LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Bandsaw Box Bandit

20K views 26 replies 12 participants last post by  a1Jim 
#1 ·
My First Bandsaw Box

I have recently taken the first step into becoming a serious woodworker - spending more than $500 on a single tool. I competed in and won a "biggest loser" contest at work, raking in $650! Needless to say, after all of that hard work I felt the need to spoil myself so I went out and bought a Jet 14" closed stand bandsaw. This is the first project I have started with it. It is just a simple little bandsaw box that I cut out free-hand not paying much attention to getting the shape perfect, etc. I just wanted to knock one out and see what sort of problems I ran into. It actually went pretty well. The only real problem I had is that the inside diameter is not concentric with the outside diameter. I think I know what I did wrong, so before I put any finish on this one, I am going to start another and then finish both boxes at the same time. I plan to line the box with flocking, but I have not yet done so for the same reason I have not yet finished it. What I was most excited about is that I did a good enough job sanding the pieces that the glue lines are invisible. (ignore the glue on the interior because it will be covered with flocking.)



 
See less See more
2
#2 ·
Hmmm, I am not sure if these embedded pictures are extremely large on your end or not. If so, my apologies. It is getting late and I just found this free website to upload these pictures to. I will try to correct the sizing issue later.
 
#6 ·
Just a piece of walnut. My wonder wife made a great score about a year ago at a yard sale of all places. She found about 2 dozen 2×3x12 pieces of walnut that were already jointed and planed that we paid next to nothing for. So I am sure most of my up and coming projects will be from those hunks while I start honing my bandsaw skills!
 
#9 ·
I cut the lid off first, then cut the bottom, then hollowed out the center. I then cut a small piece off that center plug and glued it to the lid. I am going to make another box very similar to this to see if I can correct a few of the mistakes I made here. I plan on taking photos of each step and posting it here in this blog series. I hope to get it started this weekend, so stay tuned!
 
#13 ·
My Second Bandsaw Box - Day 1

Well today I began work on my second bandsaw box. I am going to make a box very similar to the first (see Bandsaw Box Bandit #1) but this time I have a few ideas to overcome some of the problems I encountered while making the first box.

However, just 3 cuts in I realized the root cause of one of my problems. I began by cross cutting the board to proper length. Then I made the first arced cut to form the top of the lid. Finally I made a second arced cut to form the bottom of the lid. This cut was made parallel to the upper lid cut…or so I thought. What I soon found out was that the lid was much thinner near the center on one side than the other. I quickly reached for my square; however found that the blade was a perfect 90 from the table. I placed a straight edge across the cuts I made thinking that the blade was deflecting due to over feeding but that also checked out. I was a bit perplexed. I decided to get out the broom and dust off the saw while I pondered over what could be happening. As I was dusting off the table, I realized that the throat plate that came with my saw stands proud of the table. As I made the arced cut toward the center of the block, less wood was resting on the throat plate resulting in the angle between the wood and the blade changing throughout the pass. Upon making the second cut more wood was resting on the plate meaning less of a change in angle and the two cuts becoming out of parallel. I removed the plate hoping that there was just a buildup of dust or a burr left from the casting of the table but instead what I found was that the plate was just of poor quality and slightly damaged to boot. So, the project is on hold until I can make a run to my local Woodcraft to purchase a set of zero-clearance plates - which I was planning to buy one of these days anyway!

Oh the fun of being a newbie!
 
#17 ·
Attempt #2, the saw is fixed

Well I finally made a trip to Woodcraft and purchased some zero-clearance made by Carter. All and all I am pretty happy with them. $10 for 3 inserts and they fit well. However what I quickly learned about zero-clearance inserts is that they do tend to impact the removal of saw dust. There was a LOT more dust on the table of the bandsaw than when I was not using the inserts; but overall they performed as expected.

I have the box completely cut out and rough sanded and glued. All that is left is finish-prep sanding and finishing itself. I have a few pictures that I took during the process that I will have to post at a later time. When I get these posted I will also post the steps required to make this type of bandsaw box for those who may be interested. This week at work will be busy so I do not plan on getting the box finished until Saturday but I will be sure to get pictures posted as soon as I can.

Later all!
 
#19 ·
My Second Bandsaw Box - Day 1 Photos and Details

Here is something I tried out this time to get a nice tight fit between the curved lid and the box. It seemed to work out very well.

First, I cut out the curved lid off of the box on the bandsaw - Self explanatory


Then I sanded out all of the saw marks on the box with 80 then 100 grit. Then I turned that rough-sanded box into a sanding block by tightly wrapping a piece of 80 grit around it. Then I layed the lid on top of the box and sanded from side to side (hold you breath) AGAINST THE GRAIN. I continued that until all of the saw marks were out, then repeated it with 100 grit, then finished both the box and lid with 220 WITH the grain.


I took a photo of the fit this produced, but unfortunately it turned out too blurry…that is what I get for not taking multiples! I will try to remember to take another photo when I get around to putting finish on the box this weekend.

After this I cut off the bottom, cut out the center of the box, glued up the center section, sanded everything, glued on the bottom, then attached the lid with rubber cement and cut out the exterior shape on the bandsaw. Sorry I did not take any pictures of this part of the process…I got lazy! All that is left is finish sanding and finishing. One question, is sanding past 220 worth while?
 
#20 ·
Its all finished except the finish

Well I was finally able to finish my second box yesterday. That is, everything is finished but the finish…

I went to Home Depot to get some clear oil, and for some reason the crappy depot here in our small town does not carry it! I knew I should have bought some when I was at Lowes earlier in the week! Oh and I still need to buy flocking for the inside. That is also impossible to find in this small town. I guess it is time to buy it online! I have also noticed that I need to work on my camera skills, the attached images are a bit "grainy".




It was an adventurous weekend. My goal this Saturday was to wake up early and get the sanding and final assembly complete on this box. I figured that by the time that was all finished, the morning dew would be burnt off the grass and I could get the mowing finished up before noon and avoid the 90 degree heat. Unfortunately for me, when I went out into our attached garage, shutting the door behind me, I found that my wonderful wife had locked the door. Not to mention she had just left for work and would not be back home until after 1 pm. So, instead of getting the mowing finished early I was forced to keep myself busy in front of the bandsaw! (Sucks eh?) With two of the lid style bandsaw boxes now under my belt I decided to try my hand at a simple drawer style box. This if what I have so far. All that is left is figuring out a way to remove the glue squeeze-out inside the, sanding (lots of it) and finish. One thing I will have to really work out on this box is figuring out a way to sand the drawer to mask the large gap around it left by the saw kerf. Notice I am choosing to not put a drawer pull but instead undercut the back of the box so that the drawer hangs out slightly on the left side. I will post more pictures later. At the rate I am going I will be applying finish to all 3 boxes I have made so far at the same time!

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top