Stuff ups.

**Fencepost2** · 8th June 2010, 07:45 PM

After all the brilliant stuff being shown here I thought it about time to bring the standard down a bit in order to encourage mere mortals to show their boxes. No pics this time but a tale of three stuff ups.
I decided to make a batch of 3 simple rectangular boxes by what is a new method for me. Simple mitre joints on the corners, but with a 3mm dado cut all the way around inside and located just above where I was going to split the box with a 3mm wide slitter in my router. Thus, when the boxes were split, the lid would have an inside recess and the bottom would have a corresponding lip to locate the lid.

My first stuff up was I tried to split the first box but I had got my marking wrong, and instead of cutting just under the dado near the top of the box, I made my cut near the bottom. I now have a box carcase with a decorative groove around the outside of the bottom.
Second stuff up was when I ran the slitter around the box to split it, I somehow let it rise by about 2mm so that my slot didn't match up all the way around. I haven't figured how to rationalise this fault as a virtue just yet.
Third stuff up. This time everything worked to plan, ---- except the 3mm dado and my slitting were a shade too deep and fit of the lid is too sloppy for my liking, and also the lip at about 3mm is not quite enough to give the kind of registration that I wanted for the top.
I would be interested if anyone has used the method of cutting alongside an internal dado to split a box and make a lip for registration of the lid?

**watson** · 8th June 2010, 08:07 PM

That's funny.......I reckon we've got the same set of stuff-ups

The first one I got around by inserting a different coloured stock in the "mistake" and it became a feature.
The second.....mine wasn't that bad but I flat sanded both the carcass and the lid on a sheet of 80grit stuck to a sheet of melamine.
The third.......I just learned to measure and set-up better.
Fun isn't it???

**Rattrap** · 8th June 2010, 08:09 PM

I've never tried that method Fencepost2 or thought of it before but now its gotta be something to try!

**Ruddy** · 8th June 2010, 09:49 PM

Touche.....been there and done that..had exactly the same result as you did. I even made the same mistake where I slightly miscalculated the position to cut the box for the lid. I hade made a drawing of where the rebate was as at the cutting stage it is hidden inside the box. Stupid me did not allow for the kerf thickness and when I was trying to cut through the last 0.25 mm with a stanley knife, I was actually trying to cut through the remaining 6mm of the sides....
The first time around I used the table saw to make the cut but for some reason when I put the two halves together the split line was not as good as it should be. I had to redo the edges on the router table.
I also made the same mistake at first where the lid then became too loose on the base. I learnt that you need to make very small cuts on the router to just get the lid to fit the base accurately.
yep...its fun learning the hard way....
I find also , like you, that cutting the box into lid and base with the router is the better way to go.

Ruddy

**Sculptured Box** · 9th June 2010, 09:05 AM

I don't do stuff ups, they are opportunities for innovation!

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