How do these things happen?

[Gene Uselman]

I love making custom boxes for... any reason. I consider making boxes as one of the lasers best features.
I needed a box for my CA glues and activator so, why not make one. I have made dozens of rectangular
boxes so lets try... an octagon. I have done them with a normal box joint mostly and a modification of this for
more than 4 sides, but have not liked how it looks. So lets try a spline for the multisided box.
Some people can do this int their heads I am sure but I need to draw it out in 2D to get the proper splines.
After making the 8 sided box for the CA glues... I was having fun, so lets try a little fancier Hex box. The joint angles
needed something so I cut more splines with 1/8" holes in them for dowels. After assembling I tried 1/8" brass rod for
a little extra. Next was a lid with 2mm wire for a hinge and BB .25 plywood for the hinge arms- and an acrylic inlay. I consider
this a proof of concept and see larger boxes with 3D lids for our necessities. People ask why I am not in Ireland with my sweetie for
two weeks but... this is the way I have fun, may not be for everyone but it works for me. Gene

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Hex - Octo boxes.jpg

[Ian Bell]

Hi Gene,

Those boxes look real neat, I really like the lasercut edges on these and finger joints on the boxes I make. Nice touch with those splines, and adding the wee brass rod makes them different.

Thanks for sharing, always good to see what people are doing with their machines and time.

[Gene Uselman]

These boxes have been popular so I am making more and came up with a slightly simplified one. The short one was a proof of concept piece- it is easier to cut and way fewer parts... and is easy to glue on the inside with thick superglue and activator spray. The splines stick out and are sanded off flush with a belt [or other] sander. I 3d printed the Mockingjay and inlaid it in walnut mdf plywood- would look good on the cover I think- that cover still has paper mask on it waiting patiently for a young lady to decide what she wants engraved on it..

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Hex - Octo boxes2.jpg

[Gene Uselman]

I saw a picture of a similar bowl on the Vectric CNC site- from a gent in China... and all in some form of Mandarin and I liked it so I did a design in six sides [his was eight]. My mind is not good at figuring all the angles necessary but I like it.

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Hex - Candy dish.jpg

[Jeffrey Aley]

Very nice! What kind of wood is that?

-Jeff

[Pete Cyr]

Very nice! What kind of wood is that?

-Jeff

Plywood - it is from the Ply tree

[Gene Uselman]

Oak /mdf / Oak from Ocooch hardwood in Wisc. I use a lot of their Oak and Walnut . The locking tabs were 1/8" walnut. People have been really liking that piece. I can post the vectors if anyone wants.