Share your craft projects
Make new craft buddies
Ask craft questions
Blog your craft journey
Roger Gaborski
52 posts
and
10 followers
in almost 10 years
in almost 10 years
More from Roger Gaborski
Thirty Buttons
I call this box Thirty Buttons because of the 30 purpleheart ‘buttons’ on the cover of the box. Sycamore is the other wood. I especially like the grain of the sycamore, but I had problems finding matching grain for the different segments that make up the base of the box.
The box is larger than the other boxes I’ve made recently. The box is 4 1/2” wide in the front, 6” wide in the back, the sides are 3 3/4” and the box is 3” tall. Finished with 3 coats of rub on poly and one coat of wax.
Roger
Roger
6 Comments
Very interesting
Wheaties
Totally unique ,trying to figure out how you made the buttons.
woodworking classes, custom furniture maker
A brilliant piece of woodworking Roger!
I also wondered how it was done.
If it was square/straight I may possibly be able to suggest a way, but as its not and is radiused, along with the fact the buttons on the inside of the arc being smaller than those on the outer edge of the arc I have no idea.
Its certainly not as simple as “grass between the pyramids” thats for sure!
Regards Rob
Sorry about the slow response to your questions. The box was designed in CAD/CAM software. I first designed the box as a rectangle with 30 circles. Next, I modeled each circle as a dome shaped object. I then deformed the rectangle in the software by ‘bending’ the rectangle. Think of it as a rectangular eraser that you can bend. As a result the domed buttons are deformed along with their positions. The purpleheart buttons start out as a piece of pupleheart about 1/4" thick that I glue onto the sycamore. After I was happy with the look of the deformed rectangle I calculated the toolpaths and cut the rectangle on a CNC machine. The buttons are cut with two different tool bits, one for rough cutting to get rid of most of the waste and the second cut with a 1/8" ball nose to get the final cut. Maybe an hour of sanding to get the finished top.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Roger
Roger
I rest my case,…..I would never have considered CAD/CAM although in this day and age why would you bother any other way, if I had the facilities I can assure you my PAM 50 letters and numbers along with the Anchor would not have taken me hours in production only to produce a average result and produce some fillers for the rubbish bin in the process!
Then attempt to sell it for $135 would be kidding myself.
My friend Larry AKA degoose is an hour away one way so if I have a lot of inlay cutout work on or any quantity of CNC based work its worth the trip in both productivity and social wise.
Even then the work is given away to family and or friends.
Regards Rob
Robert, the CNC does allow me to complete projects that I couldn’t do otherwise. But, I have invested a lot of time learning the software – maybe 100-150 hours. The buttons box took maybe 4 hours to design and another 4 hours to cut – all estimates because I don’t time myself. I’m sure once I get more experience I will become better at designing the boxes. After more than 30 years of traditional woodworking I really enjoy the CNC process.
Roger
Roger
More from Roger Gaborski
