cnc padded jewelry boxes - embossed brass name plates1

Crazy activities around the holidays (
You will think that the situation will become less bad with full 12 months notice! )
There is very little time to make gifts.
This year, I managed to find the time to make the jewelry box with wooden boards.
There is a inlaid brass plate in the box, carved in person, adding to the charm of individuality and the old world.
The interior is lined with thick felt and covered with patterned fabric, giving the box a luxurious feeling, providing a soft protective surface for jewelry.
Like its owner, your jewelry should get a padded and protected environment!
I made two jewelry boxes so in some pictures you will see a round jewelry box and some of them are wine shaped boxes.
The process of building two boxes is the same. Fair warning :-
I used a homemade DIY CNC router in this project.
This also means that I need to use CAD and CAM programs to create individual parts that make jewelry boxes.
I fully realize that tools at this level are beyond the reach of most people, but I have tools and like to use them.
You can copy this project with manual tools.
The jewelry box is made of 3/4 thick board of Yang, so a multi-level internal cavity is needed to hold the jewelry.
The base and core are glued together to form the box, and the lid is surrounded and protected from the contents.
The animation below shows 3 key parts of the component-
Base, core and lid.
Using the pocket operation on the diy cnc router, the base and cover are hollowed out, which is faster and more accurate than the hammer and chisel.
However, if you only have a hammer and a chisel, then careful work will produce the same result.
The box is polished smooth, dyed or painted according to your preference.
Fabric/felt lining on the inside.
They personalize by carving a small support plate embedded in the recess of the lid.
If you have access to a CAD program, you can model your own unique design.
I use the Cubify Design CAD software to convert to gcode with CamBam and use Mach3 for actual CNC machine control.
All of these packages cost money, but you can do everything with free software.
Org and Linux CNC. org.
I have accumulated a lot of tools and software over the years.
I have a lot of tools if I look at my work objectively, but strangely, I always find that I don't have the tools I need for a particular project, which usually means that I will adapt to it until the needs of the tools disappear, or the budget allows the tool to be purchased.
Anyway, I digress.
We have work to do.
I used the 3D system software called Cubify Design in all the Design work.
The software follows the Solidworks parametric user interface paradigm.
It's not as complicated as Solidworks, but it's a really good software for amateurs.
The only downside I found is that it only exports STL files.
Great for 3D printing, but not great for exchanging data with other CAD systems.
2D graphics can be exported from Cubify as DXF, this is what I use to do CADCAM conversion.
To create a model, first draw the outline of the object (
Called "sketch" in most 3D CAD programs ")
And then squeeze it out of the required thickness.
In my case, the outline is the outline of the wine glass drawn with a spline line to get a smooth shape.
To ensure the symmetry of the design, it is best to sketch the left half first, and then use the "mirror" function to mirror the sketch to the right.
This will be squeezed to 5/8 thick once the first sketch is completed.
The next step is to create a pocket in the lid to increase the inner cavity space of the final jewelry box.
Draw another sketch at 0.
375 "offset from the edge and remove the material to a depth of 3/8" using the "squeeze cut" tool ".
This makes the remaining cover thickness 0.
That's enough.
The next step is to create ridges that fit the lid with the box and prevent the lid from sliding.
This is by creating a set of lines and then squeezing 1/8 "out of the surface, bringing the top surface of the ridge to 0.
75 ", this is the thickness of the extreme floor.
The pocket of the nameplate is cut into the front of the cover.
The sketch is cut to cover 1/8 "to match the thickness of the brass material.
The last step is to polish the edges to match the tool radius.
This ensures that the inside and outside corners on the final jewelry box match correctly.
I forgot this on the one I made. . . .
Therefore, adjustments have to be made with a file and a chisel.
This is not a problem for round jewelry boxes.
The model at the core and bottom is similar.
I have added the Cubify CAD file in this step.
After the 3D model is completed, you need to convert the model to g-code. G-
The code is the language that the CNC controller understands.
In the most basic form, the language is processed one line at a time by the CNC controller, which sends motion commands with 3 axial cutters. G-
The code is human readable and writable, but there is a lot of complexity in having a manually written program do the right thing.
Fortunately, CAM software has largely automated this task, which will help humans to create g-code.
The CAM software I use is called CamBam.
This will require a 2D drawing and will allow you to define the cut operation for each row in the drawing.
To get a 2D drawing, the Cubify design software will automatically create a 2D drawing from a 3D model.
Then save the drawing as a DXF file and import it into CamBam.
In CamBam, each line must be processed as per your needs.
For example, the following figure shows the innermost line highlighted in red.
This line is the boundary of the top area and will be removed by milling the pocket to the specified depth.
CAM software has built-in algorithms that understand what code needs to be generated to remove all materials from inside the line.
Doing it by hand will be a heavy task involving many mobile commands.
After the tutorials on their website, it is better to understand the use of CamBam software.
I have provided the final g-
Code for your use.
Now we have g.
Code file, we only need to load the wood into the CNC machine, g-
Put the code into the CNC controller software I use Mach3 and have it rip.
It sounds easy, but you need to go through a lot of adjustments and settings.
The most important thing is to make sure that the workpiece matches the range of the cutter so that you don't end up cutting air, or worse, start cutting into your holding or working surface (
I have never had this situation! ).
After all the parts are cut, it is time to assemble.
The assembly steps simply glue the base and core together and any wood glue water can work here.
I used Elmers wood glue that claimed to be dyed.
This is handy if you have a small amount of extrusion that you didn't notice.
It is best to clean up the extruded things as thoroughly as possible before the glue is set.
Once installed, the only way to do this is to polish it, even if the glue manufacturer claims it is "sandable", it is a hard job.
Glue enters the fiber, so it needs a lot of polishing.
Brass nameplate engraved on CNC.
I took two names on brass of the same length and then put each name in the groove ground into the lid with a hacksaw and file.
This is a trial. and-
Complete the error process using sandpaper, documents and patience.
It would be faster if I processed the parts entirely on the CNC machine.
The engraving tool is 0.
005 "V bit, very fine features can be carved.
Brass nameplate can be polished with suitable metal polishing.
I used Meguires metal polishing after polishing with 1200 sandpaper.
Good work.
Dyeing is a very confusing business.
Stains will appear on everything and are hard to remove, so use gloves and clothes that you don't mind dropping.
I used a dark walnut stain with the rice wax applied with a brush.
The process is very simple-
Apply stains to wood 5-
10 minutes, then wipe clean with a clean rag (
An old T-shirt works best)
When you have a color close to what you think is right.
The longer you leave the stain, the darker your wood will be, but avoid letting the stain dry as you end up with a sticky coating on the hard-to-handle wood.
Stains can be re-applied after a certain period of time to further dim the wood
Follow the instructions on the side of the stain tank.
All stain manufacturers have a slightly different set of rules to get the best results.
The stain takes a dry time, after which you can protect your item with a polyurethane or acrylic coating.
I used water-based polyacrylic acid because it is low VOC.
The lining consists of a layer of poster board and a thick layer of felt.
Then cover with a layer of fabric.
First print out a 1: 1 scale 2D file attached here as a PDF file.
Attach the page tape to the poster board, then use scissors or sharp knives, cut out the shape and transfer the shape to the felt with chalk, as shown in the figure.
The inside of the online strip is cut in the shape of about 1/16 "so that the poster board is smaller than the inside of the jewelry box.
This will avoid it expanding when you finally install the finished lining.
The felt is then cut into shape and glued to the poster board.
I used Elmer glue in the first jewelry box, but it took a long time to dry.
Hot glue is much faster, so this is for round boxes.
Then cut a piece of fabric about 1/2 more than the poster board/felt glue-up.
Using hot glue, fold the edge of the fabric to the edge of the cardboard and glue it down.
Be sure to avoid bunching on one side visible to the liner.
Cut small darts into fabric, especially around the curve, to keep the front looking as good as possible.
Then cut a 1 "long poster board for both sides.
Try the pendulum inside the jewelry box to get the correct length, then repeat the process of felt layer and fabric layer.
Don't worry too much about the back as this will be attached to the wall of the jewelry box.
Then place a large shape lining at the bottom of the jewelry box.
You can keep it in place with some hot glue, but I don't think it's necessary.
The strip is then hot glued to the side.
Be especially careful where the two ends are connected
You want to fold the fabric at one end to make it beautiful and tidy. .
All that is left to do is give gifts and gifts to the recipient.
Of course, you can fill the jewelry box with a fine jewelry selection to make it more special.