Elegant and easy DIY Disc Golf Storage Box – plans and instructions
Updated: Jun 24, 2020
It is a perennial and persistent question online; where can I find boxes ideal for storing golf discs? And yet no one ever seems to DO anything about it. So today, Vortica reveals how to make your own elegant, practical, strong, lightweight, stackable, and cheap boxes which are easily customizable for your particular requirements.
You can make a quick-trick box-stack! You can make a quick-trip disc-rack!
Just as for many other disc golfers, I have for decades wanted to find the perfect boxes to store discs and transport them. Up until now I have used the large cardboard boxes the discs shipped in, suitably reinforced with duct tape, and with a central splitter to separate the two columns of discs. But they are not ideal, as they do not last long, and soon look tatty and old.
And although I had searched repeatedly and over an extended period of time, I never ever found any solution, cheap or expensive, that would solve the problem. Boxes were either the wrong shape or size, and did not stack well, or did not allow for dense packing for efficient storage or transport. And they had to fit in the back of my car nicely.
Seeing fold-up, slot-together boxes made from 3mm Corflute for shipping grapes prompted me into a rapid design and prototyping process which evolved into the design presented here.
The box is specifically designed to be made from 1200mm x 900mm sheets of 5mm Corflute, but you may use whatever sheet size you like and cut it up appropriately. It is unlikely any other material will suffice.
It’s worth noting the direction the flutes run is important, and you shouldn’t attempt to make long boxes with the flutes running the other direction, as they will not be robust.
3mm Corflute is not strong enough to be used in this application.
Because corflute is made from polypropylene, almost nothing sticks to it, and for many years I have used sheets of white corflute as the scoreboard in my annual tournament, the Peter Crowther Memorial, as it is easy to wipe whiteboard ink from.
For the boxes to be easy to make, and strong, an all-purpose adhesive is required to glue them together, and I chose a Selleys product called “The One”. It says it will stick anything to anything. It is very thick and non-viscous, which makes it ideal for the purpose. It cleans up with mineral turps.
It is quite possible other products will also be appropriate. As we’re in New Zealand, I can’t advise on products outside the Oceania region.
Imperial doesn’t cut it. It’s metric all the way.
The plans are exclusively in metric units because the material is metric in specification, and the flutes of the material are exactly 5mm apart. Therefore the cuts required perfectly line up with the centers of the flutes on the design.
Materials and tools
5mm Corflute sheet/s (plans utilize 1200mm x 900mm retail sheets)
Sharp knife, or craft knife
Selleys “The One” adhesive
Caulking gun
Metal straight-edge
Metric ruler
Pencil
Irwin Quickgrip clamps (or similar)
For the comfortable handles,
you will need
20mm electrical conduit
Hacksaw
Bench vice
The Plans
There are two sets of plans available, a 2-part box, and the more complex 4-part box with separate sides. The 4-part item is easier to get right and bonded together well, but uses a lot more glue, and takes twice as long to make. Clicking a plan opens a PDF file.
The easy-to-make 2-part box - Click to Download
Harder to make but tidier and more symmetrical 4-part box
Marking and cutting
Using your pencil, ruler, and straight-edge, mark out the design as shown.
Take particular attention to the red cut lines as it is important not to cut through, or score the inside of the second layer of material.
When cutting the lines across the flutes, you only need to break the top surface, and you do not need to cut down into the flutes at all. Usually, a single pass is only required.
When cutting, be precise as straight lines work best. When cutting with the grain, try to stay as centered in the flute as possible throughout the cut.
Once you have cut out the parts of the box, slowly bend the cut lines until they fold nicely. Fold and press them firmly to form a straight edge.
Before assembly, make sure you fold the lines firmly so they adopt a 90-degree angle naturally, as this ensures a nicely fitting, symmetrical and strong final product.
Assembly and glueing
This process is ideally done in two stages; First to create the box itself, and later, adding the centre divider. The divider is important because it stops the middle of the box from bulging when carried full of discs. It also allows the boxes to stack nicely.
I used a continuous bead of The One on all surfaces to be glued. The bead I use is approximately 8 mm wide and 1 mm thick.
As each surface is tacked together, it remains fairly mobile. I flip the piece onto the work surface, and firmly press and wiggle the parts across the length of the glued area to spread the glue nicely.
Once that is done, I locate the pieces correctly and use a single Irwin Quickgrip clamp on each join. Excess glue can be removed after it hardens.
When the glue has cured, which is after a few hours, add the centre divider.
The handles
The end edges of Corflute can be a bit sharp, so for comfortable carrying, I simply use 12cm long sections of electrical conduit. Because the conduit is quite tough, it is necessary to cut out a 3mm section from the length of each handle, so it can be fitted over the 5mm thick Corflute.
To do this, I simply secure the handle in a vice, lube the hacksaw blade, and cut through lengthwise twice, and then use a screwdriver to lever open the gap for final fitment. I also use two big blobs of The One inside the handle, to further secure it for long term use.
Customizing the box design for your own use
You can easily change the length of your boxes to suit yourself, especially if you begin with larger sheets - either 2.7 or 3 metres long. The width (and height) of the boxes is fine for all normal sized golf discs – even larger midranges. But a Condor will not fit inside.
Consider whether you will use the two-part or 4-part box. The 4-part evolution of the design glues together more easily, looks a bit nicer, comes out more symmetrical, but takes a lot longer to cut out, uses a lot more glue, and consumes almost twice as much labour.
Tidying the edges
Once complete, the sharp edges of the cuts can be tidied up using the back side of your cutting blade, to bend over the edges on the sides of the box, and applying insulation tape along the edges – also shown in the photos.
Or not! After all, you are the boss, of your disc golf box.
All done! NOW, DO AS YOUR MOTHER SAYS, AND SHARE!
Feel free to share this page – with someone you know, who needs storage boxes. That’s the kind of customer we especially appreciate, here at Vortica! :)
Did the box design work nicely for you? Click the heart below, and leave a comment!
We’d love you to share your own experience making the box, and if you appreciate our efforts to make your life easier and better, you can support us by making a purchase in the store. We’ve got a world-exclusive run of James "Jaguar" Smithells 40-years-of-NZ-Disc-Golf 2018 Rurus in some awesome combinations of colours and metal flakes. Just sayin’…
Vortica has no interest in commercial gain from our design, and it is provided freely under standard Copyleft rules. This means you are not permitted to profit from the design, nor may you profit from any designs derived from it.
