Most commonly the commercial crate designer uses the desired inside dimensions (ID) of a crate to calculate the design. Depending on the country, standard being used and/or company policy, its common to figure the content size and add between 1" to 4" to it to account for additional material, blocking, bracing that will be added.


When a crate design is calculated in Crate Pro 6 by ID, no matter whats added to the interior, the crate ID will not change so the outside dimensions and dimensional weights will be immediately available based on the materials used.


Some internationally published standards may conflict on how the ID is determined and the discrepancies on terminology can make it even more confusing. Crate Pro 6 strives to set a standard across the industry to help provide clarity so that no matter the standard, country or company, the terminology and determination method always stays the same and sets common method of calculation.  



The inside dimension is based on distance inner surfaces of opposite panel. 

  • For the length dim the opposite panels are based on the End panels. The base and sides are not considered.   
  • For the width dim the opposite panels are based on the Side panels. The base and ends are not considered. 
  • For the height dim the opposite panels are based on the floorboards of the base and underside of the top panels. The sides and ends are not considered. However, if the base is a Sill base, the dimension is determined from the top of the sill.

Components such as headers and load members on the base; joists and joist supports, and inside gussets are considered 'obstructions' and not considered when determining ID.


Under consideration as an addition to Crate Pro 6 is to have a Clear Area field that will give you the available internal dimensions when common interior components are used. This will be in the Feature Request forum and should be voted on if this is a feature you'd like to see.


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