My plyo box project.

Lincoln Brigham · 10-12-2005, 09:32 PM

I used a 4' x 8' sheet of maple plywood for the sides, about $50 at most hardware stores, plus a little extra CDX plywood for the tops that I had on hand. This made two 20" high boxes.

I did the cutting with a circular saw. Note the cardboard mock-up. The sides are square-cut at 90 degrees (i.e. butt joined) but the tops and bottoms were cut at parallel 10-degree angles (give or take a couple of degrees.) This turned out to be the trickiest difficult stage of the project. Note the clever use of 10 kilo bumper plates to hold the plywood in place.
http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14918.jpg

Cut pieces ready for sanding and assembly. Note the inventory of 40 screws.
http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14919.jpg

I used the "screw and glue" technique. 1 1/4" drywall screws and wood glue. All holes for the screws were pre-drilled.
http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14920.jpg
(The brown edges show that I was burning up the saw blade. Some type of operator error, I'm sure! Either the wrong type of blade or the wrong depth adjustment for the cut.)

Pilot hole for the handle cut-outs.
http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14921.jpg
http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14922.jpg

Assembled and ready for sanding. The sanding hid a lot of minor fitting flaws around the joints.
http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14923.jpg

Painting in progress. If I had started with a white base coat I would have saved myself a lot of extra coats of paint. I sanded with extra fine grit sandpaper before the last coat of paint.
http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14924.jpg

A little spray-on spar varnish, a peel-on label, a little more varnish, some 3/4" rubber mats glued on top with contact cement and the boxes are done.
http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14925.jpg

It took a while, but I'm pretty happy with the results!
http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14926.jpg
(Today's sunset from the gym, just after I finished)

(Message edited by Lincoln on October 12, 2005)

(Message edited by Lincoln on October 12, 2005)

Grady McDonald · 10-12-2005, 10:09 PM

Those are some f'n sound boxes. Strong work.

Larry Lindenman · 10-12-2005, 10:09 PM

Very nice and timely, just thinking of bribing someone to do it for me!

Beth Moscov · 10-12-2005, 11:17 PM

Looks great!

Now I gotta go back and make another few with your improvements. Do you think it was the use of those plates that made yours look so much more professional???

Actually - we are building outdoor pullup bars this weekend so it will have to wait.

Why not make a sticker of that sunset and add it to the logo? It would look pretty with that blue color.

Scott Kustes · 10-13-2005, 06:15 AM

Nice...I'm wanting to get together a couple of boxes at some point in time. I'm not a great woodworker though (mainly cause I've never done it). Lincoln, how much do you charge for shipping to Cincinnati? :lol: So if I understand, you have 2 slanted sides and two vertical sides?

Lincoln Brigham · 10-13-2005, 08:16 AM

I've built a few wood boxes before, so that helped. All 4 sides were slanted which made the project a little tricky to cut, hence the cardboard mockup as a 'sanity check'. I got the dimensions from Beth's post about her boxes - 20" high, 17.5" top, 23.5" bottom. BFS does the same box for $99 plus extra for color, which considering the amount of time this took might have been a more expedient way to go if I wasn't such a cheap SOB.

John Phipps · 10-13-2005, 10:31 AM

Those look really good. I want to make some myself. I have a few questions, as I am not much of a woodworker:

You said the sides were cut square at 90 degrees and the top parallel at 10 degrees. Could you please explain why that was done and if you think just straight cuts would work.

Also you said the dimensions for the sides were 20" high, 17.5" top, 23.5" bottom, so wouldn't the box be 20.5" tall if you used half inch plywood? It looks like the top piece is placed on top of the sides. What were the dimensions of the top? 18.5” square?

Finally, If I wanted to make boxes at 16", 20", and 24" do you think I should keep the same top and bottom lengths and just cut them more or less in the height? Thanks!

Lincoln Brigham · 10-13-2005, 03:28 PM

If you use square cuts, only the edges will touch the floor and the top piece. You lose significant stability, durability and structural integrity.
Not good:
http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14962.jpg
Better:
http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14963.jpg

All pieces were 3/4" thick and adjustments were made so that the final dimensions were 20" high with a 17.5" square top.

If you are not much of a woodworker, I'd go with simple straight sides instead of sloped. Much easier to make and more likely to be strong. I'd also go with 3/4" plywood, not 1/2" for those same reasons. Don't be tempted to use particle board, either.

The advantage for sloped sides is that they are stackable, a little more stable during use and look cooler; the disadvantage is that they are MUCH harder to make.

Eugene Allen has posted some good pictures of his straight-sided plyo boxes.

John Phipps · 10-13-2005, 05:14 PM

I will go with straight-sided plyo boxes. I think making straight unangled cuts will be hard enough. I am going to try to make my boxes look like cubes, 16x16x16, 20x20x20, and 24x24x24. Hopefully they will still stack together as my garage is quickly running out of room. Thanks for the info.

Larry Lindenman · 10-14-2005, 06:08 AM

John, the thing I like about the sloped sides is, if you miss...you get to keep the skin on your shins. The straight box is like a knife, scars are cool though!

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Plyo Box	Kevin Burns	Equipment	3	03-16-2007 08:10 PM
Kelly' Grafton Trail Run project	Kelly Moore	Workout Logs	14	11-25-2006 04:11 PM
20 in Plyo Box for $28	Matthew Nielsen	Equipment	21	09-06-2006 05:02 PM
Project Fit City	Kevin Rogers	Fitness	7	05-01-2006 11:54 AM
Fixed gear project questions....	Bob Pratt	Equipment	3	02-06-2006 12:49 PM

10-12-2005, 09:32 PM	#1
Lincoln Brigham Member Profile: Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sedona AZ Posts: 2,714	I used a 4' x 8' sheet of maple plywood for the sides, about $50 at most hardware stores, plus a little extra CDX plywood for the tops that I had on hand. This made two 20" high boxes. I did the cutting with a circular saw. Note the cardboard mock-up. The sides are square-cut at 90 degrees (i.e. butt joined) but the tops and bottoms were cut at parallel 10-degree angles (give or take a couple of degrees.) This turned out to be the trickiest difficult stage of the project. Note the clever use of 10 kilo bumper plates to hold the plywood in place. http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14918.jpg Cut pieces ready for sanding and assembly. Note the inventory of 40 screws. http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14919.jpg I used the "screw and glue" technique. 1 1/4" drywall screws and wood glue. All holes for the screws were pre-drilled. http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14920.jpg (The brown edges show that I was burning up the saw blade. Some type of operator error, I'm sure! Either the wrong type of blade or the wrong depth adjustment for the cut.) Pilot hole for the handle cut-outs. http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14921.jpg http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14922.jpg Assembled and ready for sanding. The sanding hid a lot of minor fitting flaws around the joints. http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14923.jpg Painting in progress. If I had started with a white base coat I would have saved myself a lot of extra coats of paint. I sanded with extra fine grit sandpaper before the last coat of paint. http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14924.jpg A little spray-on spar varnish, a peel-on label, a little more varnish, some 3/4" rubber mats glued on top with contact cement and the boxes are done. http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14925.jpg It took a while, but I'm pretty happy with the results! http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14926.jpg (Today's sunset from the gym, just after I finished) (Message edited by Lincoln on October 12, 2005) (Message edited by Lincoln on October 12, 2005)

10-12-2005, 10:09 PM	#2
Grady McDonald Member Profile: Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego CA Posts: 138	Those are some f'n sound boxes. Strong work.

10-12-2005, 10:09 PM	#3
Larry Lindenman Affiliate Profile: Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Chicago Illinois Posts: 2,769	Very nice and timely, just thinking of bribing someone to do it for me!

10-12-2005, 11:17 PM	#4
Beth Moscov Affiliate Profile: Join Date: May 2007 Location: Boulder Creek California Posts: 1,269	Looks great! Now I gotta go back and make another few with your improvements. Do you think it was the use of those plates that made yours look so much more professional??? Actually - we are building outdoor pullup bars this weekend so it will have to wait. Why not make a sticker of that sunset and add it to the logo? It would look pretty with that blue color.

10-13-2005, 06:15 AM	#5
Scott Kustes Member Profile: Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Louisville KY Posts: 1,258	Nice...I'm wanting to get together a couple of boxes at some point in time. I'm not a great woodworker though (mainly cause I've never done it). Lincoln, how much do you charge for shipping to Cincinnati? :lol: So if I understand, you have 2 slanted sides and two vertical sides?

10-13-2005, 08:16 AM	#6
Lincoln Brigham Member Profile: Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sedona AZ Posts: 2,714	I've built a few wood boxes before, so that helped. All 4 sides were slanted which made the project a little tricky to cut, hence the cardboard mockup as a 'sanity check'. I got the dimensions from Beth's post about her boxes - 20" high, 17.5" top, 23.5" bottom. BFS does the same box for $99 plus extra for color, which considering the amount of time this took might have been a more expedient way to go if I wasn't such a cheap SOB.

10-13-2005, 10:31 AM	#7
John Phipps Member Profile: Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: St Louis MO Posts: 158	Those look really good. I want to make some myself. I have a few questions, as I am not much of a woodworker: You said the sides were cut square at 90 degrees and the top parallel at 10 degrees. Could you please explain why that was done and if you think just straight cuts would work. Also you said the dimensions for the sides were 20" high, 17.5" top, 23.5" bottom, so wouldn't the box be 20.5" tall if you used half inch plywood? It looks like the top piece is placed on top of the sides. What were the dimensions of the top? 18.5” square? Finally, If I wanted to make boxes at 16", 20", and 24" do you think I should keep the same top and bottom lengths and just cut them more or less in the height? Thanks!

10-13-2005, 03:28 PM	#8
Lincoln Brigham Member Profile: Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sedona AZ Posts: 2,714	If you use square cuts, only the edges will touch the floor and the top piece. You lose significant stability, durability and structural integrity. Not good: http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14962.jpg Better: http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/14963.jpg All pieces were 3/4" thick and adjustments were made so that the final dimensions were 20" high with a 17.5" square top. If you are not much of a woodworker, I'd go with simple straight sides instead of sloped. Much easier to make and more likely to be strong. I'd also go with 3/4" plywood, not 1/2" for those same reasons. Don't be tempted to use particle board, either. The advantage for sloped sides is that they are stackable, a little more stable during use and look cooler; the disadvantage is that they are MUCH harder to make. Eugene Allen has posted some good pictures of his straight-sided plyo boxes.

10-13-2005, 05:14 PM	#9
John Phipps Member Profile: Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: St Louis MO Posts: 158	I will go with straight-sided plyo boxes. I think making straight unangled cuts will be hard enough. I am going to try to make my boxes look like cubes, 16x16x16, 20x20x20, and 24x24x24. Hopefully they will still stack together as my garage is quickly running out of room. Thanks for the info.

10-14-2005, 06:08 AM	#10
Larry Lindenman Affiliate Profile: Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Chicago Illinois Posts: 2,769	John, the thing I like about the sloped sides is, if you miss...you get to keep the skin on your shins. The straight box is like a knife, scars are cool though!