Workbench storage boxes

[Oceaneer99]

http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-2323

I made some storage boxes for my workbench from tempered hardboard, 1/8-inch thick. The first prototype (covered in wallpaper and flipped upside down) has two sides raised up so that the lid is partially inset (like a cigar box). The second prototype, here being held together with blue masking tape while the glue dries will have a simpler full-overlay flip top.

Finished size of the box is 7-3/4 x 11 x 2-5/8 inches. These are the same dimensions, except shorter, as the photo/video craft boxes made from cardboard that are sold in the US.

The joints are butted together, glued with carpenter's glue. I applied a glue fillet to the inside and then ended up pasting on wallpaper to the outside of the first box. I'll probably do the same with the others.

Ray posted a comment to the gallery:

I would seal the edges well Garet, Hardboard can tend to pucker along the cuts. Perhaps some thin cyano. . .

I think this is a really good point. I'm mostly using hardboard because it is so inexpensive ($7 for a 4x8 foot sheet) but fairly easy to work with (less finishing required than plywood), but it is definitely brittle, and I have worried about it swelling up.

Having said that, I did have a failed attempt at gluing paper strips along the joints to reinforce the corners, and had to soak them off with a wet rag.  Fortunately, this didn't noticeably affect the hardboard.  I do worry a bit about what happens if you drop the box, but a cardboard box would also get dented, especially if there is something inside.

I intend to cover all of the exposed edges with wallpaper, so hopefully that will serve to seal them from further moisture.  I have a sheet of hardboard on my workbench and soaked it with Danish oil, which seems to have sealed it well enough.  Cyano glue would be fairly easy to apply to a small project like this (I already use it to seal exposed grain on detail parts for my airplane models).

Sadly, the local big box home improvement stores no longer carry 1/8-inch door skin plywood, which is what I'd been using for my profile models.  I was going to make a box out of that for comparison.  If I cover a plywood box with wallpaper, then there isn't any more work required than for a hardboard box.  I can get more expensive baltic birch plywood in an equivalent metric thickness, which I'll use for future profile models, but I'm not sure I'm willing to make my boxes that expensively.

Garet

[Oceaneer99]

I just checked and found that my favorite locally-owned lumber yard sells three-ply 2.7 mm Meranti plywood and has 3 mm birch, which is pretty close to what I've been using for my profile models.  It's nearly twice the price of hardboard, but still reasonable enough for profile models.  I have used aircraft plywood for some models, and the outer plies are thicker (and there are more plies overall), which makes for an easier to finish model.

Garet