu find it and press
enter and then after it's loaded press frame and see if it
either goes over or touches the edge and if so than size the
image down and resend it until it fits. Be sure to look from
the side and see if the laser and red dot line up and if not
than twist the know in the bottom right corner until it does.
After that turn on the fan and close the lid and press go and
after an hour it should be done.
Step 16) Gluing the Box together

Once done with the laser glue

your box together and like
glueing the lid the same
procedure is used plus you
must clamp all around the box
from the side, top and bottom
to be sure that everything is
together. and after that you
scrape the outside and, on the
inside, use a chisel to get rid
of any glue pooling out and be
careful with the chisel as it
can ruin your box if not carful.
Step 17) Table Sawing the Lid
Now you have to make the lid fit the box and to do that you have to measure out how much excess
and then draw with a pencil and with the fence go to the mark and cut it off until it fits all around
the box.
Step 18) Doing the
Dato for the lid
Now that the lid is fit around the box you
have to the dato for it and to do that you
need to place the lid upright and from the
ledge draw to lines going from the box piece
just before the datoed off part draw lines
going up and then set the blade a small bit
above the lid and when going at it
vertically use a push block to cut and use
what you used last time when you used the
dato for cutting of the small bit leftover and
horizontally and if it doesn't fit than cut a lit
bit off from the side that's not fitting in until
it does.