henrik_o
01-22-2009, 02:18 PM
Ok, this is not about the décor -- though you can use your imagination. No, it's about the construction: making strong and durable angled boxes (etc) in massive wood, on the ‘bot of course. There are many ways to approach this. I have previously tried using dados, which works very well for ply boxes etc but in my experience is not that well suited for massive wood construction.
I am not going to say my method is great: it is not suited for volume production, and it does not provide the aesthetics of a dovetailed box. It is, however, one approach, and has a distinct look about it. If this suits a project of yours, well, it is a very easy box structure to make and assemble, with an absolute minimum of manual work.
1764
Right. This is one specimen. After retrieving it from the hungry jaws of the ‘bot, I did some light sanding (10 minutes), sawed out a bottom to fit in the slot (1 minute) and glued it up. Applied some wax, say 5 minutes, and voila, there’s your angled box.
I don’t think it’s that bad for a ~15 minute job.
If you look at the stacked pieces below the box, you can see the half-open mortise/tenon construction it’s based on. Everything is, of course, cut with the same bit.
In the next image;
1765
Here is an example where the lid has been put in the shaper to give a raised panel look. A bit more work, but still trivial all things considered.
In the above pics, the basic dimensions are the same, but this method can be applied to make a box/case of almost any dimension, as we see in this pic of an urn:
1766
The lid is a bit more complex, but it is still a very fast job.
Getting back to the box in the first two pictures, this is what it looks like in V-Carve Pro:
1767
Scaling the dimension does involve some manual CAD work; it is not a parametric design – though it could easily be made such. You see here the pocketing which provides the robust and self-aligning assembly – despite the angled/conical form it is very easy to glue it, since the construction translates ‘straight’ clamp pressure to good angled glue joints.
Also, it can be made to work with massive wood panels (or engineered wood panels), an example of the urn type shape nested on a sheet shown here:
1768
There are several ways to enhance the construction, I think, but so far this is what I have discovered. It is not suited for mass production because it takes a bit too much time to machine, but it does provide for a very easy way to make conical/angled boxes in smaller series.
I am not going to say my method is great: it is not suited for volume production, and it does not provide the aesthetics of a dovetailed box. It is, however, one approach, and has a distinct look about it. If this suits a project of yours, well, it is a very easy box structure to make and assemble, with an absolute minimum of manual work.
1764
Right. This is one specimen. After retrieving it from the hungry jaws of the ‘bot, I did some light sanding (10 minutes), sawed out a bottom to fit in the slot (1 minute) and glued it up. Applied some wax, say 5 minutes, and voila, there’s your angled box.
I don’t think it’s that bad for a ~15 minute job.
If you look at the stacked pieces below the box, you can see the half-open mortise/tenon construction it’s based on. Everything is, of course, cut with the same bit.
In the next image;
1765
Here is an example where the lid has been put in the shaper to give a raised panel look. A bit more work, but still trivial all things considered.
In the above pics, the basic dimensions are the same, but this method can be applied to make a box/case of almost any dimension, as we see in this pic of an urn:
1766
The lid is a bit more complex, but it is still a very fast job.
Getting back to the box in the first two pictures, this is what it looks like in V-Carve Pro:
1767
Scaling the dimension does involve some manual CAD work; it is not a parametric design – though it could easily be made such. You see here the pocketing which provides the robust and self-aligning assembly – despite the angled/conical form it is very easy to glue it, since the construction translates ‘straight’ clamp pressure to good angled glue joints.
Also, it can be made to work with massive wood panels (or engineered wood panels), an example of the urn type shape nested on a sheet shown here:
1768
There are several ways to enhance the construction, I think, but so far this is what I have discovered. It is not suited for mass production because it takes a bit too much time to machine, but it does provide for a very easy way to make conical/angled boxes in smaller series.