Q: What is a Crate Pro Style Template?
[printable info below]
A: Excellent question. To simplify the design process and help users worldwide easily identify their preferred construction style. Crate Pro uses Style Templates. Selecting the correct style template as your starting point of a new crate design will greatly reduce your labor times and chances of design errors. As part of your initial set-up we recommend selecting a number of styles that meet your needs and setting them as 'Preferred'
A 'Style Template' is the construction methodology of the crate design. It determines the orientation of the materials as they relate to other materials in your crate. The actual materials used (such as a 1x4 versus a 2x4) do not determine the Style template. Users will be able to preset up to five unique Material Groups that can be selected with a single click to build the selected style template.
Crate Pro uses a simple to understand naming convention to help users select the Style Template that fits their particular needs.
Help finding your styles is available to customers with maintenance.
Explanation of Style Template Naming:
The 1st letter, (L), (M) or (H), stands for Light-duty, Medium-duty and Heavy-duty respectively. The terms reflect the general construction methodology and not the actual capacity or strength of the container.
The 2nd letter indicates the type of sheathing used, which could be Plywood (P), Lumber (L) or Mixed (M).
The 3rd letter indicates the cleating situation: (I) denotes Inside Cleating, (O) - Outside Cleating, and (N) - No Cleating. No Cleating may be only on some panels such as the Top or Sides.
There is a significant difference in the general construction methodology of the BASE between light-duty, medium-duty and heavy-duty which can be seen here. ALL style templates allow you to change the default base configuration; plywood versus lumber, and you can add or remove the Skids and Rubbing Strips. You are able to set your default base preferences as part of your initial setup.
Sub-categories of the above style groups:
101-199 : Interlocking Cleats, Base Out
201-299 : Interlocking Cleats. Base In
301-399 : Load Bearing Cleats, Base Out
401 - 499 : Load Bearing Cleats . Base In
700'S : Unique styles- you will see some custom created styles that don't fit into any published
standard.
- Interlocking vs Load Bearing Cleats on Plywood Styles and on Medium-duty and Light-duty Lumber Styles is predominantly determined by the cleating intersection across the top of the End and Side Panels.
- Interlocking Cleats vs Load Bearing Cleats on Light-duty Lumber Styles is determined by the association between Side Panel Top-to-Base Cleats and Top Panel Front-to-Aft Cleats.
- Interlocking Cleats vs Load Bearing Cleats on Light-duty Mixed Styles is determined by the association between Top Panel Framing Cleats and End Panel Top-to-Base cleats.
- Base Out, as opposed to Base In, denotes that the Base Panel (either Plywood or Lumber sheathed) is or would be visible from outside a closed container. Either the Side or End panels or both, are sitting on the base.
- Base In, denotes that the base, excluding skids and rub strips, is completely enclosed by the Side and End Panels. The Side and End panels or both, sit on the skids or rub strips depending on the style.
View the following articles to see available templates. While the image may show a plywood or lumber base, when creating your design, you'll select your base configuration: the base may be plywood or lumber, or both, and the skids and rubbing strips will be applied or not as you prefer.
All Other Light-Duty Style Images
Medium and Heavy-Duty Style Images