Clearances for jewelry box lid

How much clearance between lid and box on small jewelry box for a snug fit?

I try zero clearance first, leaving one part still in place for a test fit, and adjust w/ additional contour passes as needed.

Awesome…that sounds great thank you!

I’m with Will on this, you can always take more out. It’s much harder to put it back in!

So which ever piece you cut last just leave it in place and test fit and keep making an offset until you get the desired fit. Do not make it too tight. If it starts tight it will likely just get tighter as the wood swells due to seasonal changes. If it is hard at the beginning or almost impossible to open it is too tight.

1 Like

When you’re designing it, start with 0.005" gap between the two. You have to let the air out/in when you close/open it. A jewelry box generally is just sitting there waiting for someone to lift the top off, but they don’t want to wait for the air to move in.

Vectric software has an allowance feature in the toolpath. I’m not sure about whether CC has that. One can draw the vectors for the lid and box the same size, but change the allowance in the toolpath. This way the design doesn’t change; just how you cut it changes. Easier to keep track of it that way.

I’ve also haven’t had a chance to use a tapered ball nose or engraving bit that makes the cut on the box with a small draft angle so the lid and box profile meet when the lid gets put on, but the gap increases immediately as the box is opened. It can get a little complicated when you want the fit on your boxes to be just right.

1 Like

A design was recently posted using this sort of lid:

check it?

Thanks to everyone…Yall are all awesome!

This topic was automatically closed after 30 days. New replies are no longer allowed.