# Box im building



## Guest (Oct 6, 2009)

Check this out, modeled it in solid works. This is just the frame in isometric view. It looks like its all one solid piece, but itll be built of 2x4's and i dont know how to put parts together in the program yet. but you get the idea! ill put a picture up later with it all finished! rigged a way to chain it down in the bed of my truck! 
gotta love CAD programs and EGR 










what do you think!?


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## snowvols (Apr 16, 2008)

Have you done force calculations on it? It almost looks like over kill. That thing would probably support over a thousand pounds of direct force. That's just my opinion run a force program on it and it will do all the stress and strain areas when you put the force that will be down on it and you can select a location for it. Most CAD programs have it now days already built in.


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## bakesale (Nov 28, 2008)

It looks heavy.


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## Guest (Oct 6, 2009)

yea, i know solid works has it built in, but i havent learned how to use it yet. I have that class tonight so ill ask the prof how to do it. If this one looks like overkill, you shoulda seen the last one haha, it was a little over the top. But ill see if i can slim it down a little. I bet i could lose the whole center cross section and still be ok. thats
almost 12ft less wood id be using


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## snowvols (Apr 16, 2008)

How long is it? and are you gonna just put the plastic on top or glue the plastic to a piece of plywood.


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## AirConditioning (Oct 5, 2009)

Get arena board and screw it to the top. Arena board is that stuff they have around the sides of hockey rinks. It's the perfect stuff for boxes.


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## legallyillegal (Oct 6, 2008)

this is the box that i'm building


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## Dano (Sep 16, 2009)

legallyillegal said:


> this is the box that i'm building


Have you done force calculations on it?


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## snowvols (Apr 16, 2008)

Oh no an optical illusion


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## AirConditioning (Oct 5, 2009)

legallyillegal said:


> this is the box that i'm building


My friend had one of those. I tried to butter it and it made a tear in the space-time continuum.


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2009)

AirConditioning said:


> My friend had one of those. I tried to butter it and it made a tear in the space-time continuum.


hahahahaha. im gonna avoid that :laugh:

its only 7 ft long, kinda short but only place i can keep this guy is in the bed of my truck. 

Planning on using HDPE for the surface


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

You want UHMW polyethylene not HDPE. Spread the word.


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## snowvols (Apr 16, 2008)

The one I built I used UHMW it came out real nice. Since it is only seven feet long you really do not need all of those supports across the middle. I would eliminate the support directly in the center which would reduce weight and save you some money.


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2009)

snowvols said:


> The one I built I used UHMW it came out real nice. Since it is only seven feet long you really do not need all of those supports across the middle. I would eliminate the support directly in the center which would reduce weight and save you some money.


k i think thats what ill do! i tried to do the stress test, couldnt make it work, it didnt have enough material data to run an analysis with pine. did find out that itll way 107.7 lbs tho! so that middle sections gotta go.

UHMW? first time ive heard of this. All ive heard of was high density poly ethylene. But whats UHMW and where can i get it!? 

please tell me its cheaper than HDPE :dunno:


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## legallyillegal (Oct 6, 2008)

HDPE is cheaper than UHMWPE and is commonly used simply because of the cost


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2009)

oh ok. ill probly stick with the cheaper stuff, im really not even sure where to get HDPE in my area, so i might end up using some trex spaced out on the surface until i can get my hands on some. Anybody know of a plastic manufacturer i can go to somewhere in phoenix?


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## RidePowder (Oct 30, 2008)

I find sheet aluminum is good. its cheap, easy to bend over corners, doesnt catch and is difficult to damage


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## AirConditioning (Oct 5, 2009)

RidePowder said:


> I find sheet aluminum is good. its cheap, easy to bend over corners, doesnt catch and is difficult to damage


It's way worse for your edges and just doesn't ride like plastic.


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2009)

AirConditioning said:


> My friend had one of those. I tried to butter it and it made a tear in the space-time continuum.


LOL :laugh:


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## m_jel (Apr 21, 2009)

definitely overkill. get rid of the middle section and just have the upright supports at each 1/4 of the box and you'll be set. That's how i build my box and its taken quite the beating so far


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

Alumanim tears really easy, it was one of the first top sheets I tried when I was trying to save money. HDPE is soft and scratches easy and doesn't slide very good. You'll want to throw it away after a season or two. UHMW means Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene, its like HDPE's big brother. It is more expensive but only by a few dollars a sq ft. and it's well worth it. It slides like ice, its impact resistant, doesnt scratch or gouge, and it lasts for years. It's been 3 seasons with heavy use and it's still in great shape. 

But you dont want to waste your time with anything under 15 ft. 7 ft seems like a lot in your garage but when your sliding across it it's nothing.


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2009)

Extremo said:


> Alumanim tears really easy, it was one of the first top sheets I tried when I was trying to save money. HDPE is soft and scratches easy and doesn't slide very good. You'll want to throw it away after a season or two. UHMW means Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene, its like HDPE's big brother. It is more expensive but only by a few dollars a sq ft. and it's well worth it. It slides like ice, its impact resistant, doesnt scratch or gouge, and it lasts for years. It's been 3 seasons with heavy use and it's still in great shape.
> 
> But you dont want to waste your time with anything under 15 ft. 7 ft seems like a lot in your garage but when your sliding across it it's nothing.


ok, ill see if i can get my hands on some of that. 
I would love to build a monster box, but i have no place to keep it besides the bed of my truck, I figure if it comes down to it ill build another box and just connect them with a slide joint. Im up at school and cant imagine moving a 15ft rain around, much less a 7ft rail.


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## alaric (Aug 28, 2007)

Extremo said:


> But you dont want to waste your time with anything under 15 ft. 7 ft seems like a lot in your garage but when your sliding across it it's nothing.




I disagree.

Short boxes are great for just practicing tricks in the backyard or whatever, not totally trying to "steeze" them out.



The box looks good, but it'll be way overkill. Tone it down a little and you'll thank yourself  Keep us updated on the progress!


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## Guest (Oct 8, 2009)

alaric said:


> I disagree.
> 
> Short boxes are great for just practicing tricks in the backyard or whatever, not totally trying to "steeze" them out.
> 
> ...


I think if i can get this box to work and get some solid use out of it, especially on NAU campus once the snow comes down! Ill make another one and just line them up.


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## AZred60 (Jan 15, 2008)

i cant believe i didnt look at this sooner. im at NAU too i just transfered up here. i cant wait to do some urban assault! i got some nice places staked out near the dome


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## Guest (Oct 10, 2009)

sounds good!

Rail is about have way done. skeleton is built, 1/4 of the ply wood for the sides is cut, got to where i couldnt use the reciprocal saw cause it was loud and getting late. but just gotta cut somemore ply wood, screw it in, and paint it and its done!......cept for getting my hands on the sliding surface....


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## nitroboarder22 (Apr 16, 2008)

heres were to get HDPE or UHMW 
Plastic Tanks, Plastic Buckets, Plastic Bottles, Labware, Plastic Tubing, PVC Pipe, Plastic Sheet - United States Plastic Corporation ®

in my opinion HDPE is good enough for what you might be doing. it does scratch kindof easily but i have had it on some of my boxes for 2 years now and im still going to use it this season 
but UHMW is probably better


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## braden (Feb 5, 2009)

where can you guys find that plastic stuff for the top of the boxes.. i called every hardware store where i live no one has it

i need it locally


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## nitroboarder22 (Apr 16, 2008)

braden said:


> where can you guys find that plastic stuff for the top of the boxes.. i called every hardware store where i live no one has it
> 
> i need it locally


shipping actually isnt very expensive from that site. 
under $20 im pretty sure


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## Guest (Nov 23, 2009)

nitroboarder22 said:


> shipping actually isnt very expensive from that site.
> under $20 im pretty sure


i ordered mine from online metal shops? Got 1/4" thick 2 X 4ft sheets of green recycled UHME and shipping was 20 bones.


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## avenged1985 (Nov 3, 2009)

somebodyelse5 said:


> Check this out, modeled it in solid works. This is just the frame in isometric view. It looks like its all one solid piece, but itll be built of 2x4's and i dont know how to put parts together in the program yet. but you get the idea! ill put a picture up later with it all finished! rigged a way to chain it down in the bed of my truck!
> gotta love CAD programs and EGR
> 
> 
> ...


i built one pretty much exactly like this. it is pretty heavy, but its built to last.


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## iKimshi (Feb 18, 2009)

I would build one but seeing as there's no place to put mine, I can't. But good luck on building yours.


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## jaaxnikols (Nov 17, 2009)

*.*

I would build it half the width, take out the middle supports as they are just extra weight for nothing. Also now that it is half the width you can make two of them which will fit in the back of a truck easily, then you have twice the length. Its also good because then its more of a ledge than a box, so you have to use more balance while sliding it rather than just jumping onto a wide flat surface.

Also, short boxes get boring fast, so your going to want something where you can lock in a slide for a decent amount of time. 

So in my opinion build two or three ledges that connect to each other.


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

Yeah I agree short boxes and rails are so limiting. My first was 8ft and after about an hour I was already trying to fig out how to build a longer one.


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## seshcrew (Oct 16, 2012)

i have a bunch f boxes i use for my back yard park what is the cheapest thing to use to resurface them but still decent quality :dunno:


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## ComeBack_Kid (May 27, 2009)

seshcrew said:


> i have a bunch f boxes i use for my back yard park what is the cheapest thing to use to resurface them but still decent quality :dunno:


Nice 3-year thread bump. If you read through this thread, your question has been answered several times.


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## slyder (Jan 18, 2010)

ComeBack_Kid said:


> Nice 3-year thread bump. If you read through this thread, your question has been answered several times.


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## zakk (Apr 21, 2008)

sorry to bump this, but there is a lot of great info. I'm trying to build a 8-10 ft box for a backyard and was wondering on the thickness. read people used everything from 1/4" to 1/2" and was wondering if there was any feed back? HDPE is where I'm going as funds are limited, but if 1/4" works, I might be able to spring for UHMW. 

¼ sounds very thin to countersink the screws, or are people just gorilla gluing this to a sheet of plywood?


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

I countersink deep into my 1/4. And it's now 6 seasons on the same UHMW poly. Worth the investment. I'll see if I have any pics of the countersink depth. If not I'll take some.


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## zakk (Apr 21, 2008)

Extremo said:


> I countersink deep into my 1/4. And it's now 6 seasons on the same UHMW poly. Worth the investment. I'll see if I have any pics of the countersink depth. If not I'll take some.


good to know. i was getting quotes on 1/2" UHMW so we'll see about the 1/4" stuff. transport to tahoe (3 hour drive) to my buddies place where we are building it might be an issue as well, but first things first.


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