Little Round Boxes

[SPalm]

These are some of the little 3 inch boxes that I make to give away. I have had fun with them and thought others may too. The ‘chip carved’ designs for the tops seem to be the biggest hits. Of course so does the recipients initials or text, but that is no fun. They are in scrap cherry, 1.1 inches for the bottoms and .25 inches for the tops. Danish oil and 3 step buffing finish them quickly.

When making the top, I have found that double sticky tape, along with some hold-downs works best. I use a V-bit to chamfer the sides of the top before cutting the profile. I use an up-cut spiral bit for the ¼ inch profile cutting. I have found that this bit does the best job of ejecting the swarf as it goes along. I have eased up on the cutting depths and speeds to make it more enjoyable.

The tops are rabbeted on the bottom edge to allow them to snuggle into the box. I do this on the router table. I took a picture of the (red) bit that I use for this, as it is a cheap forming bit, but I only use a little of it. It sticks out about .1 inches and the wooden top rides on the bearing while being cut. This gives the smallest rabbet that I could make.

I used a bowl bit on the bottoms to get the rounded inside edges and do very little sanding. The bottom’s wall thickness is controlled by the pocket allowance number and might change depending on the rabbet used. Again a spiral up-cut bit for profile cutting. I use a flush trim bit (pictured) on the router table to clean up the Tabs on the bottoms.

The zip files contains some of the crv design files.

Have some fun and make someone smile.
Steve

[highpockets]

Beautiful boxes, thanks for sharing the pictures and the project file.

[gkas]

Beautiful work. As a newbie I love taking this stuff apart to see how it works. Thanks for the post.

[dwilli9013]

Nice thanks for sharing that.

[kp91]

Thank you Sir!

[Mark's Wood Chips]

Thank you for sharing and the detailed explanation.

Mark

[Arnell]

Nice work and thank you for sharing the files.

[gordread]

Thank you. I have my nephews coming over this weekend. I think this will be a great little project for them to work on, especially with mother's day approaching.

[SPalm]

Thanks everyone.

Just a few notes that I thought about:

The zero point is the top of the box and in the center, not the lower left like lots of other designs. I find this easier on small objects like these.

The shell is a bit trickier than the simple round boxes. The top should probably be thicker than a quarter of an inch - there is a lot going on there and the extra thickness would be handy on the rabbeting stage. The bottom has an extra pocket with a quarter inch bit - this was done to keep the side walls the same thickness all the way around and let the top fit. Not the cleanest of designs, but hey.

Once again, thanks for all the complements.
Steve

[martin54]

Great job as always Steve & thanks for sharing the file

[Bjohnes]

Nice and good looking work. Thank you for sharing the files.

[Scottybo99]

Nice I cant wait to try this

[oldlogtrucker]

Thank you so
much. These are beautiful. and a great use for scraps/
Kathy

[grahamar]

Thank you very much for sharing these.
As a newbie to both CNC and Vcarve - I found your designs inspiring and they are really helpful in understanding how Vcarve works.
Really appreciated!

[sluggo]

Steve,

These are amazing boxes, what creativity you have!

Charlie