3 hours ago
I made this octagon box just for fun.
![[Image: AP1GczNw1MdrEoj9U44wz1FFaZC_DiBhx9SZMRgz...authuser=1]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczNw1MdrEoj9U44wz1FFaZC_DiBhx9SZMRgzEmqjNJmmI-DMqtCwiXYd-yR5rREVbGqtPac-fFd0508kk6i63vnnxvSksQNoP5iUnwL6k10pv0Y4r-s878CnD5s0b8Rn52kJ-aa8j232VIHa06Kg_6U-GA=w1460-h821-s-no?authuser=1)
I first was going to make it round on both the inside and out and with a threaded top, but after I saw how nice my miters were I decided to leave the outside as an octagon. For the curious, I cut the miters on my CMS using an added 90 deg fence to assure the piece were plumb against the fence, only to find that the 22.5 deg angle was off by a fraction of a degree. I had to disengage the preset 22.5 deg detent and tweak the angle some unknown amount until the mating pieces formed a perfect 45 degrees.
I used my CNC to cut the ID. At 3" thick, this was about the maximum I could put under Z-axis with a bit long enough to reach at least 1-1/2" deep. The ID is cut just over halfway, then the box is flipped over and the other side is cut, as well as the rabbett on the bottom to receive the bottom panel. What looks like two layers when you look inside the box is actually how the grain responded from the bit cutting in opposite directions. That would disappear if I had been motivated enough to sand it all out, but I wasn't.
![[Image: AP1GczP-Q4qNh7MWtptCjnPbrtC7aaItUG5zuIRx...authuser=1]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczP-Q4qNh7MWtptCjnPbrtC7aaItUG5zuIRxQywqR7kvoxHgQ3z8I9CDLMKheMNkAzS4417wtdoL2rZLLBs8KpxQaTf0bQ6mPkevMKdIPZfr40XaKoQx4TBlejyCKqlAZBHFvonKergi90IW4pBXhHapNg=w1460-h821-s-no?authuser=1)
The octagon shape pretty much nixed the idea of a threaded top. There's just no way that the top would line up with the base when screwed on. I could have used a round top to overcome that, but that didn't seem too appealing, so I just made a top with a shoulder on the bottom that fits into the ID of the base.
The dome shape of the top is easy to do with a piece of clip art from the VCarve Pro software I have, as were the flutes that lay onto the dome. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, probably gift it, but it was a fun project to make.
John
I first was going to make it round on both the inside and out and with a threaded top, but after I saw how nice my miters were I decided to leave the outside as an octagon. For the curious, I cut the miters on my CMS using an added 90 deg fence to assure the piece were plumb against the fence, only to find that the 22.5 deg angle was off by a fraction of a degree. I had to disengage the preset 22.5 deg detent and tweak the angle some unknown amount until the mating pieces formed a perfect 45 degrees.
I used my CNC to cut the ID. At 3" thick, this was about the maximum I could put under Z-axis with a bit long enough to reach at least 1-1/2" deep. The ID is cut just over halfway, then the box is flipped over and the other side is cut, as well as the rabbett on the bottom to receive the bottom panel. What looks like two layers when you look inside the box is actually how the grain responded from the bit cutting in opposite directions. That would disappear if I had been motivated enough to sand it all out, but I wasn't.
The octagon shape pretty much nixed the idea of a threaded top. There's just no way that the top would line up with the base when screwed on. I could have used a round top to overcome that, but that didn't seem too appealing, so I just made a top with a shoulder on the bottom that fits into the ID of the base.
The dome shape of the top is easy to do with a piece of clip art from the VCarve Pro software I have, as were the flutes that lay onto the dome. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, probably gift it, but it was a fun project to make.
John