Not musical; a watch box make

Sporky

The glue-up of the sides went pretty well - everything square to everything else and very little glue squeezed out of the joints. I've never made a box this way before so I'm fairly pleased with this.



Next to mix some glue and water, about 50-50 by volume. Nom.


That gets painted onto the exposed mitre ends - they tend to suck all the moisture out of the glue otherwise, leaving a brittle joint. I got this from a Fine Woodworking box-making book, and it seems to work. I made a hexagonal box a few years ago and despite no corner keys or pins it's still in one piece.


And I decided on the rod clamps as they're easier to square than the band clamps. Got them all set up ready to go, but I won't glue until tomorrow so the size has properly dried. I wonder if size is the right word.

Sporky

Last bit for today - set up for splitting the box once it's all glued. I have a test piece with a groove at the same point where it is on the actual sides, so I'm setting up the tablesaw. I could probably do this with the router table but would either need multiple passes, or to use a thicker bit than the tablesaw blade, losing more box.

So; a bit of measuring and I have this; set to leave 5mm below the slot, and to cut just under the thickness of the sides. I'm never happy about removing the crown guard, but the risks can be mitigated.


On Youtube you can find any number of Americans doing this sort of thing, but using a push-block to move the workpiece over the blade, which is just insane - you're applying force with your hands directly over the blade and pushing towards it. If there's kickback the workpiece will depart at a significant speed, usually taking the push-block with it, and your hands go straight onto the blade. Instead the HSE recommends (very sensibly) using two push sticks, which means your hands are at least 40-45cm from the blade.


Ta-da. Cut to within about 0.2mm of the thickness.


And an out-of-focus (sorry) shot from the end - the remaining web is strong enough to stop the box from collapsing in on itself, but thin enough to cut with a Stanley blade.

Sporky

And the scary bit; it's now all glued up. I'll find out this afternoon how successful that was. Then I need to pin the corners, then cut it open, then cut the hinge pockets and drill for the screws, then finish the cut surfaces.

Final assembly - assuming all goes well - probably next weekend.

Rocker

Very impressive work @Sporky. ; Hope the box will fit into your house safe.

Sporky

More progress.

Unclamped and all is good - slight mismatch at one corner but nothing that can't be planed away later.

So; masking tape over each corner because pencil doesn't show up well on this timber.


Then mark the pin positions using a lovely little Incra marking ruler with little holes so everything's precise.


Drill the holes on the drill press, and then it's time to put the pins in. I sand the end of the dowel so it's just slightly tapered, then dip in glue:


And tap into place:


And cut off the excess with a flush-cut saw:


And a bit later they're all done - some cleaning up to do but not bad.

Sporky

And this is where it all goes horribly wrong and I'm left with firewood. Cut the lid/tray split:


Only you can probably just see that it's gone through a pin despite thinking I'd remeasured and rechecked everything. The lid is trashed.



And at least one pin didn't go in very far.


So now I'm not sure whether to bin the lid and go back to just a tray (which was the original plan), or see if I can put some contrasting wood over the tray and the lid where they meet to hide the boo-boo. Hmm.

elstoof

A little 1/8” veneer of sapele or similar darker wood to cover the pins and give a visual indication to divide the lid from the base might even improve the finished piece…

AK99

Ah man - that's really frustrating. I've been following this closely btw (was hoping to place an order for one with a Nitro finish instead of the Poly, once you'd finished the prototype )

Fwiw I think to would be an absolute sin to give up on the lid at this stage, especially with that lovely matching grain pattern. Even if you have to repin and glue, has to be worth the effort to save the lid surely ?

Sporky

I think the veneer plan has merit. 

Kurtis

Very posh!

That'll look great. 

stickyfiddle

Yeah def a little waffer-thin bit of something contrasting would look good  

elstoof

Would look kind of like how this picture does if you squint a bit 

Sporky

For the moment it's in the Naughty Corner.

I will look at it fresh once it's properly sorry for what it did. 

Strumit

................. and it was all going so well!  They say that you learn from your mistakes, which is why I am so wise!  Joking apart, do not give up.  Natural materials will always bite you because that's what they do.  Don't give up, move onwards and upwards.  All lovely to see.  Thank you.

paulnb57

Why not just take another couple of mm off each mating face?

Sporky

That'd go right through the pins, and there's only about 1mm clear above the pin before hitting the h
Slot for the acrylic, at which point there's not enough left to fit the hinges.

I'll have to take a bit off to square the faces up, but hopefully less than a millimetre. Then a 3mm or so veneer.

Going to leave it a while to settle. I did consider filling the holes and then painting the mating faces to hide the mess. 

DartmoorHedgehog

I agree that a line of contrasting veneer would look really good, even if that wasn't the original plan.

Sporky

I have made progress, because the box said that it was sorry and it knew what it had done was wrong.

No photos of how (on account of that'd be dangerous), but I worked out a way to set the router table up as a thicknesser, and shaved down the lid by about 1.8mm, so it's all flat and smooth. Did the same to the base, and then chopped up some scrap ebony to make some insert bits. They'll need some more work before I can assemble them and stick them to the lid, but here's a close-up and a mock-up - do remember that there's a load of finishing yet to go, scruffiness at this stage is normal.

elstoof

Looking great

Sporky

Ta. Not quite sure how to do the next bit, but I'll figure it out.

Also I meant to acknowledge that this was a good idea - ta!