The Idea
I went down a bit of a rabbit hole a week or so ago when thinking about a better way to store all of the dev boards I have for testing. The ideal scenario is to have a lot of surface area to lay them all out so that you can see them all at a glance. No need to dig through anything. One way to do that is with shallow drawers, commonly call flat file storage. I found a flat file cabinet on Craiglist but it was pretty pricey and very large. They are often used for large prints that need to be kept flat. For dev boards, I don't need a lot of area together, just a lot overall.
After seeing creative drawer inserts for the Ikea Kallax bookshelf and some done in cardboard, I realized I could get custom cardboard boxes to fit in each square. I found EcoEnclose which makes custom sized shipping boxes low minimum order ($20) and now have just over 20 boxes for around $40. 10 of the shallowest boxes cost just under $20 and can fit in a single square. (The wood 10 drawer set is $140.)
The Details
EcoEnclose has variety of options for the custom boxes: style, strength and inner dimensions. (The use is for going around another box for shipping.)
My first instinct was to get trays because they were drawer like and cheapest. However, making the "chest" to hold the drawers would be difficult and trays can tip everything out. Literature Mailer (LM) and Tab Locking (TL) enclose everything which means that the boards will stay in even when tipped. I got one LM sample box and some of the side tabs tore because they were very thin. The lid wasn't as secure as TL either. So, my future orders will all be TL.
Strength-wise, LM and TL boxes have three options 32E, 32B and 23B. As they cover in the YouTube video below, the number is the strength of the paper that forms the corrugate and the letter is the fluting, which also implies thickness. E fluting is 1/16" thick and B is 1/8" thick. Thickness is important to us for sizing since we're constrained on the outside, not inside.
I ordered my 20 "safe" dimension boxes with 32E strength. I also order a couple samples of 32B and 23B. 23B was clearly weaker and tore much more easily. 32B felt less refined and didn't actually fit in the cube with the sizing I ordered. So, 32E is my go-to going forwards.
To determine the ideal dimensions, I started with the Ikea dimensional drawing of the Kallax.
A single cube in the bookshelf is 13 1/4" wide, 13 1/4" high and 15 3/8" deep. (On EcoEnclose, depth is the "length" dimension.) These are our max outer dimensions and the width is the strictest. Height dictates how many we can stack in a cube and depth dictates how much "hangs out" of the cubby. The back is open so it isn't critical.
My primary boxes are 12 3/4" wide, 15 3/8" long (or deep) and 1 1/8" high. This orients the tabs on the left side of the cubby. The height is 1/8" more than the minimum 1" and allows for 10 boxes in the total 13 1/4" height. I got one sample box with 12 7/8" width and it also fit (but more snugly). 13" did not. I also got a sample 32E that is 2 1/4" high and it is little shorter than two 1 1/8" high boxes. So it could get another 1/8" or two taller.
Below is a screenshot of the settings. 11 boxes are ordered to get the $1.90 price per box. (With 2 3/8" high the minimum is 8 at $2.63 a box.) (Prices as of 9/7/2023.)
