Professor Dr. SWMBO, who's hobby is beekeeping, asked me to make a few more NUC boxes and migratory covers. "NUC" stands for "Nuclear Colony" and they are basically smaller boxes that only fit five of the comb frames. They are used to start new colonies and provide resources, such as brood or replacement queens, for other colonies. It's been a busy year for NUCs and we've been running "too close" in number of available boxes.
So I picked up a sheet of Advantech this morning after dropping my older daughter off at work. It was actually pretty flat...important since I decided to do the cutting on my CNC machine just for grins. After creating the design and toolpaths, I headed out to the shop, put the material on the machine and let it cut out the parts for three boxes and two migratory covers which I could easily fit on a half sheet. The cut time was just over 16 minutes start to finish and the end result was great. I used a Whiteside 1/2" compression cutter I recently purchased in the SMC classified for a very attractive price. The end result provided absolutely true joinery (rabbit method) and easy to glue up and screw together. I'd use this material again for the same purpose, no question. And it was fun watching the Stinger do it's thing for "the boss's" benefit.
Here are a few photos...
Rendering:
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I used screws to fasten the material down...did some calculation in VCarvePro for safe spots and added some as component outlines were developed as the tabs were brittle.
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A little messy cutting, but that was also because the bit was a bit {SIC} longer than my dust hood was adjusted for...
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Parts cut...
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The "customer" checking out the parts...she actually stayed and watched the whole operation...asked some good questions, too.
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Darn, these things fit together nice!
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And here are the three boxes and two covers ready for paint
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So, yea...not exactly "fine woodworking", but it was nice to use a different method than I did the last time I built these smaller boxes! It also provided an opportunity to think through how to best get the rabbits on the tops and sides of the end-pieces using pocketing beyond the part boundary. The major lesson learned...be sure to carefully calculate the separation of parts so that the tabs and material between parts is sufficient to support them. If this was solid wood or plywood, I think things would have stayed together better. But the Advantech is a lot more brittle and that meant scurrying around putting in screws to insure nothing broke away from cutting force.