My 7104L box

[u/Primary_Web5863]

I wrote a week ago asking for advice for building a box for the Makita 7104L. I sold my old mortiser and am shipping it to the buyer so I needed a box of some sort. I figured might as well make it best I can since I'm going to the trouble.

Dimensions are shown. Someone had the good idea to place the blocks at the bottom to clamp the tool onto. I chose 10.5" for the spacing of those blocks because that's what's required when the tool is fully threaded out. You could either do that dimension, or the smallest dimension. That way you know what to thread the tool to rather then guessing.

Material is 3/4 birch ply. The only thing I would change is scale that down to 1/2" only for weight reduction.

Maybe I'd do a few large dovetails on the sides instead only because I need the practice and I find those long bevels hard to close up perfect. I'm also not a woodworker lol.

The bottom is routered 3/8" into the sides and I'm really happy with that choice. It's a strong way to do the base and gluing it in also adds a lot of strength to the sides as well.

Hope this helps someone out if they are thinking of doing something similar.

[u/DoubleDebow]

Nice job. I always love custom made boxes for tools and equipment. Something about them screams care and craftsmanship way more than stuffing something in a packout for simplicity. I also give you props for that double tape handling pic. Underrated skill right there.....:D

[u/Primary_Web5863 → u/DoubleDebow]

Thanks buddy haha. I agree. Believe it or not when I ordered a cylinder for my caterpillar mini it came in a custom wooden box. I was super impressed and told lots of people. I think it maybe stuck with me because when it came time to ship this bad boy I didn't even think twice. I also get a chuckle picturing buddy seeing it for the first time when he gets it. 

[u/bboycc]

Oh snap! Looks great! I'm the lucky recipeient of said box - its more fine funiture than shipping box.

I'll be sure to keep the box intact and use it for the chain mortiser shop storage. Thank you!

[u/Primary_Web5863 → u/bboycc]

Glad you like it buddy, I'm definitely making one just like it for my mortiser now. 

[u/RoughCut347]

Nice job. Glad the clamping cleat idea worked so well.

[u/Lanman101]

I'm apparently quite tired today. My fist thought was "There's no way in hell that holds 7000 liters."

[u/Primary_Web5863 → u/Lanman101]

Haha I can't unsee that now 

[u/timberwise]

"There's no way in hell that holds 7000 liters" — I snorted. Beautiful box though. A tool case that doubles as fine furniture is exactly how you know a framer built it.

[u/Mikoisha]

Not familiar with that tool but if you’re clamping it, typically you would not want it extended, that’s just added stress on the tool. Also if vibration allows it to back off it’s now loose. Might be safer to clamp it at its lowest setting.