Routing a large square in wood?

[denno020]

Hey everyone,

I was after some advice on the best way to halve the depth of a piece of wood, over a large square area. I figure the best way to explain is to actually show what I mean, so below are a CAD interpretation of that.

235466

235465
The reason that I want to do this is because I need the middle of the wood to be thinner, and the outside to be thicker, but also I want the front (so the bottom in the CAD perspective view) to be all one piece.
I have thought of just cutting a whole out of the thick wood, and then using another piece of thinner wood in the middle, however getting the sizes exactly the same could be difficult, and I'll be able to see the cut lines.

So we finally come to my question, what would be the best way to achieve this? At the moment, I'm thinking of just using my Dremel and a straight routing bit to try and get it done, but I anticipate that being quite difficult. I'm only a hobbyist wood worker, and therefore don't have access to too much machinery, so I have to make do with what I have..

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Denno

[ian]

or are you building a speaker enclosure?

welcome to the forums

I've some questions for you
how wide, how deep and how thick is the object you want to make?
how thin is the bottom of the square depression?
how wide do the sides need to be?
why does the front need to be all one piece?
from what perspective will the finished object be viewed -- i.e will people only see the underside if they crawl under neath the object
does the object need to be made from solisd wood, or would venerred MDF do?

[denno020]

Thankyou for the reply Ian. Lots of questions so I'll get right to answering.

I'm not a HSC or tafe student, this is just something I do with my spare time, as I enjoy working with wood (I'm actually a Uni student studying software engineering).

I'm making an Advent Calendar for my nephew, and it'll be 450 x 650 x 15 (W x H x D in mm). I'm aware of it's massiveness, but I want the option of putting something other than a small chocolate behind each door.

I think what you mean by the bottom of the square depression is how thick is the part in the middle? That will be as close to half of the 15mm as possible.

The sides are only there so that the whole thing doesn't look like just a box, and allows me to add a framing design around the outside of the doors,

I would rather not have the cut lines on the inside of the wood, as well as the cut lines for the doors, so that's why I want it to look like one piece. Also, The reason for wanting the thinness at the back, is so that each door isn't 15mm think, which is a bit chunky (I will be cutting the doors out of the wood and using the cut out as the door, so it fits perfect, if that makes sense).

The object will be viewed from what's depicted in the CAD as the bottom, so I should have flipped my model to indicate that.

I've already got the wood, and it is MDF that I'm using.

Hope that answers all your questions.

Thanks for taking the time to help me :)
Denno

[ian]

Hi Denno
sorry to quiz you about HSC etc, but this time of the year is when the lazier HSC students start posting with questions that translate to "please do my homework for me"


Back to your advent calendar.
I don't think what you want to do can be done -- at least as I interpret what you described
cutting a square hole is achievable -- but the material excavated will come out as dust and chips so can't be reused.

If I wanted to create a box that looked as though it had been cut from a single piece of wood I would use veneer applied to a separate frame.
But from what you've described, using veneer might be several steps too far


The way I'd approach building an advent calander is I'd make a frame out of wood
I'd attach the frame to a piece of 3 or 6mm thick MDF to provide a back to the "hole"
I'd use timber molding strips -- look for the Porta moldings section in your local big box hardware -- to divide the "hole" into 24 sections

If i get time tomorrow, I'll draw a diagram

[denno020]

I was wondering where you were going with the HSC/tafe student thing, but I completely understand, all is good :).

Anyway, I must have described it a little bit wrong, the part that will be 'routed' out of the back, I'm not going to use that, I'm aware that it'll be all dust.

The doors will be cut from the thin part that's left after the routing - or whatever is a better process - has been completed.

So from my original CAD, the doors will be cut from the thin bit that is left in the middle of the wood.

Hopefully that's a little bit clearer?

I've got a 3D model of it, so I can upload that if you would like to see what I mean a bit clearer.

Thanks again for the continued help :).

Denno

[LGS]

Hi Denno,

I have a device designed to allow just such a shape to be routed from a square piece of wood. It is an Aluminium guide in two dimensions. Whereabouts n Australia are you? Maybe you could come over and use it?

Regards,

Rob

[SAISAY]

My approach would be different.
If you have access to a scroll saw, cut the complete square out with that, then either router the cut out thinner (which probably will look terrible, as the surface has lost its protective coating) or make the doors in a thinner piece of MDF.
You can use the cut out as a template for the doors.
Then you can use the thinner MDF as a backing of the whole piece and make the egg crate divisions as well.

[petersemple]

Looking at your design, if the complete panel is the face side, then I would be just using thinner MDF or ply and adding a rectangular frame to the back for support. Much easier than trying to rout out the square.

[denno020]

So I was laying in bed last night thinking this over and over, and reading Ian's comment again, and what I understood was he meant something similar to what petersemle has also just said.. Which is most likely the easiest and best option to take. I don't know why I didn't just think of this in the first place :/, trying to over complicate it too much I think lol.

Thanks heaps for the replies guys, I would have been stuck trying to rout out the big square if I wasn't set on the right path from your replies (mainly Ian, but I very much appreciate everyone else adding their advice too).

I'll post back with some results when I have it all cut out.

Thanks again,
Denno

[denno020]

Hi Denno,

I have a device designed to allow just such a shape to be routed from a square piece of wood. It is an Aluminium guide in two dimensions. Whereabouts n Australia are you? Maybe you could come over and use it?

Regards,

Rob

Oh and I'm in South Aust, but thanks for the offer :)

[ian]

The way I'd approach building an advent calander is I'd make a frame out of wood
I'd attach the frame to a piece of 3 or 6mm thick MDF to provide a back to the "hole"
I'd use timber molding strips -- look for the Porta moldings section in your local big box hardware -- to divide the "hole" into 24 sections

If i get time tomorrow, I'll draw a diagrami attached a plan drawing and section of one way to make an advent box

Hope this helps


So I was laying in bed last night thinking this over and over, and reading Ian's comment again, and what I understood was he meant something similar to what petersemle has also just said.. Which is most likely the easiest and best option to take. I don't know why I didn't just think of this in the first place :/, trying to over complicate it too much I think lol.

Thanks heaps for the replies guys, I would have been stuck trying to rout out the big square if I wasn't set on the right path from your replies (mainly Ian, but I very much appreciate everyone else adding their advice too).

I'll post back with some results when I have it all cut out.
please do

[denno020]

Thanks for the diagram Ian, however I'm really not sure how to read it :/..

Anyway's, this is an exploded view of what I've now decided on doing, and it should be pretty straightforward to get it done :).

235557

So that should make it pretty clear as to what I was trying to say before, if it wasn't already clear enough :).

Thanks,
Denno