Small box making

[Grant Wilkinson]

I've started playing with a vertical holding set up on my desktop CNC router. The challenge is to make small boxes to hold playing cards. I started with these designs just to test the set up. I've done the designs now for the four suits. Now all I need to do is mill the wood.

pinsandstars.jpg

[Jim Becker]

That's a really great way to make interesting joinery for those small boxes! I should probably think about making some kind of vertical milling capability on my machine to be able to play like that, but it would be a bit of work to "reinvent" the table to accommodate that.

[Grant Wilkinson]

My setup is pretty crude, Jim, but it gets the job done. I used my CNC to cut the opening in my table so that the edge that I clamp to would be parallel with the X axis. Here are a few pics, FWIW. I've since removed the "sticky" rubber as it was doing nothing other than throwing off the plumb. The first pic is top down, the second is from the front, as is the third. I place the material up against that cleat on the right, which is perpendicular to the table. The bottom stop holds the material at a height above the table top, then the press screw holds the material in place. I had all the parts kicking around, so only my time was in play.

I'm limited in length to the distance between the top of the table and the bottom shelf of my table. I only wanted to play with small boxes, though, so I don't see this as an issue really. I'll answer any questions if I can.

top_down.jpgunderside_front_1.jpgunderside_front_2.jpg

[Michael Burnside]

Vertical jobs and 4th axis are on my todo list for CNC work. It looks like it would be pretty fun to learn and in the end some unique designs can come of it. The second pic is really interesting.

[George Yetka]

I've started playing with a vertical holding set up on my desktop CNC router. The challenge is to make small boxes to hold playing cards. I started with these designs just to test the set up. I've done the designs now for the four suits. Now all I need to do is mill the wood.

pinsandstars.jpg

Could you make every corner a different suit?

[Jim Becker]

Could you make every corner a different suit?

With enough adult beverages involved afterward, most likely you can.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Could you make every corner a different suit?

That is the plan. I have created all the vectors to do just that. I just need the time to actually cut them.

[John TenEyck]

Those are very clever joints.

I like the bench screw idea to hold the parts. I should add something like that to mine:





John

[Grant Wilkinson]

Yours is much more professionally designed than mine is, John. It looks really good.

I had the bench screw as part of a bowl press I made many moons ago, for pressing together rings on segmented bowls. So, it was an easy and obvious solution to my clamping needs I thought.

[Jim Becker]

John, that is indeed a very nice implementation for vertical cutting.

[John TenEyck]

Thanks, but the design is from someone I bought the file from on Etsy. I might have done things a little differently, but it works as it should with the addition of stops and clamps, using the 1/4-20 inserts in those holes.

John

[Jim Becker]

Regardless of the source of the design, your execution of it looks really good. If you decide it's worth the effort, you can always take that design and add the tweaks/changes that you want without having to reinvent the wheel in many cases, too.