Making boxes from folded wood

[brian]

Has anyone made boxes using a 90 deg. vbit,routing through the backside leaving .002-.005 material and folding it to make a box.
I have some 6 & 12mm baltic birch I want to make some wine bottle boxes & thought this would be an easier way to do it.
I just ordered some bits from Fred at Centurion including a .5 90deg. vbit so I will have a sharp bit to work with

Thanks Brian

[dubliner]

I saw a guy at a sign shop make some out of plastic core with aluminum skin. He didnt cut all the way through second side, then just folded it into a box, pretty darn cool. An aluminum wine box would be a nice gift. It wouldnt even have to be good wine, they'd be so impressed :-)

[Gary Campbell]

Brian..
IF I remember right, most of the folding miter bits I have seen are a degree or so over 90. I assume that is to make the miter work, but since I havnt tried this I just wanted to make you aware.
Gary

[brian]

Gary
That makes sense.I guess I could offset a second tool path by .002 to give some room.

Thanks Brian

[chodges]

If you want to use an aluminum composite (like Dibond) for making your boxes, this video might be interesting ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bl8ECxUeNE&feature=related

[mzettl]

How timely! I just made several such boxes. I glued a 1/8" thick piece of Brazilian cherry to a piece of wenge about 1/4" thick. Then I ripped that laminated board into four 1 1/2 inch strips. I ran a dado for the box bottom, and a rabbet for the lid to capture, then mounted all four pieces on the Bot, side by side, and cut V grooves using a Whiteside 90 degree V bit.

Took everything off the Bot, ran a strip of reinforced packing tape the along the outside of each strip, put glue in the V's, installed the bottoms, and folded them up, taping the open corner closed. Voila!! 4 boxes!

I will be photographing them in a day or two, and I'll post the photos.

When I did the V cuts, I left about .005" of wood intact. Unfortunately, wenge is not a very flexible wood, and when I went to fold the first joint, it broke. Hence, the need for the tape.

It all worked out very well, and very minimal time and effort. The programming of the toolpaths took about 5 minutes.

Matt

[thewoodcrafter]

I bought a 91 degree miter fold bit from Amana.
Made several wall and post covers for a recent job. Works very well.
We cut through the plywood, flipped it over and pulled and taped the joint. Flip it over again add glue and fold. Makes a very good joint, way better than is possible with a table saw.

[brian]

thanks for the info guys.I'm going to attempt a box in the next few days.The tape is a good idea.

Brian

[ron_varela]

Brian try this old trick, cut ½ ¾ Baltic birch and leave .05 and place the part over boiling water for a minute or so and it will bend nicely, then add some glue to the joints and clamp.
We use to make drawers like this and it worked fine, got the idea when my brother was cutting A/C duct and tried it on wood, some wood will chip if it is not hot enough and some bends nicely.
Then where the seam meets drill a few 1/8 holes and add dowels with a drop of glue and tap it in
Take less than 3 minutes to make any size drawer, just cut the joints and make a dado cut for the bottom panel and just heat/glue/assemble.
NOTE: Make the dado cut first then the V cut

Ron