Laser Cut Storage for Small Parts and Recycle

In this instructable I will go over building a box to house drawers made of heavy cardstock. The instructions can be modified to suit different sized drawers and or box and shelves.

I built the box out of .188 plywood and cut it on a Laser cutter.

The measurements that I used were 19 inches wide by 14 inches high and 7 inches deep. These are outside dimensions. I used the boxmaker.connectionlab.org program to obtain the file which I modified to make the front edge a straight cut.

I glued the box together with normal wood glue.

While the box was curing, I started to build the boxes that would be the drawers. I used the covers of file folders that were being discarded when the organization digitized their files. I have found other types of heavy card stock at printing companies but be prepared that the sheets are rather large (about 40") in some cases.

I cut the front and the back of the file folders 12 inches x 9.75 inches.

You can use scissors, paper cutter or a laser cutter for this job. I used scissors for all of the cutting of the cardstock.

When the pieces were the correct size, I then measured 2.75 inches in from the long edge and marked it to draw a line. I then took a creasing tool and made a firm crease on both sides. I did the same for the short edge.

I tried a variety of creasing implements. I used a tool used for creasing but found that a dull paring knife worked best on this particular material. You might have to try different things for the materials that you are using.

You can see the creases in the first picture. I then cut along the fold on the long side up to the fold on the short side. I did that four times. You can see the cuts in the pictures. I actually prepared several of them at a time.

I then folded the sides and prepared them for gluing. I used a strong glue tape to form the box. I clamped them for a few minutes to aid in the adhesion.

I cut pieces of 1/2 inch plywood 7 inches x 3 inches and glued 2 of them to the sides of the box to form a support for shelves that I cut out of the .188 plywood. These shelves were 7 inches x 19 inches less 2 times the width of the wood on the sides. The dimensions I quoted were outside dimensions. I continued preparing, and installing the supports and shelving until I had enough for the size of the box. I then put the boxes that would be the drawers in on the shelves and there you have an inexpensive method of storing things and you have the knowlege that you have recycled all those file folders.

I made two of these sets of drawers and tried two different ideas for identifying the contents.

At first I tried using name tags but realized that I wasn't sure how I would used them and so I needed to be able to change the name tags if I repurposed them. So I bought a package of Ultra Pro Card Sleeves 2 5/8 x 3 5/8 and dug out my old business cards. I found this was probably a more sensible system. I attached the plastic sleeves with strips of adhesive tape and now I can change the cards if I relocated the contents.