gift prototype: box w/ sliding dovetail lid

[linear]

This is the box I made while setting up for doing a run of xmas gifts. It's made from oak with a sliding dovetail lid in walnut. The lid isn't as snug as I'd like it to be (lesson learned).

The radiused ends were done with a circle cutting jig on the bandsaw.

It's big, about 8 inches long. Finish is Tru-Oil, which makes oak look great.

[jhart]

That looks pretty interesting Rob. What did you use to cut out the center hole? Like the contrast between the Oak and Walnut

[drumpriest]

Looks nice, someone will enjoy that.

[linear]

Thanks for looking, guys.

Joe, I hogged out most of the interior with a 2-1/4" Forstner bit, which is how I got the semicircular ends to the cavity. I came back with a plunge router and edge guide to get the straight sides, as well as clean up the bottom where the spur on the Forstner bit left a dimple. A spiral bit would have been a big upgrade, I used a 3/4" straight bit. It created a blizzard of oak shavings.

I had to eyeball the transition from straight to curved; there's a bit of unevenness in the interior at those points, but a lot of plunging nibble cuts got me pretty close. I'll probably do a template if I make a stack of these. Besides getting the interior shape cleaner, it can help support the router base so I'm more comfortable and safer while routing. (I did improvise extra support while routing this one, it's just that a fixture would make it nicer.)

Interestingly, I radiused the ends specifically to avoid a small defect in the oak. I tried making a circular version from the same blank (I sized the lid and taped it onto the box and sawed the assembly together) but I needed a coarser blade--it bound up on me.

[mater]

Nice work. It looks good.

[gjat]

Linear,
Great job. How did you do the dovetail cut and what / how would you do it different?

And what's up with the fascination with LED's? I checked out your website. Here in Florida, most traffic lights and pedestrian signals are LED. I covet some western red cedar and have LED signals.........

[linear]

I milled out most of the box opening first with a straight bit on the router table--it took a couple fence moves. Next I switched to a dovetail bit and created the "way" for the lid to slide in. Next I took my lid stock, ripped it a little wide, and then passed it over the same setup on the router table to profile the edge.

First attempt, I didn't flip the lid stock over, so I got a parallelogram cross-section (don't do this).

I observed that your lid stock will only have a square face to register against the fence on the very first pass. There are two implications:
1. you have to get the width right the first try (if you've already set the width of the way)
2. the tail end will have to get wasted, so make sure your lid stock is plenty long

The plan for the production run of boxes:
I'll make the lid stock first, probably several long strips, and I'll rip them on the table saw for convenience. That ought to solve both the problems above. Then I'll run several long pieces of box body stock over the router table setup to get the most results out of the setups. Between those changes and the template for routing hte interior hollow, I can probably make enough of these to give to everyone I know (who deserves one) in an afternoon.

Almost all new traffic signals are LEDs now--LEDs are great colorled light sources, and mediocre white sources (pending further developments which are bound to improve them). This year LED Christmas lights are getting a lot more popular too--same reason--it saves money on electricity.
http://led.linear1.org/what-makes-an...-light-source/

[GeekMom]

Great-looking box - I like the contrasting colors, too.

[John Hunter]

Very nice.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Have you thought about putting a handle on the top? I made some "Wine Gift Boxes" out of some figured hardwood scrapes based upon a plan in one of the recent wood magazines.

Below is a photo of one of the boxes with a very simple handle on a walnut and zebrawood box. Sorry about the poor picture quality.

[ChrisD]

Looks great! Nice contrast. The rounded ends soften the look just right.

[lrogers]

I like it. Clean design, nice contrast. Don't get much better than that.

[linear]

Have you thought about putting a handle on the top? I made some "Wine Gift Boxes" out of some figured hardwood scrapes based upon a plan in one of the recent wood magazines.

I did...coincidentally it was immediately after viewing wood magazine's site I misremembered where I saw it I guess.

[Wood_workur]

looks really nice