6 Attachment(s)
WIP - A trio of boxes - is mass production quicker?
I'm conducting a little experiment with this round of box making. I'm going to make 3 identically sized boxes, and see how much quicker I find the process compared to my normal "one at a time" process. Presumably there will be time saved in setup, but will I find it to be significant?
The boxes will be around 280mm x 215mm x 80mm. They will have mitred corners, and solid timber lids. Base will be ply.
I've chosen walnut, myrtle and blackwood for the sides of the boxes. Rough stock shown below.
Attachment 311826
The hidden beauty begins to reveal itself after the stock is jointed, planed and ripped to width.
Attachment 311827
Pieces are all over-length at this stage, so that I can attempt to select the best grain patterns for each piece.
Attachment 311828
The lid will be a free-floating solid timber panel, so a groove is cut to accept the lid at a later stage. The bottom panel is plywood, and it has its own groove.
Attachment 311829
This is the blade I'm using. It has a square grind to the teeth, creating clean square bottoms on grooves. This will also be used to cut the slots for the splines I'll use to reinforce the mitre joins.
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Next comes the mitre cuts. I've got a home-make jig that makes it safe and easy to cut accurate mitres (at least is usually does!). Time will tell if I get it right with these boxes.
Attachment 311831
I don't really keep track of time when I'm in my garage working on the tools, but this WIP is making me more aware of the amount of buggerising around (technical term) I spend with getting things set up. Making three boxes isn't taking much more time than making one at this stage.
Part 2 to follow
Cheers
ajw
5 Attachment(s)
WIP - A Trio of Boxes Part 3
Lid panels are cut to size using a cross-cut sled on the table saw, with a stop block fitted. The process of gluing sacrificial pine to the outer edges worked really well, and is a workable way of running smaller pieces of timber through the thicknesser.
Attachment 311847
After cutting the slot into the lid, a quick "does it fit?" is done. Looking good so far. This is the walnut box with NG walnut lid panel.
Attachment 311848
Because the lid sits proud, I'm going to add a round-over to the top edge to smooth things out a bit. This needs to be done before the box is assembled, because I won't be able to get to this area when it's glued up. I'm using the smallest round-over bit I have, and it looks about right to me.
Attachment 311849
Lids fitted to the boxes, just to see what they look like. Additional shaping will be done the the sides of the box one it's glued up.
Attachment 311850
At this stage, it's time to start applying finish to those places that are hard to get to later. This also helps stop glue from the mitres from sticking to the interior of the box when it's being glued up.
Attachment 311851
I'm now quite convinced that it doesn't take much longer to make 3 boxed compared to one.
cheers,
ajw
5 Attachment(s)
WIP - Trio of Boxes Part 4
Not much to see today.
First item of business was the glue up. I generally use Titebond, but used a polyurethane glue on the blackwood box this time. I've recently had issues with blackwood getting a greenish tinge when I've used titebond on it. The PU glue foams a little, so it will reveal any gaps in the mitres...
I use blue tape to hold the pieces in position while the glue sets.
Attachment 312461
The lids have had two coats of WOP, so they're somewhat protected at this stage.
Attachment 312462
To get the base to sit perfectly flat, I use a sanding board. It's just a piece of MDF with wide sandpaper spray-glued to it. Coarse grade on one side, fine grade on the other. Just slide the box around on the board until any unevenness in the base is sanded away.
Attachment 312463
The sides of the boxes have now been sanded at 220, and it's time to put the final profile onto the lid. I want to protect the surface of the lid, so the box sits upside down on a piece of MDF. The MDF slides across the router table, preventing the lid from getting any scratches on it. The router bit is elevated to get the right profile.
Attachment 312464
Finally, I add a small shadow line to the base of the box.
Attachment 312465
It's cold here today, so not as much shed time as I had hoped. The fire is too tempting.
Next step is to fit the splines, and then separate the lid and base.
Thanks for following along, and thanks also for the comments.
cheers,
ajw