Faceted Box

[Burkhardt]

Hm. Just noticed we don't have a 2016 folder here....

Anyway, I believe it is quite apparent hat I have a knack for math in general and specifically geometric designs. Accordingly my last project was a faceted box (commonly known as a rhombic tricontahedron).
It is made from 30 diamond shaped faces with 144 degree miter angles. 20 of them make the "bowl" or bottom part and 10 make the lid.

A) Cutting the faces on my new and improved vacuum pod system with a 1/4" ball nose end mill bit.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xA8pe3XKLfc/VtJKkocscnI/AAAAAAAAGJc/5_2a9FMWXUA/w1024-h630-no/1-DSC00320.JPG

B) Cut out elements (Walnut and figured Birch)
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-puF1TkiP5ok/VtJKlgSwGeI/AAAAAAAAGJk/NIi7Py1qAP4/w612-h834-no/3-DSC00325.JPG

C) Glued together and "turning" the inside with a 1/2" ballnose end mill. Machining 6" deep with a 6" long bit was a challenge on my small machine with 8" z-travel. I had to cut the top 2 inch with a stubby bit and switch to the long bit for the bottom of the bowl.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-etLrHyvzgUw/VtJKlNeKF8I/AAAAAAAAGJg/XuUkPAtobog/w877-h835-no/2-DSC00323.JPG

D) Both parts oil finished and wax polished, outside.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZIWPCmuwVac/VtJKl2LoM4I/AAAAAAAAGJo/nVHQmkaJiLE/w591-h835-no/4-DSC00329.JPG

[Burkhardt]

Some more pics...

E) Both parts inside view
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-BkIb_e0ixC8/VtJKmU9OHjI/AAAAAAAAGJs/2QkbVzRrg3U/w506-h834-no/5-DSC00330.JPG

F) Lid close-up
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-vKcReMhGNXE/VtJKmgFkb-I/AAAAAAAAGJw/isNddbUVq9Q/w846-h835-no/6-DSC00340.JPG

G) Box closed
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-keYylLl3aJ4/VtJKna9Ey5I/AAAAAAAAGJ4/38I1R4KYkCs/w905-h835-no/8-DSC00347.JPG

Now i just need to fill it with cookies.

[James M]

Neat box! Very well done! Thanks for sharing all the pics.

[knight_toolworks]

way cool. I have done miter fold boxes but always out of baltic birch plywood or mdf. yours is 10 times better.

[dmidkiff]

I bet you never get accused of thinking inside the box.:cool: You do some interesting and cool things. Thanks for posting.

[scottp55]

Wow G. ! )
Nothing like a brain teaser on first cuppa.
Optical illusion on first pic of top had me wondering. And really like the interior cut effect!
Wonderful finish!!
What the heck did the clamping look like?
(bet you were scrambling during glue's open time:)
NICE job.
scott

[Brian Harnett]

Really cool, like Scott said there is some eye confusion looking at the pictures.

[Burkhardt]

Thanks guys!


.....What the heck did the clamping look like?
(bet you were scrambling during glue's open time:).....
Scott, don't ask me. That was the difficult part of the project.
Actually there was no clamping. I have not figured out yet how to do that in an effective way. I applied a light dusting of CA accelerator spray on one side of each joint, a good bead of CA glue on the other side, then aligned the outer edges by hand and folded the faces together. The open time with the accelerator is only 2 seconds or so.
As you can imagine, there is no room for error and any tiny misalignment will propagate when adding more and more platelets to the assembly. The good part is that I had the whole thing assembled in half an hour.

At the end I had to sand out the resulting imperfections. Easy enough on the outside with a ROS. For the mis-match gaps between the bowl and the lid edges (up to 1/10") I finally had a good reason to buy a Makita band power file :) Pressing off with old fashioned carbon copy paper, sanding away the touch marks (patiently over and over) got it together well.

[myxpykalix]

I like that you always come up with something WAY out of the ususal stuff. VERY COOL!

[knight_toolworks]

a couple ways to glue it that may be easier either use the ca coat each end and let harden then put it together and use a bead of glue that will soak in. or use epoxy and blue tape the blue tape works like a hinge.

[scottp55]

Thanks G.
Glad it wasn't me...I would have messed up the first one, and it would have gone downhill from there with the incremental "Creep" :)
2 seconds!
It's hard enough for me to get VInlays clamped in 10 seconds:)
More patience and a steadier hand than me.
Don't see any CA shiny spots...So GOOD work!
scott

[Burkhardt]

Scott, there was CA glue splattered all over the place but it does not matter. The inside is completely machined and the outside carefully sanded, removing all CA residue.

One more picture....finishing touch, got to get the lid off somehow.
Knob 22mm diameter made on the indexer (3d model from GrabCAD.com, CAM with DeskProto)

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-dBv3bUgOJbA/VtT4muUssTI/AAAAAAAAGKM/54YqfpDuEyA/w754-h835-no/1-DSC00349.JPG

[myxpykalix]

It looks like a optical illusion just as it is. Beautiful wood, beautiful finish. I'd almost want to leave the knob off to confuse people as to how to open it...great job

[Bob Eustace]

Gert, have you come across CA wicking? We run classes for over 60's putting little boxes together made of 1/2" square cypress pine. The bits are held in a simple jig using similar clamps to the sandpit ones. They put drops of CA glue on all corners. Wait 10 minutes then put a few more drops on the outside. The glue wicks right through and will never break. Sorry the pic is down under!

[scottp55]

Bob's question has me wondering which viscosity CA you used G. ?
Is that top a romping triconawhatsit also?
Bob, I take it you're using a thin CA...Have you ever dissected a piece to see how far the wicking penetration goes?
Nice machining on the top G. !
scott

[Burkhardt]

a couple ways to glue it that may be easier either use the ca coat each end and let harden then put it together and use a bead of glue that will soak in. or use epoxy and blue tape the blue tape works like a hinge.
More things to try for the next project. Actually I did use the blue tape as hinge for the first 3 faces while I could still set the edge on a flat surface. After that it did not help anymore because the tape is a bit flexible and does not prevent the edges from going out of parallel. One other thing I may try is gluing the cut-out facets with wallpaper paste on a thin piece of fabric. All of these faceted bodies can be "unwrapped" and this may help keeping positions while using regular PVA glue for the wood joints. The wallpaper glue should go off with a little water and/or steam.


Bob's question has me wondering which viscosity CA you used G. ?
Is that top a romping triconawhatsit also?...
I used medium viscosity. That is just thick enough to not run while joining the surfaces. And yes, it is the same rhombic 30-facet body. Grabcad had it available for download. Maybe you can do some 3D buttons that way ;-)


Gert, have you come across CA wicking? We run classes for over 60's putting little boxes together made of 1/2" square cypress pine. The bits are held in a simple jig using similar clamps to the sandpit ones. They put drops of CA glue on all corners. Wait 10 minutes then put a few more drops on the outside. The glue wicks right through and will never break. Sorry the pic is down under!

That would be a good experiment. However, the bowl part is made of 20 such facets I just don't know how to hold them all together in a stable position at the given odd angles (except maybe the above mentioned fabric method). For that reason I did them one by one.

[scottp55]

Ah...Rhombic whatsamawhosit.
No thanks...I'll leave math stuff to you G. :)
Still busy lying to my machine about my engraving bits at 25-99% stepover and doing "Teenys".
Sorry for jacking to post pics from Saturdays demo and a trial cut yesterday:(
Notice the moose lost his eyes yesterday at 99% (need to buy some .005"flat 30's) :)
This is enough 3D for me without buying an indexer.
Hope the box has a name that isn't polysyllabic...almost too fancy to be called a box:)
LOVE it!
scott

[elcar903]

looks great, I love to see these kind of projects