challenge - cutting small cubes efficiently?

G

GAKnothead

Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2007
Messages
39
New Festoolless member here, admiring what you guys are doing.  Indeed, the green slope apears quite steep and slippery.

Here's a challenge, perhaps.  What about cutting many small (near) perfect hardwood cubes, say 3/4" - 1", with your Festools?  I like logic puzzles and wonder about Festool vs replacing a marginal benchtop saw.  If my thinking is right, I would need a 55, dust extractor, and mft for starters, but can it be done efficiently?  I've other projects in mind, but this is high on the current list.

Thanks in advance.
 
GAKnothead said:
New Festoolless member here, admiring what you guys are doing.  Indeed, the green slope apears quite steep and slippery.

Here's a challenge, perhaps.  What about cutting many small (near) perfect hardwood cubes, say 3/4" - 1", with your Festools?  I like logic puzzles and wonder about Festool vs replacing a marginal benchtop saw.  If my thinking is right, I would need a 55, dust extractor, and mft for starters, but can it be done efficiently?  I've other projects in mind, but this is high on the current list.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Welcome,
When you say efficiently, I would have to ask you what your definition of efficient is? For example: if you had a table saw with a cross cut sled, and you where to rip your lengths 1' wide, then proceed to cross cut the strips off at 3/4" the table saw would win hands down. I would not want to lift the rail and manover the TS 55 back and forth a couple hundred times! ouch.
I think even if you tried to cut multiples it still takes longer to stack all the pieces together, keep them flush, clamp them, or hold them, and pass the saw over them.
The table saw and sled even when cross cutting a single piece is still faster, its literally zip,zip,zip fast fast and deadly accurate.
If you have all the time in the world and allot of patience then go right ahead. It can be done but it will not be efficient if you have a bench top saw sitting right there.
I would like to see anyone, "taper" a board 8 feet long on a table saw, in this case, the TS55 makes a table saw looks like a medieval torture device!  ;D

Mirko

 
I can't even think what would be second most efficient. A miter guillotine maybe?
 
I have made several small puzzles (based on a 3/4" cube) using only my MFT1080, AT55, 1010 router and a clever jig for holding the pieces. Rather than make separate cubes, I milled the pieces from solid blocks of cocobolo. I would make a block using the AT55 and guide rail so that its outside dimensions were within a hundred microns of a multiple of 3/4" (sorry for the mixed units - I'm a Canadian trapped in the US). I'd then use a 3/4" bit in the router to mill the pieces to size and shape. The jig was designed to hold the pieces so that once the router was set up to slide on the guide rail, it never had to be adjusted again. I just pushed it back and forth, and it cut perfect 3/4" rabbets (rebates?) into the block. The jig had two positions to hold the pieces so that any block could be milled without changing the router.

I'll try to post some pictures this weekend (no time right now - sorry). It worked really well. The puzzles fit together beautifully. I made one SOMA cube (3x3x3 cube) and one Bedlam cube (4x4x4 cube). As I got more familiar with the tools, the tolerances of the pieces improved to the point that each one was within about 100 microns of the correct size.
 
Oh!  Wasn't even dreaming about such precision.  You jokin' me?  I look forward to the photos.  Thx.
 
poto said:
I have made several small puzzles (based on a 3/4" cube) using only my MFT1080, AT55, 1010 router and a clever jig for holding the pieces. Rather than make separate cubes, I milled the pieces from solid blocks of cocobolo. I would make a block using the AT55 and guide rail so that its outside dimensions were within a hundred microns of a multiple of 3/4" (sorry for the mixed units - I'm a Canadian trapped in the US). I'd then use a 3/4" bit in the router to mill the pieces to size and shape. The jig was designed to hold the pieces so that once the router was set up to slide on the guide rail, it never had to be adjusted again. I just pushed it back and forth, and it cut perfect 3/4" rabbets (rebates?) into the block. The jig had two positions to hold the pieces so that any block could be milled without changing the router.

I'll try to post some pictures this weekend (no time right now - sorry). It worked really well. The puzzles fit together beautifully. I made one SOMA cube (3x3x3 cube) and one Bedlam cube (4x4x4 cube). As I got more familiar with the tools, the tolerances of the pieces improved to the point that each one was within about 100 microns of the correct size.
Click to expand...

Poto, a few moons have gone by since you mentioned posting some pictures of that "clever little jig".

I for one would be quite grateful if you managed to find the time...

 
Hey Paul - sorry about that. It's been on my "guilty" list since I posted. Things got insanely busy at work. I'll see what I can do tomorrow, since it's a holiday. As long as my camera's working...
 
Thanks Poto.

There's no immediate rush...  but sometime in the near future I'd like to machine similarly small bits using the 1010 on the MFT's guide rail. Being a complete neophyte when it comes to such things I'm sure it will help considerably to see just how you've assembled your jig (and accomplished such accuracy).
 
Mirko said:
GAKnothead said:
New Festoolless member here, admiring what you guys are doing.  Indeed, the green slope apears quite steep and slippery.

Here's a challenge, perhaps.  What about cutting many small (near) perfect hardwood cubes, say 3/4" - 1", with your Festools?  I like logic puzzles and wonder about Festool vs replacing a marginal benchtop saw.  If my thinking is right, I would need a 55, dust extractor, and mft for starters, but can it be done efficiently?  I've other projects in mind, but this is high on the current list.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Welcome,
When you say efficiently, I would have to ask you what your definition of efficient is? For example: if you had a table saw with a cross cut sled, and you where to rip your lengths 1' wide, then proceed to cross cut the strips off at 3/4" the table saw would win hands down. I would not want to lift the rail and manover the TS 55 back and forth a couple hundred times! ouch.
I think even if you tried to cut multiples it still takes longer to stack all the pieces together, keep them flush, clamp them, or hold them, and pass the saw over them.
The table saw and sled even when cross cutting a single piece is still faster, its literally zip,zip,zip fast fast and deadly accurate.
If you have all the time in the world and allot of patience then go right ahead. It can be done but it will not be efficient if you have a bench top saw sitting right there.
I would like to see anyone, "taper" a board 8 feet long on a table saw, in this case, the TS55 makes a table saw looks like a medieval torture device!  ;D

Mirko
Click to expand...

I have to ditto Mirko on cutting the cubes.  Get a real TS to do this, or see if your lumber supplier can do this for you.

However, to cut a taper, all you need to do is tack an auxillary fence onto your board and rip it.  Still faster (for me) than using my TS55, even at home with my little 9" Delta.

Steve
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top