I thought that the complexity of this puzzle warranted a creation in solids... may all those pagan MDF gods forgive me.
Dressed up in my hero nightie I dressed down some walnut I’ve been hoarding before I moved to downtown Churchill (14 years ago) and after making the appropriate SketchUp changes to allow for a 5.85mm thickness of my boards, I cut out a box. Because of the walnut, I had to slow the cutting speed down dramatically to burn deeper, unfortunately it made the kerf bigger, leaving short tenons.
Why 5.85mm instead of 6mm?... it was a compromise of cut through without burning... which turned out to be BS, as the issue was with a cupped board that screwed up the focus in certain areas... easier fixed by uncupping the board with weights (outside the cut area).
While I don’t mind the laser burnt edges in MDF, I won’t tolerate it in solids, at least not viewable… so after tuning up my scraper with my Accu-Burr,
(someone did a review of it, but I cant find it… the gizmo is worth every shekel)…
before and after the scrape,
After scraping the recesses, they were finished on the spindle sander,
I had to "dramatically" sand down the faces of the box to meet the tenons on my belt sander,
unfortunately I had engraved the box so by the time I sanded enough off, I sanded too much off the engraving depth.
The box turned out great but I decided to over engrave… bad move as I didn’t line up the overprint correctly. It’s a case of others might vaguely notice, but to me it stuck out like the south end of a happy, north bound large dog (not the tail between legs)... note to myself, engrave after sanding.
Decided to make another box and all hell broke loose... that nort bound dog must have urinated on the fire and woke up the MDF gods. Whatever could go wrong did, starting from engraving on a cupped board where some of the focus got lost and the cut didn’t penetrate all the way through, to glue up in the wrong orientation… resulting in a lot of wastage,
Thought I might be able to salvage some pieces to make another box, but would have to re-cut some missing/damaged pieces,
… and I’d have to make up 6 new pieces… all that bevelling… after a vino or two I thought bugga it, the existing two solids are enough.
Then it was time for the puzzle pieces. I now needed 2 sets (and maybe another set if I forgot to forget salvaging the scraps). Used a similar method of 19mm³ cubes from the JB4A puzzle, to make up the 6 “T” shapes… tried to futilely match grain, while lining up my ducks in a row,
Failed the match but got “close enough”.
Glued them together with a dab of medium CA. For the stem of the “T”, I used another cube to “space” it in the middle,
With this second box, I chose to enlarge the tenons as it was easier to sand down the tenons to meet the side of the box rather than sand the large area of the box side,
Before further ado, I did test a set of the puzzle pieces for fit. This second box I cleaned up using my Fe$tool belt sander inverted,
the results were similar to the bigger belt sander, but easier to control, especially with the less amount of sanding required.
Engraved after sanding and backfilled with white Timbermate before buffing.
The one on the right was buffed, the other 2b.
It’s a shame it’s hard to compare the shine of the buffed one because of lighting.
I cowered from the threat I made to convert the rejects into another puzzle, but after a calming vino, I capitulated. All I needed to do was cut an extra piece,
and then it was to the grind of cutting, bevelling the 18 x 19mm³ cubes to make up the 6 pieces and buffing... also scraping the burn marks off the exposed edges after the box was assembled... another gotcha chore by itself.
Bloody buffing!... Why am I so oppressed? As I had the sanding disc mounted on my lathe and absent mindedly continuing to ignore the buffers I have mounted on my mini jet lathe (that are always in the way),
(though pushed aside at the time), I swapped the white diamond buffer with another carnauba wax one,
which was not a smart move, thanks to all the fluff it threw out on the floor,
and made me fear that my hero nightie was shedding,
I was amazed at the difference between the size of the buffers during the interchange,
I didn’t realise the amount of wear and that it may someday need to be replaced… however, this is not a blog about the buffers, so ignore all the above reference to it.
After all the kerfuffle, I finished up with another Shutout non-MDF puzzle,
And before all you skeptics say its just a picture of a previously made one, here is a non-photo shopped verification of 3 solids of the puzzle,
The one in the middle is awaiting delivery.
Unless I start selling these, I cannot justify the time, effort and material to make them out of non-MDF material. In comparison, MDF is quicker, much cheaper, easier to assemble and everything seem to fit together with minimal ( if any) fine tuning.
Thanks for looking.
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Don’t be crafty Craftisians,... SHARE your craft!
------------------------------------- ooooOOOOO Late EDIT OOOOOooooo ----------------------------------------- Late EDIT:- 3DW model,
Duckie.. I love your reviews and projects. Thanks for taking all the time doing it that you do. Your friendship means a lot to me.....but I am going to have trouble sleeping tonight with the image of you in your nightie.....
You could always add some simulated wood grain shelf paper to that MDF! Either way, looks way more awesome! 👍
Had a big scare when this photo first scrolled into view.
Thought your super hero outer/inner/only wear got stripped off after being tangled in you lathe! Aside from the potential damage to the lathe, fearing the shock of anyone strolling past the lair and seeing you flashing them au-natural 😲
i blocked the thought the nightie was torn off fearing the image of a naked duck in pink boots would be burned into my mind forever. it's bad enough seeing what we do 😱
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
2nd try:- I mean the 14 yo walnut timber, but I guess that's possibly the answer to. scrapers, I haven't used them for years, I have a few profiles too! always wondered what grit equivalent they were, as they did a great job.. I tried to find out on LJs some years ago but got howled down, obviously there are only a few real cabinet makers/craftsman around these days that use them
I could fess up to using the scraper, but I wont as the judge would sentence me with non parole, for using hand tools.
Look guys, even I'll admit that non-MDF looks better and sniffs better when barbq'd on the laser... however it's costly... not subsidised by NASA,Pottzy!
RC, I picked the sheets of walnut up at the timber show in Melbourne many years ago... this is what I have left after cutting 3 puzzles out of two small 7mm thick sheets (wastefully dressed down to 5.85mm) and I was so disgusted in myself that I was prepared to blaspheme and quote measurements of around 24" x 5 1/2", that was "reduced" to the on sale price of $55.
The design was great, the laser was accurate, however, one doesn't take into account the idiot that leans on the "Z" axis button of the laser to have a peek at the progress, and wonder why the cut was out of focus.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
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