I plan to be making some boxes in the near future, lithophane cases and others, and I wanted to use box joints. I also wanted to use the X-Carve to cut them. Did a little surfing and found this program:
It appeared to be just what I was looking for. I downloaded the demo checked it out and bought the program. This is my first cut with the program, I still need to clean it up a bit. I was very conservative with speeds on this so I went at 45 IPM and used a 1/8" ballnose. This box is 3 inches square and cut from 1/4" cherry. It took just under an hour to cut all 4 pieces (I will bump up the speed on the next one I cut). Once I clean up the cuts with a little sandpaper I think it will be a perfect fit. I also used the settings in the program to cut a groove for a top and bottom to close it up.
Second try at using the FingerMaker program. This one was done a little differently. I used 0.5" hard maple for this one, it is my test for a lithophane display box. I used fairly simply joints and I decided not to cut the top and bottom free with the CNC, I didn’t want the maple to go flying. After cutting the joints and the groove for the lithophane I split the pieces apart with the table saw. The joint is tight…this pictures below are just pressed together. Once I hit it with some sandpaper the joints should be perfect and the 1/4" lithophane fits perfectly in the slot.
I needed a place to put all of my paints and brushes and finishing things, so I designed this shelf and cut it out of 1/4" MDF. The dimensions are 12.5" high x 24" wide and 10" deep. It is just cut, now I have to assemble, glue and seal/paint.
Designed in Aspire (for this, same as v-carve)…I did all of the tabs and slots manually and added the dogbones one at a time. Not really that bad, it went very quickly.
If you use TailMaker, one thing to be aware of…the way it cuts out the pieces will set it free early in the cut unless you use something to hold the piece down, I had to use 2 sided tape to hole the pieces down.
I had a hard time imagining what it would look like, but that looks VERY nice. I’ve got to see if there’s a way to make one of those to put in my paint locker to help make it easier to find stuff.
Lithophane box almost complete. I ran the LEDs around the inside of the box, glued in place. The only thing left is make a thin back for the box to fit into the slot and keep the light inside.
This morning I made a quick and easy shield for the Y-Axis. I wanted something that I could take off quickly and put back on just as quickly.
I used 1/4" MDF, 25mm m5 hex head screws and silicon end caps. Cut the MDF to size, drill a couple holes in each piece and put the screws through and screwed the end caps so they were nice and flush with the MDF. The end caps just press into the makerslide. It takes just a second to remove and replace.
I shrank the spoon down 50% and used 1/2" cherry to make it. The first attempt was not lined up very well and I was off from right to left about 1/16". I adjusted the alignment pegs and it worked well this time, it is still off, but only by a hair.
Here it is after the roughing pass on the first side with the alignment holes on the top and bottom.
Testing out some double sided tape as I make a sign in 3/4" cherry. So far it is holding well and I am making a fairly aggressive depth of cut with a 1/4" endmill roughing pass.
