Paul’s PCS Boxes & Benches

Description:  We managed to exceed the expected goal which was to construct all of the walls.  We completed the construction of all the walls, and, in addition, managed to drill all of the bolt holes in the legs and partially assembled one of the small bench end boxes.  We also shortened and sanded all of the pieces that needed to be cut, due to the shorter length of the tongue and groove siding.  There were 2-4 scouts the whole time, excluding myself, and they were productive and kept on task for the whole time they were working.  Before each of the scouts began work on my project, I collected their permission slips and explained to them the safety precautions that needed to be taken which were to be aware at all times what is going on in the workshop.  When we assembled the smaller box, I realized that the bench slats would need to also be slender because their width is too big for the newly shortened box railing.  I again used the EDGE method to demonstrate the proper technique needed to sand the cut edges and to assemble the siding.

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Description:  Today our goal was to finish all construction that is not going to be done at the Charter School.  We managed to achieve this goal and plan on how we will construct the remaining pieces on site.  The construction that was done today included assembling the two larger planter boxes and constructing the two bench frames.  Constructing the larger planter boxes took about one hour because we already knew how to construct it efficiently based on the experience with the smaller planter boxes.  Assembling the bench frames took a little longer than expected because we had to first make sure they fit the sides, which required about an 1/8 of an inch cut on the bench support ends.  We decided to, instead of fully attaching the bench frame on site, we instead attached the bench frames to the boxes but will unscrew the screws attaching the frames to the box, before transportation.  This will simplify things on site, because we will already have the pilot holes drilled and have the locations for the screws set up.  The next step is to sand and waterproof the boxes, but after that session, all that should remain is the final transportation and assembly of the boxes.

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Description: Today I completed the final session of my Eagle Service Project.  The session began by attaching the already precut landscape cloth lining to the stained boxes.  This part of the session did not take too long, about 45 minutes, because we had all of the cloth lining cut at the previous work session and already knew how we how we were going to attach it to the boxes.  The way we attached it was we cut the cloth into large rectangular strips which would be able to go from the trim on one side to the inner edges of the box and back to the trim on the opposite side of the box.  There were two rectangular pieces for each box and they would overlap in the bottom of the box.  Once these were completed, we transported the boxes to Princeton Charter School.  We placed the two larger boxes, the two bench frames, and two of the smaller boxes in Mr. Reed’s truck and placed the remaining two smaller boxes in Mr. DiPippo’s van.  When we got to the school, all that was left to do was to place the boxes in the correct position, against the 5-8 building as was in my original proposal, attach the bench frames to the smaller boxes and attach the brass plates to the bench frames.

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