Thread: Box making

I follow the method shown by Roger Gifkins at woodworking shows.

That method uses a router table with a fence set at the distance from the box base to the desired cut. All sides of the box are passed over a 4 mm straight cutting router bit in progressive cuts and as the cut depths get close to being through the timber thickness, the box is taped with duct tape to avoid it falling apart or into itself as the final cuts are done.

Works a treat. eg see the results of such a cut on this first aid box that was my first box ...


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Likewise on this more recent box ...


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thanks for your reply.....ok i think i see where you are going with this, but just to clarify you used multiple passes of the router bit to cut through the depth of the timber? so for a 19mm thick side you would make say 2 or 3 passes....is that right?

I have seen Roger do his demos a few times. He takes 2 or 3 passes, but his last pass he feeds the box from the opposite direction for a cleaner cut that requires no sanding (I think it's called a climb cut?)

Andy

To fix the box you have already (the buggered one) you can use sandpaper stuck on a flat surfarce (like mdf or Melamine).
Rub in a Circular or Figure of 8 pattern (both the lid and the carcass) until they are both flat & fitting together.

Hi
A way to get it right with a table saw is to set your blade so that it cuts about 1mm short of all the way through and then separate it with a knife and then clean up the slight lip with the knife, a chisel, sand paper or what ever you have or turns you on.
I nearly said the way to do it but that would have been bull, with wood work there is usually at least 100 ways to skin any cat.

Originally Posted by milesy

thanks for your reply.....ok i think i see where you are going with this, but just to clarify you used multiple passes of the router bit to cut through the depth of the timber? so for a 19mm thick side you would make say 2 or 3 passes....is that right?

My 4 mm bit would not be long enough for a 19 mm thickness and I am not sure that you can get a 4 mm bit long enough for a 19 mm depth. You may have to go to a 6 mm bit to get the length required. My boxes are all of 8 mm or 10 mm thickness material, which just suits the length of the sort of 4 mm bits that Bunnings sell.

Having said that, the principle is the same as long as you allow for that width of cut in your starting dimensions for the height of the sides of the box.

On a 19 mm thickness, I would probably do four passes just to minimise the pressure that you have to feed to box along the fence with. You want to take it easy when you feed the box through the router bit because any jerkiness that causes the box to not go through in a straight line will not be forgiven by the router bit and you might get a chunk missing where you do not want it so.

I would make the first cut a fairly light cut so that there is no tear-out at the surface. 2 - 3 mm depth is the sort of depth that I do on my first pass.

Play this game very smoothly with smooth passes of the box through the router bit and follow through until you know that the box has cleared the router bit. Rehearse it with the fence in position but the router bit below the surface just to see that the box does not catch on the edge of the router insert plate if your router table has one.

Sometimes, I don't cut all the way through the box and leave the last, say, 1/2 mm in place so as to avoid having the box collapse as I rout through the last side. When I do it this way. I just use a hack saw blade or sharp knife to cut through the last bit by hand and then clean up the edge with a sharp chisel and/or sandpaper. Works a treat.

I also tend to clean the swarf out of the groove cut by the router bit with and old toothbrush or sharpened ice cream stick between cuts so that nothing is likely to interfere with each pass of the box through the router bit. I am probably being over-cautious when I do this but by the time you have reached the stage of cutting the box open, you will have done a lot of work that you want to take no chances with and so I reckon that cleaning out the swarf is a risk minimisation action on which I am happy to spend the tiny amount of time that it takes to do.

If each run through the router bit is not exactly perfect, some light marks will be left but these are easily sanded off by turning the box upside down and rubbing it across a flat piece of sandpaper on a flat surface.

If you don't have a router table, don't get too hung up about that. My first router table was just a bit of melamine slung across a couple of saw horses.


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I did a lot of good work on that before making something a bit better.


Cutting open a box like this can be immensely satisfying when it is done.



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You've done it the right way, but you need to make sure it's up firm against the fence when you cut it. Don't cut all the way through - leave about 0.5 mm that you cut throgh with a hand saw. Then remove the waste with a plane or pare it away with a sharp chisel.
If the cut isn't quite straight you can use a plane set fine to straighten them, or use spray-on craft adhesive to attach a bit of 240 grit sandpaper to a piece of flat laminate and use it to flatten both the lid and the base.

thank you all so much for your advise here.....i have a router table so ill give it a shot.......one question though is why wouldnt you use a larger diameter router bit (like say 10mm) and just make shallow cuts - then the bit would be less likely to flex?

Originally Posted by milesy

thank you all so much for your advise here.....i have a router table so ill give it a shot.......one question though is why wouldnt you use a larger diameter router bit (like say 10mm) and just make shallow cuts - then the bit would be less likely to flex?

That would be OK.

By using a 4 mm router bit after cutting the dovetail joints at the point of the cut to be 4 mm wider than the rest, the end result is that the box just looks like it has been sliced through with a knife.


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The 4 mm width is just a limitation of the Gifkins dovetail jig that I used to cut the dovetails with. That is not an issue on your box so use a 10 mm router bit if that suits you.


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gotchya thanks

hi again......back to this topic so please bear with me

as suggested i made a basic box (top and bottom this time) and thought i would give the router thing a try. Set it all up and thought great this is perfect.

However if you can imagine on the box you have 2 long edges and 2 short edges (so rectangular box) and i set the router blade so that it was cutting the full depth of the timber - that is the blade extended say 30mm above the table and the timber is 19mm thick,

Set the fence up so that the timber passes between the fence and the blade - so that in theory the timber should end up the same thickness all the way along the length. Passed the two long edges no worries ended up with a few 'feathers' of timber on those edges but nothing major, then passed the two short edges.

This is when my problems started - once the short edges have been passed through its like the fence moves about 2mm closer to the blade and i end up with a lip where the blade again passes the long edge. (hope this makes sense - if not i can put a photo up i guess).

Hopefully sombody can tell me what i may be doing wrong - because i tried it about 4 times and had the same result each time

Adrian

G'day Adrian,
As Alex said I wouldn't cut right through that stock...just leave a poofteenth holding it all together.to be removed by hand with knife or saw later.
Are you getting the lip on both the short ends or just the last one you cut?

Adrian, am I to understand that you cut through the full depth of the thickness of the timber in one pass? or maybe I misunderstood. If you have passed the router through 19mm of timber in one pass, this is way too deep for one thing and if you are cutting right through the timber, the box lid and base will move as you make the final cut through on the short side of the box. You must only cut right through if you have some means or preventing the box from collapsing on itself as you cut through.
As mentioned above in previous posts, it is prudent to "almost" cut through the timber,leaving just a fraction of timber still intact and making the final cutting open of the box with a sharp knife or saw blade. You can then clean up the edges as suggested above. Maybe I have not understood what you meant when you say you set the router blade to the full depth of the timber. A picture would certainly help.

One option for slicing a box on a router table is to use a slot cutter bit. This can give you sufficient depth of cut while only taking 2 or 3mm out of the sides. With this setup, each side is run against the fence with the box top resting on the table.

One solution to the box top moving once you complete the third cut is to make the cuts on two opposite sides/ends, then insert packers/shims into the slots cut and lock them in place with a few packing or masking tape wraps spaced along the length of the packers. This will stop the sides collapsing into the gaps as the last sides/ends are cut.