Saskatoon TechWorks Forum

Having completed a couple preliminary hacks, and with the goal of better exploring the potential of Open SCAD and the laser cutter, I decided to make a finger jointed box with the following features:

-adjustable kerf correction so that the finger joints are as tight as desired with no gap
-adjustable parameter for differing material thickness (can be set at greater than true thickness so that on assembly tabs project and can be sanded flush for a perfect finish)
-adjustable tab projection so that tabs can be set to project on assembly and be sanded flush. Alternately the projection can be set as long as desired to make disassembly easy or for aesthetics.
-adjustable minimum cut width so that finger joints can be either maximized to the limit of making the fingers fragile, or set to practically any desired pitch by increasing the minimum cut width.

The program worked and I was able to cut a couple test boxes and assemble them on Tuesday night.

Imagine you must. Pictures I have not. Photo-hosting resource I know not. Examples, bring to hack night I can.

The program can make a box any LxWxH chosen. If no tab projection is desired, then the tabs will be the same dimension as the notches, and the notches will be the same depth (kerf corrected) as the material thickness. The pattern of the notches needs to be different for the XY, XZ, and YZ plane sides in order to make a flush and complete corner.

Although it's not my picture, if you go to

http://www.nerdkraft.com/

and look at the boxes next to the heading: CONSTRUCTION, then these have the same pattern as mine.

I forgot I had taken some photos of these boxes for Drew. Here you go: