Record storage crates
Hex Record Storage Crates
The first year I started Modern Ethic I designed the Hex record storage crate. Initially it was a general decorative storage crate and too small for LPs. A friend saw one and asked for one that was big enough for records, and it turned out many other people liked the design and wanted one. Over the past few years I’ve moved into building more nightstands and small furniture and i’ve mostly let the crates be. Often I didn’t build enough because I was busy doing other larger furniture. Starting this year I feel a fresh interest in building them again in earnest, so I’m going to update them and adjust my workflow to build them better. Here’s what’s happening:
Better material. I’m using the same solid laminated baltic birch material, but this time with a UV cured on acrylic finish on the faces. This results in a cleaner cnc cut and a shiny smooth surface. The cut edges I’ll still finish with danish oil in my shop.
Less frustrating fasteners. I know it has been a pain to use those slotted brass screws I’ve included in the crates. I just didn’t know how to get better ones given I wanted the brass finish. Now I’ve found cross (phillips) head brass plated screws that will look great and be less work to install. I’m also recessing the hold location on the crate side so that you can stack them sideways without the screws bumping the edge up.
Better tooling. I’m building dedicated jigs for the end grain holes so that I can reduce the amount of time I spend adjusting the single hole manual tool I currently use for those holes.
Quicker finish process. I’ve built a dip finishing vat that allows me to dip all of the pieces of a crate at the same time and then hang drip for a few minutes. This reduces wasted drips of finish and time spent doing it.
Cleaner packaging. I was wrapping each in paper like gift wrap. It was somewhat slow and could get wrinkled when they were in storage. I’m changing to a lift open box that just fits each. This will also speed up the shipping.
I hope these changes will help make it easier for me to produce more of these crates. I’m going to try to keep them in stock this year and part of that is making them more enjoyable to produce for me, the builder.
This focus means I’m going to take a break from the larger furniture for a while and just build these. I may come back to the large pieces again but for this spring this sounds good.
Isaac
