Cardboard Box Solutions

[whydontu]

A common cardboard box solution - holding stuff. The box of 3/4-8 wood screws is at least 35 years old, bought a master carton eons ago for some project and still have many boxes. Still good, 100% biodegradable and recyclable. Compare to the current plastic container, which is a pain to open or close and won’t stack up properly once opened.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

For laughs, picture this.......

I needed a costume for a Halloween party when I was in Engineering school. I decided to go as an Intel Chip. Plan is to paint a cardboard box black add the logo and use aluminum foil to represent the pins. So I find a box and cutout holes for my head and arms. The box is a bit on the small side. So I do a trial fit, arms pointed straight up slide the box down and before I get me head through the box gets stuck. I can barely breathe and I can't get the dam thing off for a good 10 minutes, my hands are useless pointing straight up, I can't see, I'm wondering around my apartment like a Intel zombie.

Eventually got loose and made bigger holes.

I told my wife, she came up with the news clip, Engineering student dies of suffocation in failed Halloween costume attempt. Would have made a great video.

lol

This was Jr's Costume this year. Boxes are so versatile.

 

[Susquatch]

Cardboard boxes are also great for spraying oil onto rusty tools till you have time to derust them properly. The box absorbs the extra oil and burns a bit longer in the fire pit afterward too.

 

[Susquatch]

My shop revolves around cardboard boxes for parts & item storage. I might have 200 by now. They all have a cheapo masking tape label & I am perpetually shifting contents & location. I used to get 2 specific sizes for free from work that were otherwise destined for recycle. Unfortunately that source has dried up. What's important to me is 1) they are the same width so they stack & you can utilize shelf space 2) easy open lid although I've also used stick on Velcro tabs 3) sufficiently strong box thickness as sometimes its nearly filled with fasteners, metal objects or whatever.

Make friends with a few local shoe shops. Stacking boxes are a requirement there. So is easy open and decent strength. Most customers take their boxes home with them but some don't.

Shoe boxes like shoes come in selected sizes.

Should be easy to meet your needs with shoe boxes!

 

[Tom O]

lol

This was Jr's Costume this year. Boxes are so versatile.
View attachment 41690

When I was around 8 years old Mom took a cardboard box and cut out a pumpkin face and covered it with orange Crete paper trimmed with green, the plug from head hole was covered and was the hat and for safety a flashlight was around the neck to light it up.

 

[StevSmar]

A simulation of whether to buy a 24” or a 36” lathe:



(I bought a 24” lathe)

 

[Susquatch]

A simulation of whether to buy a 24” or a 36” lathe:

EXCELLENT use of cardboard!

 

[Susquatch]

Another thing I do with cardboard boxes is to turn them into cardboard sheets and put them under vehicles and other oily things. They have saved my butt soooooo many times.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Cardboard has been my "creeper" for as long as I can remember. Way back to the flashlight holding tool fetching days......

 

[Susquatch]

Cardboard has been my "creeper" for as long as I can remember. Way back to the flashlight holding tool fetching days......

Just recently I helped my youngest son change his oil using a cardboard creeper on the gravel...... LOL!

Life is a circle. I hold the flashlight now.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I remember how pissed my dad was when i left the big old cardboard fridge box he kept, outside in the rain one time. It wasn't until I got older, I realized how valuable that piece of cardboard was.....

I realize now how that classifies me. There are those that work on vehicles out in gravel driveways. There are those that have nice paved driveways, or shops with concrete and hoists, and then there are those that are privileged enough to never have to work on vehicles.....I'm the first guy......

 

[CWret]

A simulation of whether to buy a 24” or a 36” lathe:

1st prize. Absolutely best use of cardboard yet. I can see me doing that.

 

[jcdammeyer]

I find two the two large sides of a cut up box makes a nice base for the first 16 of 24 puzzles from the doughnut advent calendar my wife gave me.



I'm really craving doughnuts now...

 

[Janger]

Cardboard boxes are also great for spraying oil onto rusty tools till you have time to derust them properly. The box absorbs the extra oil and burns a bit longer in the fire pit afterward too.

View attachment 41672

omg save me from ever living where it's humid. That's a cardboard box horror movie for machinists. @a smile Sun says he lives where it's humid - only now do I understand this obsession with anti rust treatments.

 

[a smile]

Seeing a group of old children's cardboard boxes with a large number of beards playing with joy, my feet are some of the used cardboard boxes, although I later bought a lot of transparent PC boxes, still have the habit of retaining and using to install tools, until now I am still unwilling to throw away strong and beautiful cardboard boxes.

I think one of the best things I've used is to use cardboard boxes as bins in the store and fill them up and throw them away together. Often can't bear to throw away the carton. (Since garbage is unsightly, I won't take pictures of it.)

 

[6.5 Fan]

1st prize. Absolutely best use of cardboard yet. I can see me doing that.

Booby prize, he didn't say "cardboard box".

 

[fixerup]

Cereal box template to trace a dragonfly onto sheet metal

 

[Tecnico]

Cereal box template to trace a dragonfly onto sheet metal

Boxboard is great for templates, I keep a stash just for that.

Good for mocking up bent sheet metal parts.

D

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Beer cases make great plasma templates

 

[140mower]

Beer cases make great plasma templates

.....yeah, but they make better beverage holders.....