Mega Shoebox video and Name my Optimiser!

Fit It is now for sale! Click here to check it out!

I put the call out last week for a new name for my Panel Layout program and received a number of replies back, I’ve picked my favourites and have listed them below. Please drop a vote in for your fave!

This competition has been run and won! Check here for the results.
There’s two free copies of the program up for grabs too! One for the person who submits the winning name, and another will be drawn from any readers who vote and share this poll using the social buttons beneath it.

So please, go ahead and make your selection!

As for the program, it is being tested out right now. Depending on the number and complexity of issues found, I’m still aiming to release it in around 3 weeks from now. Cross your fingers for me!

Remember my Mega Shoebox plans from a few weeks ago? Well I built a couple of them over the past couple weeks for a client. She was after one with the hinge lid and then another with the two push in drawers. I thought it would be a great opportunity to film the build and show how to make both designs at once.

They both came out really nicely, I’m quite happy with them. The only thing I would change is the hinge lid itself, I would much prefer to just make the two drawer style. The lid is just soooo heavy, it’s simply a large rectangle of plywood with more plywood attached to it. Because of the weight, you need to use a very high quality hydraulic to slow it down when closing. Unfortunately that type of hydraulic costs around $100 on it’s own, which makes it a very expensive build.

To make it affordable, I leave the hydraulic out and use a chain to stop the lid from swinging back too far. It still works fine and most people will never have a problem with it like this, but I wouldn’t want to see any kids get hurt by having the lid fall on them. So to be clear, if you make one of these for a child, do not make them the hinge lid style. I have tried cheaper hardware to keep the lid up, it’s just been a waste of money. It’s a real, ‘go hard or go home’ situation.

Other than that though, they are good fun to make. Each one uses up around a one and a half full sheets of plywood. These are built from a quality 18mm ply. Then I use a 12mm ply for the drawers and shelves as that is thick and strong enough. My cutlist program really made them easy to layout and cut too. It is very effective for a project like this which is all ply.

The decals are images I had printed on vinyl stickers by a local print shop. You can also buy them online but I find it is cheaper to have them printed by someone local, especially seeing as I’ve a few orders for these boxes, I can start to buy them in ‘bulk’.

I changed my mind on the drawer slides halfway through for the 2 drawer box. Originally I was going to use normal soft close slides, to open the drawer you would grab each side of the drawer and pull it. Once I put it all together and realised just how large it was, I decided to switch to the push open style instead.

Unfortunately this was after I had already assembled most of it. With the push open drawers, it makes sense to make the drawer faces shorter in length so that they fit inside the box front, instead of coming to rest on the sides. This way you can push them in freely to open and shut them. Because I had already assembled everything, I no longer had that option. I mounted the drawers so that they clear the box sides by about 5mm (bit less than 1/4in) which is just enough space for the push open mechanism to work. Luckily I knew I’d be painting the box black, as such, the 5mm gap is only noticeable if you look for it.

So that’s how I build my Mega Shoeboxes. These are not my original idea, but they are my own design. You can download my designs for free to make your own Shoeboxes by clicking here.

If you do build one, send a photo through, I’d love to see it!