Ground has been broken and the project is officially on its way!  I have received my two 40mm ammo crates and am now starting the process of acquiring the remaining materials needed for this project. This project was inspired by my dad and by having a center console in my car that stinks. I also really enjoy the way that ammo cans look and know they are durable and long lasting as opposed to the plastic molded center console that exists in my car. So , “What are you planning to do Josh and how are you gonna do it?” Glad you asked, let me show you.

Above you may note a sweet looking CAD model that has different parts in different colors, how very astute of you. I will now go over what each part is in real life, how I am going to attain it and what things I need to do to it so that it is ready for my final model.

This is the “green thing” it is a 40mm ammo can, that is 6 inches wide, 10 inches tall and 17 inches long. This will fit nicely in the 13 inches I have between my seats. I need to drill out a couple holes in the bottom so that it can mount to my car. Besides that nothing really changes-I may paint it, but we shall see. I have already purchased these and they are in my possesion.

The red thing is the place that I have allotted for my cupholder/ accessible area as you can see above, I am planning on purchasing a cupholder mechanism that is adjustable for really any cup size. I will drill through the back of this and into the ammo can, affixing by way of nut and bolt. Probably only going to need two holes on each can or perhaps four holes on each, that’s a total of 8 Holes! This has been ordered through Amazon.

“But what if the obviously cheap looking amazon cupholder part is garbage?” Well worry you not, I bought additional cheap cupholder things to use in its place! My main gripe has always been the lack of cupholder usability and I think at this point I have it covered. Plus this one folds up in on itself which I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty neat. It takes 4 screws to drill into it, I will just bolt and nut it after replacing the screws because honestly I don’t want to cut up my hand when I reach into the ammocrate as the screws were left uncovered. Personal preference.  This has been ordered through Amazon.

This yellow doodah is a hinge. The ammo crate’s tops seals on both sides making them water proof, this is good for not getting things wet, but not so good when you need to hinge open the top of your ammocrate turned center console…console. I will remedy this by doing some cutting of the back of the crate and installing a hinge, this will allow me to open and close the crate at will. The hinge will be installed the way that hinges are usually installed, via hinge installation. Picked up at the Depot of Homes.

The above graphic indicates and summarizes the assembly procedure for this project. If you are still confused let me lay it out for you. I will drill hole through the things, then put the bolt and  nut through the things I drilled then in a combination of twisting the two separate things will become one together thing.  The angle grinder is probably for the hinge, but also maybe not hence the “this if I have to.”

This is my time line, I pulled it from the internet somewhere, but it said it was ok if I used it for personal and commercial projects, gotta love the internet. I will have something put together by the 10th according to the graphic, we shall see if that is actually the case but it seems relatively achievable. The additions I may add include a cigarette lighter outlet and maybe some padding on the back for like an armrest or something, I may also spray paint it.

If you have made it this far in reading this blog, I applaud you, reading can be hard. Here’s everything that was said above, in movie form.

Image links:

Amazon images: https://www.amazon.com/

Ammo Crate: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.the-armory.com%2Fshopsite_sc%2Fstore%2Fhtml%2FAmmo-Cans.html&psig=AOvVaw1FHnjLntsSUgShcmY5_FPN&ust=1617481329170000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCPiU49Kx4O8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

Drill:  https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.housebeautiful.com%2Fhome-remodeling%2Fa31784488%2Fhow-to-use-power-drill%2F&psig=AOvVaw1E1J0UPop8GXdEXSLqXlRL&ust=1617481367932000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCLiW6-Sx4O8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAF

Bolts: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2F304-STAINLESS-WASHERS-General-Purpose-Washers%2Fdp%2FB07SGXD4D3&psig=AOvVaw28bdCUqSHWbbYXVsIvyGvM&ust=1617481502026000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCPCnp6Wy4O8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

Angle Grinder: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.harborfreight.com%2Fcorded-4-12-in-7-amp-angle-grinder-with-tool-free-guard-64856.html&psig=AOvVaw1UxuSLR361ucBFP73dKs0e&ust=1617481537980000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCLDWo7ay4O8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAF