Thread: Best way of cutting lid off box?

Hi, I am in the process of making a box 280W x 230D x 150H, to specs. My sister wants a 2nd knitting needle box, bit different from the first shown here

The design of the dovetailed joint box includes overhanging frames for the lid and the base, with a veneered panel of Qld Walnut inside the frame, flush with the frame. The frame is mitred and 12mm thick, and overhangs the box sides by about 12mm on top, and 15mm on the base. i.e the lid frame and the base frames are not identical in size, as a result of a mid-stream design change

I am at the stage of gluing the frames to the top and bottom of the box sides, and fixing them in position with 6mm dowels, but am not proceeding until I get the next stage right in my mind:

I need to cut the box some 30mm down from the lid frame, where I have made a dovetail 4mm wider than the others. I have used both a bandsaw and a tablesaw blade with 2mm thick kerf for cutting lids before, but both methods needed a lot of cleaning up. For some reason the box did not come straight out of the last cut on the tablesaw. Could be the fence is not exactly parallel to the blade when pushed against.

Obviously it will not be possible to rest the box on its side on the base and the lid frames as they are not the same size. So I am wondering if I should cut the box before the lid frame and base frames are attached, but after the matching holes for the dowels are drilled. This will leave a tiny section some 35mm high, 280W and 230D, and the lid frame would be glued to this.

Perhaps an alternative is to fit and glue the top lid to the box, sit the box on 15mm MDF, and run it through the table saw blade, so that the lid is cut away whole. But it sounds a bit risky, especially on the last cut when the lid section drops away near the spinning blade. The box timber is huon pine, and double sided tape doesn't stick well to it.

Anyways, I am open to suggestions on how to cut this lid away from the box, please