How much wood/ply needed for a box?

[Mr. Dazzle]

I've done this problem loads when cutting out "kits" for making carbon parts - i.e. all the flat bits which get stuck into a mould to make your 3D thing.

Believe it or not, there's not actually an analytical way you can go straight to the correct answer. You just have to try/re-try it and see how best you can fit all the bits on! We had loads of software with different nesting algorithms which would just attempt and re-attempt to fit all the pieces on your material with the minimum waste. Just tens, hundreds or even thousands of virtual "see if it fits better this way" trials.

@ChrisW is actively trying to make me suffer a stroke though, using Word for this. At least use PowerPoint In general though that's the way to go about it.

Wouldn't even be completely daft to do it with card/paper to scale first!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travellin ... an_problem

[mangocrazy]

Use CAD - Cardboard Aided Design...

[Mr. Dazzle]

But how much cardboard do you need for your trials?

It's turtles all the way down!

[ChrisW]

@ChrisW is actively trying to make me suffer a stroke though, using Word for this.

It works & it's quicker than measuring & cutting paper! If it helps to clear your clot I did use Lectra years ago but that'd be a bit over the top for my diy plywood projects

[Mr. Dazzle]

Word is the worst when it comes to anything to do with pictures though

[mangocrazy]

Word is the worst when it comes to anything to do with pictures though

Yebbut they're not pictures, just boxes. And Word can do boxes perfectly well.

[Count Steer]

I'm surprised, in these enlightened times they aren't tasked with finding an old wooden thing and 'repurposing' it to make a low carbon footprint box. (This design reminds me of our old box for the shoe cleaning stuff when I was knee high to a grasshopper. I think it was a repurposed ammo box or some such from WWII. Nice bit of wood it was too).

[Yambo]

I've just skimmed through the answers but as well as mangocrazy mentioning the width of the saw blade to be considered you also need to consider the thickness of the plywood and how you are going to joint the pieces.

Let's say the base is 40 x 40 cms and you're using 15mm plywood. If you butt joint the sides to the base then the back and front pieces are going to be 400mm + 30 mm for the thickness of the plywood on each side.

If the sides are butt jointed on the surface of the base then the back and front will be shorter (400 - 30mm) or you'll have to make the bottom panel 30mm longer/wider. The top, depending on how that's going to fit will also be bigger than your basic dimensions.

Personally, I'd draw it up on AutoCad (cos I have AutoCad) and measure from that but then, I work better from plans.

You need to draw a plan and measure carefully. measure twice, cut once or as I usually say I've cut this piece of wood 3 times and it's still too short.

[Yambo]

Oh, I forgot, are the original measurements the internal measurements or external?

Knowing that will make the calculations easier and more accurate.

*Edit*
Jointing the pieces will also be dependent on the thickness of the plywood. Thin plywood, e.g. 8mm will not provide decent surfaces for gluing so the corners may need strengthening inside with some triangular profile pieces or similar. Thicker plywood will provide a better/larger surface for glue but on its own, glue might not be sufficient. You could always knock a few nails in or drill some holes and glue some dowels in.

More preferable would be to finger joint the sides, rebate the edges of the bottom panel so it half fits inside the sides and glue it. I'm guessing though that you don't have the tools.

I've got to make some drawers for the kitchen unit on my boat (drawers are basically a box) and I'll use the 10 x 10 x 10 method but for that you need a router and the correct (10 mm) bit. It's a very simple and strong method for making drawers. I'll take a picture of one I did earlier if you want but as I said, if you don't have the tools it's gonna be tricky. Routers are also dangerous and putting a router anywhere a piece of decent wood can be a very good reason for buying more wood than you think you'll need.

[Horse]

Will it be glued together, and reinforced in any way?

[Yambo]

Taking a photo is too much hassle, here's a video explaning how it's done

[weeksy]

FFS, £65 for a shit tonne of ply lol (+ hinges and wheels). It's now cut to somewhere in the right sort of areas/sizes, but he'll need to trim enough parts to justify that he's actually doing the work himself.

Thanks for all the help guys.

[Dodgy69]

It really depends what you're putting in it.

[wheelnut]

. Routers are also dangerous and putting a router anywhere a piece of decent wood can be a very good reason for buying more wood than you think you'll need.

That brought to mind school ties, lathes and a messy incident in 5th year.