Journalism Newspaper Boxes

For my independent study, I worked closely with the journalism class and Ms. Butterfield to develop a container that would hold extra newspapers and make them available to students who wanted another copy.

Usually, school newspapers are handed out manually to students at the main entrance when they walk into school, but with my newspaper box, students can have the opportunity to pick up a newspaper any time they would like.

Initial design

I started off my projects like I usually do: with a sketch in rhino. I had spoken with Ms. Butterfield and we had decided that the boxes should hold up to 80 newspapers in two stacks, so I started by finding the interior dimensions of my box.

Materials

For this project, I chose to use 3/4 inch plywood. I made this decision because we had a large amount of this material in the shop, and nobody seemed to be using it, so I thought I would take advantage of this material even though nobody else seemed to be using this plywood.

Finishing design

Once I had decided on a material and the dimensions of the box, the rest of the design was ready to be finalized. I decided to make a set of legs with wheels so that the box would be accessible to people when they were standing up, and the wheels ensured that the box could easily be moved anywhere on campus.

I added cross braces to the legs to improve stability, and Ms. Butterfield and I decided to laser engrave "The Paper Tiger" onto the front of the box in the traditional newspaper font that was used in the actual publication.

These were my designs for possible leg shapes. The legs were to be CNC machined out of a large sheet of plywood. The design on the left is the final design

The Image on the left is the final side view of the newspaper box rhino deisgn. The small squares on the bottos represent the wheels. The top on the box is also tilted towards the user so that they can more easily see inside and access the contents.

I showed my Rhino designs to the journalism class for them to offer feedback, and they were very happy with the design and did not say that any changes needed to be made. With approval from the users of my product, I began working on building the newspaper boxes.

Assembly

I began by cutting out the panels that would make the actual box. I mitered all of the panels so that the plywood layers would be hidden.

I added a dado slot at the bottom of the panels so that I could slide in a separate plywood panel that could act as the bottom of the box.

Once the mitered panels were glued together, I kept the tape on for several hours to make sure none of the panels slipped out of place when drying.

I used a pre-existing frame that nobody was using to act as an anchor on which to mount the legs to the box. I simply trimmed the edges of the frame on the table saw and it slid right into place. The two blanks for the legs can be seen jutting out as I test-fit all of the pieces in their final configuration.

Using the CNC router, I was able to quickly cut out the shapes for the legs. I then sanded all of the splintered edges and the legs were ready to be installed. I both glued and screwed the legs to the frame, and then I installed the cross braces to the legs for support. After the leg apparatus was finished, I simply let the box slot into place atop the frame. I did not glue or screw the box in place because I wanted to have the option to separate the box from the legs for maintenance purposes or the installation of upgrades in the future.

I was originally going to use two "X" cross braces, but I realized that it was onlt neccessaery to have one for the box to be stable. The second X was replaced with a simple cross beam and the box was perfectly sturdy.

I then installed 4 wheels to the bottom of the legs. These tiny wheels made it super easy to move the box around, although they will not get a ton of use as the boxes will spend most of their lives sitting in one place. The wheels also have the ability to lock in place to prevent unwanted movement.

The first box was installed in the front lobby. Ms. Butterfield and the journalism class all thought the box looked good and did what it needed to do functionally. I was personally surprised that it could hold so many newspapers even though I calculated that number when making the design. It could actually hold more newspapers than I calculated because the weight of the papers on the top compressed the papers on the bottom, so the actual capacity was around 100 newspapers instead of 80.

Second Box

Ms. Butterfield mentioned that she wanted a second box that could be used outside. I went back to my rhino design and realized that I could add an acrylic lid that could help keep moisture out of the box.

The box itself, besides the lid, is identical to the first box. The construction process went a little faster the second time around and I was able to make the glue job a little cleaner with experience and the tolerances and fit between the leg apparatus and the box were improved as well.

I found a set of door hinges that I used to attach the acrylic sheet to the box. I thought that they looked great and they swung smoothly.

This photo shows the fit between the box itself and the leg framing.

Here you can see the bottom of the hinge. I decided to use a simple system of nuts and bolts to attach the acrylic. I drilled through the acrylic and the hinge fit perfectly. However, the excess length of the screws kept hitting the top of the box, preventing the lid from shutting fully. To fix this, I sawed off the excess screws and I filed down the edge of the box so that the lid would not be impeded from moving fully.

(The acrylic looks invisible in this photo, but trust me, it's there!) While the lid would help keep direct rain out, the plywood would not fair so well in the rain. That being said, the second box can be stored outside, but preferably under an awning to protect it from direct rainfall. Ms. Butterfield and I have yet to decide on an exact location for this box, but we are thinking about putting it near the lunch line so that there is a god amount of foot traffic going right by the box.

Closing Thoughts:

While the semester is over along with my independent study, I would be happy to build more newspaper boxes if they are needed in the future. I really enjoyed the process of collaboration with my users in the design process, and I think that by working with Ms. Butterfield and the journalism class I was able to greatly improve the functionality and feel of my design. I usually build things as a personal endeavor, but this independent study has opened my eyes to the benefits of collaboration and communication in projects that are meant to help other people.

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