Advice on my first real project (jewelry box made from wood)

CNC Machines Shapeoko
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Glue always seem to leave some residue, which I don’t like.

But I think you’re right that threading things will be too much work.

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It all depends on the toolpath settings you had. For a conventional toolpath where the first cut in each layer is essentially a slot, you cannot go much deeper than 50% of the cutter diameter. With an adaptive toolpath, helical ramping, and low width of cut (say 0.8mm), you can go much deeper (typically 200%) and the cutter/machine won’t struggle as much, just because it never ends up slotting, and basically cuts at 0.8mm stepover (in this example) with very low tool engagement. If you want to share your Fusion360 file (or even a test file with a similar pocket) I’m happy to create a few toolpaths as I would do them, for the sake of discussion.

An 8mm cutter is not really required, you could use one and increase the material removal rate, but it also produces a lot more mess, so the dust collection (and workholding…) must keep up. My go to cutter for pocketing is still that exact same 6mm 2-flute you used.

Facing cutter: I would never use one for pocketing, if only because it’s so large you need to use a very limited depth of cut, so it would take forever to mill a deep pocket anyway (and possibly be dangerous too)

About that 1mm shift: it can be a number of things, from the CAM (did you check the G-code file itself in ncviewer ?) to the zeroing, or maybe the dowels were not exactly centered ?

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Don’t glue it. Just make sure the dowel needs to be tapped in. You weren’t worrying about removal before…why worry about it now?

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If you make another make the sides a little wider and insert some magnets to keep it together during travel.

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or… put magnets in the intersections of interior/exterior walls where the radius of the pocket corners gives you a little more room.

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I did not know that was a thing, thank you for introducing me to it.

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That would be awesome. I’ll send you a file of the pocketing of the top park as a message. Thanks!

I made the dowels with the Shapeoko. Both in my base material (the one the stock is mounted on to) and in my stock, so I think the dowels should have been centered precisely. I don’t really know what I should look at in the G-code?! I know the G-Code is basically just coordinate code, but wouldn’t it be really weird if Fusion 360 would have generated the wrong G-Code? I’ve sent you both phase 1 (front side) and phase 2 (back side) of the top part. I don’t know if you can tell if I’ve done anything wrong?

You think just tapping it in would be enough? Would you make holes in both the buttons and the box and put in a dowel in those holes? Or would you make a “dowel” out of the button and then tap the button into the box?

Interesting idea. I think this is going to be a more stationary kind of jewelry box though.

It seems like a small detail, but I think it does something dor the overall feel. Apple uses them everywhere… for their icons, iPhones, MacBooks, etc.

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@holgersindbaek I would make the dowel out of the button…I know for sure tapping it in would be enough…as long as it’s a tight fit. I use “dowels” of end-grained hardwoods as feet for cutting boards and small boxes (I use a dowel-plug cutter into endgrain and insert them into holes cut with a Forstner bit of the same dimension) . I usually do use a dab of glue as a safety measure, but I can tell you - there have been times where I wanted to adjust the leg before the glue had set - and it is REALLY hard to do. I’ve destroyed a foot or two trying to twist it out…so I know it isn’t falling out on its own.

The problem I see for you is how to tap in the buttons without damaging the rounded heads. If the fit is right, it will take a bit of force to set them, so I would think even a dead-blow would flatten their lovely profile. I suppose you could CNC a matching concave profile into a makeshift nail set, that can fit over the top of the button and be able to use that to hammer it down without marring the surface.

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@holgersindbaek Oh…and thanks for the reference of squircles…the formula for the area of a squircle
{\displaystyle \mathrm {Area} =4r^{2}{\frac {\left(\Gamma \left(1+{\frac {1}{4}}\right)\right)^{2}}{\Gamma \left(1+{\frac {2}{4}}\right)}}={\frac {8r^{2}\left(\Gamma \left({\frac {5}{4}}\right)\right)^{2}}{\sqrt {\pi }}}=S{\sqrt {2}},r^{2}\approx 3.708,r^{2},}
certainly assured I would be dreaming about my college mathematics classes tonight…:rofl:

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OK…so …now armed with having read the Wiki on Squircles…I have to guess that this is the result of some very bored mathematicians! It’s fitting that Apple chose squircles over squared circles…that kind of aesthetic differentiation is just the thing to overpay a designer for! Plus, the rationale of squircular plates vs. square vs. circlular plates just strikes me as a truly 1st world problem: Some folks are wondering where their food is coming from; these folks are designing plates to simplify getting sauce out of the corners! Sheesh!

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For some reason I thought your project was for traveling. Maybe I had read another post that mentioned losing jewelry during travel.

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Probably mine — mentioned this in the context of my mother-in-law losing jewelry and making it for her for travel (once we can all go back to traveling).

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it is sad commentary on this Christmas when you cant be with your family and loved ones. I miss not being together with my family but next year will be even more wonderful when we are all together again.

God Bless us every one.

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

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I think you might be right. How tight a fit do you think we’re talking about? I’ll be making the dowels and the holes with the Shapeoko. I think It’s going to be 6mm dowels or so. Any suggestions on what size I should make the hole compared to the button?

I see what you mean. I think I’ll have to make some sort of tool for it. I can probably drill the same size round holes in a piece of wood and hammer on that.

And merry Christmas to you :slightly_smiling_face:.

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When I do this, I make the hole and the plug from what are measured to be the same size. If the dowel cutter cuts 5/8ths, I use a forstner bit for 5/8ths…and that works. Now, that might be because of the way my particular dowel cutters and forstner bits work…so the only good answer for you is to try it. Cut them at the same diameter and see how they fit and adjust the diameter of the hole to get a good fit. Maybe make a sample board of 1/32" increasingly smaller holes, starting with the same diameter. You won’t need more than 3 holes and you’ll get one that seems to be perfect.

With a good fit, the dowel sits on the top of the hole you have to kind of wiggle it in to get it started (or chamfer the bottom of the dowel so it sits into the hole)…then light taps of a dead blow hammer (or rubber mallet) drive it in with some resistance. You should not be able to rotate the dowel by hand…if you can, it’s too loose.

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