Winter Crate Project

majspud

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Thanks to mac1911 for letting me know about this abandoned crate....looks like it held a keyboard or something similar. Under the carpet and foam is 1/4" plywood. I need to strip it, clean it, and maybe reinforce it. I will definitely add a 1 inch skirt underneath so it will fit securely on top/within the area of my hitch tray as it is much to big to fit inside; OD is 59"x23"x10." Will easily fit 10 rifles as shown....when I have 10....only 6 loaners now for my WW2 group. Let's see what I can do with nothing more sophisticated than rechargeable drill. I might be able to re-purpose the curtain boxes that were in our house when we bought it.

I'll also have to hide a couple of subtle brackets on it as I won't be able to mount the stick reflectors on the tray.

t
 

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This will be fun. Note heavy sarcasm. First step remove the glued carpet inch by inch...then try to remove the glue. I do have an orbital sander in the garage. Or I can gut the interior first.
 

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at this point, you are better off trying a power planer. It would remove more material, but it doesn't smear all that glue all over. I hope that glue does not soften with heat.
 
I am extremely limited with respect to space and tools. Only electric tool is the sander; also battery drill and screwdriver. I'll literally be in a basement corner trying to keep curious cats out of it. I'll probably have to buy a little hand band saw to rough out the spacing insert blocks.

t
 
Didn’t have much energy after three hours of yard work. Raked Leaf bags 49-52 (2 more than last year) and cut the grass for the last time.

Used a spackle blade to remove the foam. Now I need to find out what will take our the glue and foam remains. I have acetone and mineral spirits I can try.

Going to be a long, dirty job.
t
 

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Look like I need to re-nail the corners and perhaps small angle brackets inside for strength.

t
 

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I figured it could at least be used as a template.
If you did not grab it I would have possible salvaged the hardware ? It was heading to the dumpster anyway
 
Two steps forward, one step back. Experimented with acetone and mineral spirits. Acetone dissolved everything into a black slurry which I scraped away with a wide plastic spackle blade. Wiped it up with paper towels. Unfortunately when the acetone evaporated, it left a sticky residue. Wondering if I can just paint over that....or try something else.

I'm going to look back over a two month post and say "what an educational project on the cheap". [rofl2]

t
 

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Looks like Goof Off is the magic elixir. Glue gone, no residue. Now to get a couple large spray cans and find my metal spackle blade.

t
 

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Man, this is hard work. Realized I have 2 months before my shoulder surgery on February 5.

t
 

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Shoot I'm late to thread.

If you ever have to clean that much funky gunk off on future, I've had luck with dry ice and isopropyl alcohol. It usually takes adhesive off cleanly.
 
Here we go; $106 worth of hardware, paint, etc.

t
 

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Carpet off; corners rebuilt with large racks, gorilla glue, and small angle irons.

t
 

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Tried a bunch of stuff. The 2 cans of Goof Off got a lot of glue off, but not all. Tried turpentine, rubbing alcohol, and hydrogen peroxide; no good. Then out of desperation I found 3 cans of Easy Off oven cleaner. That got enough off so I could paint over it. Sander helped a little as well.

t
 

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Just when you think you’re done....🤬

t
 

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I'm going to have to paint the inside as well....the plywood is in the rough and impossible to get all the glue off. Got a lot off. 1/4" balsa filled the gap where the carpet was between the top and bottom. Next up sand/paint the inside and then start fabricating the dividers.

t
 

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Done for now. Inside painted, added an old box and board, and installed and painted the hasp, and handles.

Recharge the drills for tomorrow. Then try to figure out the dividers.

t
 

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And done save stencils outside. Cut and secured dividers. Added a top strap retainer. Box fits 8 rifles instead of the 10 I’d hopes for.

t
 

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Recover; this past week has been a hard one. On a large project I have the habit of putting my head down and bulling my way through it. Things are a lot harder since the heart attack. Cost came in about $145; the other crate shipped would have been $250+.

And continue on other projects around the house.

t
 
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Did you do all that work indoors? If so, how do your lungs feel? It looks great though considering what you started with. You certainly have more patience than I do!
 
Hey Tim, ah owner of the abandoned crate wants it back.............
i kid, even if he did he 'd get the one finger salute and hand the 2 yr storage bill we did not give him to him
 
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