Pokemon Storage Box

This was a gift for my 6 year old grandson last Christmas. He asked for a box to hold is collection of Pokemon card decks.

Naturally, I had dress it up a bit. The box holds 12 decks.

 

The decks come with “coins” about the size of poker chips. They are stored in the holder in the upper left of the previous shot. There are some other smaller pieces stored under this holder.

I have a few pictures of the construction. The box construction was fairly straightforward. It’s not easy to see but the ends are made up of two pieces. The lower piece matches the height of the dividers and side walls. A 2nd piece makes the ends full height and caps the center divider.

The next set of shots describes making the lids. First, I formed the details for the center circle. This template allowed me to form a circular recess at the edge of one lid half.

I used my router with a guide bearing to form the pocket.

I then cut away the top to the centerline of the pocket.

I did the same for the second lid, but removed material from the bottom. The two lid halves were then placed in a jig to lock them together.

Next, circle templates were made. I used a trammel jig I made several years ago. It uses a part from a Craftsman trammel for the center pin.

The first template is for the outer diameter.

Then 3 inserts are made to fit. I used these to cut the other circles. By setting inserts into the outer circle I could ensure all circles were concentric.

I used a smaller circle to support my trim router while I formed the outer diameter.

Wenge pieces were fitted to the outer circle.

The next template allowed me to trim the inner diameter of the wenge. Holly and bloodwood pieces were then fitted against that circle. A strip of wenge can be seen along the bottom edge of these inserts.

The next smaller circle is cut and another set of wenge pieces are fitted. (No pictures of that step) Finally the inner circle can be routed out.

And a piece of holly is fitted in place.

Piano hinges were cut to length.

And screwed into place.

I used a steel screw to form the threads.

And wax on the brass threads.

The sides and the top were shaped into curves. I used layout lines to create facets and the sanded to create a fair curve. The top was  first.

Then the sides.

A roundover from the top to the sides was made the same way.

I used a water based polyurethane for finish. The box measures 4 ¾”x7”x9 3/8” (120mm x 175mm x 238mm).

When I built this, my grandson and his dad thought a capacity of 12 deck would be plenty. It took less than a year for a request for another box! I’m going to do an expansion box that fits below this one rather than create a duplicate.