Make a Box to Store Your Components (or Other Stuff)

I have tried many different ways to store my pile of components in an orderly way, but the thing that works best for me was to make a box for them. In this Instructable I’ll show you how to make a nice box that works very well for me. All the stuff you need is around in almost all homes, I try to make my Instructables as helpful to everyone as possible, just so nobody feels left out just because they don’t have certain things, and I have experienced it myself. Note that I haven't really made it look very good because I don't really mind.d it myself.

Step 1: Materials and Tools

All you need is:
• A lot of cardboard. Boxes from markets work great, I used corrugated cardboard
• Any glue that sticks well to paper and cardboard, I used normal office glue
• Paper. It can be coloured if you like, I just used “Ultra White copy/laser paper”

Optional:
• Either some kind of cloth or some protective padding (recommended) I don’t have padding so I just used “easy dry” disposable cloth. If you don’t have those, just paper towels will work
• Components or other stuff to be contained (recommended)
• Wide tape, at least about 4cm wide. I used clear tape that worked well
• A clear plastic sheet, whatever size you want (only if you want to store SMD chips)
• Clear tape, 1cm to 2cm width (only if you want to store SMD chips)

Tools:
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun and sticks for it

Step 2: Cut Out the Shapes

Firstly, cut out two pieces of cardboard 33cm by 25.5cm. Mark out the lines shown in the picture and cut the mini squares at the corners off. Just look at the pictures and you’ll see. Also, make two lids that are 22.5cm by 14cm, the same measurements as the bottom of the box. Each layer of your box will be 5.5cm high. Fold at the lines, or you can score them first. To do that, just put a straight edge on the lines and use scissors or something rather blunt and swipe a line in the cardboard slowly. When you’ve done that, put some rubber bands around the thing as shown in the picture unless you are using tape or other stuff..

Step 3: Gule Gunning

Get your glue gun out (or tape) and apply glue to the places marked. If you are using tape, tape the areas shown. If you don’t have either, just apply glue to strips of paper and use it as tape. That’s how I bonded an entire box once. Let the glue or paper dry and take the rubber bands off. You now should have two boxes that are ready for the next step, making a lid.

Step 4: Make Lids for Them

Just get those two bits of cardboard and glue strips of paper around the edges, so that nothing small can vanish down a corrugated cardboard tube. I nearly lost some tiny resistors down them once, so that’s why you should double check all edges just in case. It also makes the edges more durable and makes it look better. If you have a lot of tape and you don’t mind using it, you can use tape instead. After you’ve done that just get some wide tape and attach the lid to the box. I did it lengthwise so it saves space and it is a lot easier to open and close. Make sure that the lid lines up perfectly with the box so that nothing leaks out of the box and no cardboard sticks out to get someone. You’ll get it when you look at the pictures.

Step 5: Add Compartments to It

This was the hardest bit for me. You will need a lot of cardboard and you will need a bin somewhere nearby, I made a complete mess and my parents chucked all the stuff into the shed and the bin. You will first need to make two strips separating the boxes in half lengthwise. You just cut two pieces of cardboard slightly larger than the boxes and cut bits off it to fit perfectly and tightly into the boxes. You then seal the gaps underneath and on the sides to prevent small things from spilling, this is very important. You can seal it with whatever that works, any thick glue will work, but I guess hot glue is the best option.

Now you can make smaller pieces of cardboard and do the same. I used eight strips on the bottom layer (that makes 10 compartments) and 6 on the top layer (six compartments on the top row and two on the bottom row), although it doesn’t really matter how many compartments you put in to suit your needs. It is important that the top of the strips of cardboard line up as well as you can make it to the top of the box, so that the entire top of the box and compartment walls are on the same level. This way you can put the lid on and turn the box whatever angle you like without small objects spilling into other compartments. If it gets hard to apply hot glue just use your fingers to apply glue or sealant to the sides and bottom. You can always get the glue off so don’t be concerned about that.

Now you should have two boxes that have lids and compartments that won’t leak. You can put strips of paper onto the edges of the compartments so nothing small can leak into them. It is a pain trying to get miniscule resistors to come out.

Step 6: Make One Box Not Two

Now comes the bit where you join the boxes together. Use some wide tape to join the bottom of the top box to the lid of the bottom box, just like joining the lids. They should be basically the same so it doesn’t really matter which one goes on top. Look at the picture carefully; it is easy to make mistakes in this step. You need to join the right places or it won’t fold properly. The pictures tell everything.

Step 7: Install a Stopper

The next step is to add a stopper to stop components from spilling into other compartments. You can use anything that will bend to fit the shape of the top of the compartment walls temporarily when you close the lid. Thick elastic membranes work well, foam padding also works well, and you can get them from some new pencil cases, which comes with it as packaging. I didn’t have them so I just used a kind of cloth and folded it. Use glue or double sided tape to secure it to the undersides of your lids. If you are using cloth like I did, just make it long enough to come out the sides where you tape them, just like in the pic.

Step 8: Decorate It If You Want

You can decorate it as much as you want, be careful though not to affect the functions of the box. I just covered the entire thing with white paper, which is good enough for me. I still don't know how to cover up the top of the box, it is rather puffy and it doesn't look very good. cardboard is a good idea but it will just make it thicker.

Step 9: You Are Done

You can change some things to suit you, such as its covering and the number of compartments, although it sounds good, but making more layers will make the thing very thick, I have tried it myself but I took the bottom layer off. You can solve this problem if you make the layers thinner. I have tried to add an extra layer but it became too tall and rather unstable. If there is a problem or if you want to add something, please comment it.