Bubinga Magnetic Box

Another CNC project -- some bubinga scrap turned into a box with a magnetic closure, rounded interior pocket, and painted turquoise inlay.


Clamped down to the CNC spoilboard.

One half already cut out and inlayed with magnets.

The box half directly from the machine after the first pass.

 Jig for milling out the other side. This is because the reach of the end mill / bit is limited, and also in order to mill out the hole for the inlay.

Pale red look before applying walnut oil.

The wood absorbs the walnut oil quite well so I keep reapplying, especially to rough spots like the cracks.

The magnet side.

Spring Break CNC Adventures

While the UW students were off on spring break, I took some time to work on old projects from "The Big Project List."

I found a scrap of plywood which was just the right size to mill out Curio Shelf Revision 1.

The pieces before assembly:

Due to a mistake in the lengths of the dividers, the shelf curves outward in the middle. Not a bad look, but not a look I'd keep in Revision 2.

Another project is a bamboo magnetic board with a french cleat in a V shape for the wall mount. First I did a quick mockup in OpenSCAD to visualize it. The small piece here would be mounted on the board. The large piece would be mounted on the wall. In the first image, the wall would be on the positive x-axis side, and the board on the -x axis side.

Here's the finished cleat. It doesn't look very neat however it is not visible when the board is mounted. Now it is easy to remove or replace the board on the wall. This means you can use it as a screw organizer that you store on the wall.

Here it is with some things attached to it.

First CNC Project

Walnut box, milled on the CNC (apologizes about the photo quality...point and shoot, nighttime, poorly lit apartment). This is a prototype. The glass circle with paper will probably sit on top of the box, not inside. I'll make another inlay for the circular groove in the top and bottom inside surface of the box. The design will have plenty of variations, and will be the basis for all my holiday gifts this year. I will also probably sell similar boxes on Etsy. There will be lots of variations in the details and embellishments.































The nicest thing about these smaller boxes is that they can be milled out of smaller 'scrap wood.' I have a near limitless supply of this stuff at the hackerspace, all for free. The pieces are usually the leftovers of a larger project, so they are already prepped (in other words, they were run through the planar/joiner). In the spirit of 'waste not, want not' I will probably make extensive use of this materials resource.