Miter fold boxes

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ger21
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Re: Miter fold boxes

Post by ger21 »

I've never tried folding solid wood, only veneered plywood and MDF.

You need a good vacuum table, to hold your parts tight to the table for a consistent depth along the miter.

We apply tape to the bottom side before mitering, and usually leave about 0.01" for folding.

A 90° bit will work fine when sharp, but if it gets nicked or dull, you may not be able to fold it all the way. But if the edges will be exposed, a 90° is preferred, as a 91° will leave a gap.

We also miter fold a lot of solid surface, but we do it differently. We cut all the way through, about .03 deeper, then tape together after cutting. SOlid surface will crack if you try to fold it.
Gerry - http://www.thecncwoodworker.com

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martin54
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Re: Miter fold boxes

Post by martin54 »

Thanks ger21, I mitre & fold acm so I am happy with the hold down & the mitre consistency just thinking about other applications where leaving a small skin might be better than machining all the way through.

We also miter fold a lot of solid surface, but we do it differently. We cut all the way through, about .03 deeper, then tape together after cutting. SOlid surface will crack if you try to fold it.

Purely out of interest but I wonder if it would crack if you applied heat before trying to bend. There have been a few gallery posts by someone who heats & bends corian :lol: :lol:
Doubt it would work in a production type environment such as yours though without specialist equipment :lol: :lol:

Just trying to collect as much info on mitre folding as I can before I start experimenting :lol: :lol:

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dealguy11
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Re: Miter fold boxes

Post by dealguy11 »

As far as wood, don't know about solid wood. I would think it would be like solid surface, prone to cracking so would probably go all the way through. We did solid MDF core and also plywood for this project, and the MDF worked a lot better. We got more cracking with the plywood.

The bit we use is from Amana: http://www.amanatool.com/products/cnc-r ... shank.html

Here are a couple more pictures of the boxes with finish on them, pre-assembly and shipping. On the short ones you can see how the grain flows around the parts, and also the keyhole slots for attaching them to the poles on-site. The long ones are 10 feet long. Since my machine is only 8 feet long, I had to set up a guide so I could cut 8 feet, then slide the board 2 feet down and do the remainder.
Attachments
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20160826_101420.jpg
Steve Godding
Not all who wander (or wonder) are lost

ger21
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Re: Miter fold boxes

Post by ger21 »

martin54 wrote:
Purely out of interest but I wonder if it would crack if you applied heat before trying to bend. There have been a few gallery posts by someone who heats & bends corian :lol: :lol:
Doubt it would work in a production type environment such as yours though without specialist equipment :lol: :lol:
Heating and bending would not be cost effective. We heat and bend when we need curved pieces, every now and then.

Here's a part that we make a lot of.
They are 6 feet long, and get 6 miters each. I just made 40 the other day.
miterfold.pdf
(1.36 KiB) Downloaded 342 times
Gerry - http://www.thecncwoodworker.com

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SteveNelson46
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Re: Miter fold boxes

Post by SteveNelson46 »

Steve,

Thanks for sharing your ideas and techniques. I am just a hobbyist and really appreciate learning from a professional.
Steve

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