Simple Storage Box

I made this simple storage box for my baby's toys. It's an easy one day project and you can improve or add your own design to it.

Material you will need:

• Your choice of wood.
• Mitre saw, skill saw or hand saw.
• Jigsaw (use special blade for cutting angles)
• Biscuit jointer and biscuits no10.
• Hand sander. different grit levels.
• Cordless drill ( for screws and pilot holes)
• PVA Glue, glue roller, tape, pencil, screws, pins,  2 hinges, clamps, set square, ratchet straps or long clamps.
   

Safety : When using electric tools use ears and eye protection.
Keep body parts away from sharp blades. WORK SAFE!

Step 1 Choose box material

You can make the box from a few cheap materials such as soft wood, plywood, mdf board and more. After deciding what material you are using think about the pratical size of the box and what will be its purpose. I made my box size Length=800mm x Width=380mm x Height=450 that is a good size for keeping all my baby toys tidy in one box. I chose to use soft wood 19mmx144mm.

• Start  by cutting your length and width size using a mitre saw or hand saw.
• Don't  forget to subtract the thickness of the material x 2 from your width to achieve your box width design.
• Use a long set square to mark the lines between the joints, those lines will guide you when using your biscuit jointer.

Comments

[olemax01]

Love your instructable! Following your easy instructions I used builder grade plywood and I split 2 X 4's to make a box for my firewood. Thanks

[zigzag777]

URGENT SAFETY ALERT!!!

STORAGE CHESTS WITHOUT A SAFETY DEVICE HAVE BEEN LINKED TO NUMEROUS DEATHS AND INJURIES TO CHILDREN! DANGER IS FROM LID FALLING ON CHILD'S NECK.

PLEASE SEE THIS WARNING: www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5099.html

SAFETY DEVICES THAT PREVENT THE LID FROM ACCIDENTALLY CLOSING ARE READILY AVAILABLE FROM MANY SOURCES: www.google.com/search

HERE IS A LINK TO ONE MADE BY STANLEY AND SOLD BY ACE HARDWARE ON-LINE FOR ($3.49): www.acehardwareoutlet.com/ProductDetails.aspx

COMMERCIAL PRODUCERS OF SIMILAR CHESTS ARE "REQUIRED" TO INSTALL A SAFETY DEVICE - SAFETY IS NOT AN OPTION!!!

[NutandBolt]

Thank you for your comment and concern. As you can see in the last few comments I coverd the lid stay topic. I agree safety is not an option so I add another step to my ible about Lid Stay without promoting brand names.

[zigzag777]

Thanks Paracord for your quick response, but I think you may have misunderstood the main danger. It is not from suffocation from a lack of vent holes, that is a less serious problem, that can be remedied as you suggest, by having some vent holes in the chest.

The more critical aspect is that small children pull themselves up by grabbing the open lid, causing the lid to fall on their necks, which leads to a crushing neck injury, resulting in suffocation. Lids have also been noted to fall just by movement or jarring of the chest.

From my research, commercially produced chests, similar to this design, are not allowed to be sold without a mandatory safety device.  Target Stores
recently recalled 350,000 wicker chests that lacked a safety support.

There have been more than 49 deaths of children reported from this hazard, I think that number is actually low, as the data reported is not really up to date.

The reason I included a link and a price for the safety device was not for promotion of any specific brand or merchant, but rather to show that the cost of $3.49 was quite reasonable, and that the devices are readily available.

[Eye Poker]

49 in a country of 400 million........

[Someguy44]

Those are commercial chests buddy, just relax a little

[NutandBolt]

Thank you again and I appreciate you clarfying my misunderstanding of the suffocation matter. I'm not trying to debate this matter but there is not much more I can do. My ible addition step 7 is very clear and I think everyone understands now the importance of the lid stay. You made a very good argument here regarding the danger. But just for the sake of argument I wonder statistically how many children die every year by falling off tables, chairs, beds etc' or hitting their heads against corners of pointy sharp objects such as kitchen knives. Doors in every house can lead to fatalities too. Yes it is the parents obligation to baby proof the house but the same obligation could be for some one that makes this box. If you look in your 1mt radius around you you will see many hazards that could lead to children fatalities. Just a small example: my baby was pushing a baby chair around a shop and he stumbled across an obstacle on the floor and rolled over on his head inches from breaking his neck. It was scary to see it but the toy is still being sold like millions of other dangerous toys.  I thank you again for clarifying the potential danger and the lid stay solution is satisfying for this matter.

[jakethink]

I dont have a biscuit joiner or the money to buy one is there a different way of joining the wood like that?

[Eye Poker]

Kreg Pocket Hole Jig Jr.

http://www.kregtool.com/Kreg-Jigreg-Jr-Prodview.html

[Atarimark]

Drilling dowels will work like stated but I would recommend practicing on some scraps before doing it on the good wood. =)

[xd12c]

 You could use a drill to drill some holes & put a peg in there like the press board furniture uses

[NutandBolt]

Of course there are many ways, for example you can use bigger sheets of timber that way the only thing you would have to do is cut it to the size you plan to build your box. I attached an image of a bigger plank of pine wood I used for another job or you could also use MDF which is not expensive and you can shape and paint it to be an amazing box. I attached an image of the inner box as an example. The blue lines represent the wall supports. The red dotted lines are screws screwed into pilot holes that you can leave open or close with wooden plugs. Apply enough wood glue and with the support blocks in place it will be as strong as if you used a biscuit jointer.

[tthomas10]

are you for real?

[!m here]

this is nice ill see if i can do better SHOW OUT ALL ORGAMI PROJECTS SEND TO ME AND ILL MAKE THEM AND POST THEM PLZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BORED TO DEATH AN ILL POST SOME OF MY OWN PROJECTS AND DRAWIND

[jakethink]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys :)

[LittleWolf]

I believe it is possible to rent some power tools from stores that specialize on selling them. Try home depot.

[Romado12187]

ebay

[Jayefuu]

Dowel would do it, but it's a little trickier.

[palmer97]

you could but it would take a vary tidius and long itme to get it perfect

[Rowan_Winterhaven]

Convenient storage for recalcitrant children.  I love it!  :D  

Honestly, that box makes a very attractive alternative to Rubbermaid bins for the SCA events that I enjoy attending.  Very nice instructable.  Thank you!

[Goodhart]

Indeed, and there are no "slats" for him to get tangled in, so it is completely safe (splinters notwithstanding).

[kimvia89]

 Nice guide! One thing to add- I know you didn't put a latch on it, but in case others who build this want a latch, be sure that its one that can be opened easily from the inside- When hope chests were in style, lots of children died because they would play hide n seek and hide in the chest, then get locked inside because you can only open the latch from the outside, so they'd suffocate. 

[drorosz]

Does anybody know the conversion factor to go from MM to Inches??

[static]

Most somewhat new measures have metric scales, why not use metric? Google convert.exe to find a nice free conversion utility, that converts all sort of things.

[ultrabob]

 if you don't have a chart handy, but have access to google, just type in 'x mm in inches' where x is the number of mm you want to convert to inches.

[NutandBolt]

Another chart

[NutandBolt]

Here are 2 conversion charts hope it will help you.

[LegendofPedro]

Multiply by 0.0393700787.

[dogbertsdad]

Or you can divide by 25.4.

[redfiresky]

no pues esa es la diferencia entre vivir en el 1er mundo y el 3er mundo aqui no se consigue esa herramienta ni las piezas de ensamble.

[mickey_55]

Try english...

[Wicken]

Thank you so much!  I have wanted to use a biscuit jointer but wasn't sure how to get it right.  This looks like it would support the weight of a child sitting on the lid -- did you find that to be correct?  

Also, if people are making this for a little person, it's possible to get a lid attachment at the hardware store that slows the fall of the lid.  Especially when you have more than one child playing, it's easy to end up with smashed fingers and bonked heads. (Says the former nanny.)

[NutandBolt]

Thank you,  happy you liked it. The box will support the weight of a young child and as you can see in step 6 I also have support inside the box for the lid. I dont know if the lid will last if a child is going use it as a trampoline but as a storage box or even as a seat it is perfect. About the lid stop I agree with you and I posted a few solutions on a few comments before. If you are using a biscuit jointer for the first time test it first on the same material you will use for the box. Set it to the right depth and height and check it making a test joint if you are happy this setting will do for all the box and if the board (joint) is not aligned just set it and try again.

[Skip]

 I agree with SWV1787; A very nice and simple box. I like the no-frills approach and the end result is a very professional looking piece of functional furniture.
I also don't much care for biscuit joinery but it certainly has it's place. An alternative is doweling joints but the thats a pain in the arse XD

[servant74]

I agree with the dowels.  But I recently purchased an inexpensive dowel centering jig, for drilling holes for dowels in the center of boards.  It should help.
(Mine was from Harbor Freight, not high quality but it should work for me)

I have used a method similar to biscuits before by cutting a slot lengthwise
down the edge of a board, and gluing a strip of wood into the slot.  It is then similar to using tong and grove joints.  Still lots of work, but done with tools I had at the time.

[pdhestand]

If you don't have a biscuit joiner but have a table saw you can mill the edges of the boards to be joined by passing the saw blade down the joint between 2 boards. This will give you a passable joint without gaps that is much easier to dowel together. Also, for dowels, you'll want to be sure that they are aligned from board to board and centered. Marking across 2 boards will get the placement on the edges aligned and using a centering jig will help get the dowels center properly.

Nice box, too!

[CrouchingFather]

 They make hinges that keep the lid from falling forward and smashing little fingers to! You can also lower the edge of the box face so that there is a small half inch space when the lid closes to protect fingers to!

[thepelton]

I used that type of device on a toybox I built for my nephews.  There was a storage bin that was recalled just recently because it had injured a small child when the lid fell down on the back of her head.  That "lid slower" device would have stopped that injury.

[janw]

A simple, functional and quality build. This is certainly worth 5 stars!

[seamster]

Nice. Simple and functional!