Building a box

1

The first task is measuring out your material. Use a good square to ensure everything’s equal. I do these one at a time just to ensure the kerf (cutting thickness) of the saw blade doesn’t reduce my dimensions. I clamped the wood to a table and used a circular saw, with a second straight piece acting as a fence or guide, to ensure my cuts were perfectly straight.

4

Once happy with the fit, glue and clamp in place for a few hours. Any wood glue works for this but I like original titebond. Once dry, place the case on its front and use a router with a rebate bit to cut the recess where the back panel will sit. This’ll help keep everything strong and square. You’ll find that once the routing is done you’ll have round corners.

7

With that done, I flipped it over and attached my rails, then spent some time temporarily adding my modules. I do this now so that I can look for any potential errors, foulding parts, or areas that might need extra sanding or trimming. Do this before painting as finding a problem once the paint is on is a real pain! It’s also a nice motivator, seeing everything laid out.

2

The only time I used a special tool was for marking and drilling the dowel holes. Use the jig to ensure all the distances are equal and holes are drilled perpendicular, or you’ll find it hard to glue up at the proper angle. The jig is worth the few pounds outlay as it’s very hard to do this accurately without it.

5

You’ll need to grab a chisel to clean this. A good chisel will make easy work of this. A nice, clean corner cut is important here as it will help you cut your backboard to size. Using the actual materials in front of you can be better than working from the original plan, as it counters any small discrepancies that may have appeared while you work.

8

Strip everything down to the bare frame again, do some final sanding then paint. Many options are available for paint but for durability I opted for a rustoleum primer, followed by a textured epoxy. This should hopefully hide any little dings that crop up over the years and it looks good for the road. For my studio case I’ll build from black walnut and simply wax.

3

With all the boards cut, do a test fit with no glue, making sure the rails fit. You want them to be snug but not cramped, as this could cause issues when fitting modules. Use your square to check the corners all sit at 90 degrees and ensure each board end sits flush. If not, measure the lengths and make sure your dowels holes are drilled deep enough.

6

Once you’ve measured for the backboard, cut it out using the same fence method as for the sides, then place it in its rebate. I used a 10mm rebate, then marked the backboard with 10mm so I could see where to best drill the holes to attach the back to the case, using 18mm countersunk screws. Use a pilot hole to avoid any tearing or splintering.