A friend recently retired and as a gift I decided to try to make a presentation wood box for his new 8013. I'm not a woodworker, but was pretty happy with
the results on my first try:
The wood is cherry, planed to 5/16, with 60 deg angles put in with a table saw. Outside edge of each plank is 1-3/4 inch, which makes a box with flat-to-flat dimension of 3-1/4 inches. A little bigger than the regular wood boxes you see, but I found that if you're going to lay out the 3 rod sections, you need some space... I think it's still manageable. I bound the 6 pieces by hand (just don't put glue on 2 opposing joints) using URAC. The end-caps were fit to the tube once it set up. I used a jig to hold the end-caps on my router, in order to cut the inside rabbet and put on the outside ogee. Otherwise your fingers are too close to the spinning router blade - for my taste, anyway (It'd be harder to cast without your thumb and index fingers...) Sanding the inside of the box is a real pain, by the way! Brass-plated piano hinge from lee Valley, rare earth magnets to hold the box closed... Rod hold-downs are felt-covered closed-cell foam. Local awards and plaque makers will make a brass plaque for a few bucks...
I unabashedly swiped as many ideas as I could from Rob Smith of Pentalux who showed his penta box here months ago, but I like the elegance of my piano-hinge-and-magnet-closure system better than his hinges and leather straps (although his might be more secure...) His internal rod-retention system is better than mine.
Anyway, it was fun, both to make, and to give as a surprise gift.
Lee
The wood is cherry, planed to 5/16, with 60 deg angles put in with a table saw. Outside edge of each plank is 1-3/4 inch, which makes a box with flat-to-flat dimension of 3-1/4 inches. A little bigger than the regular wood boxes you see, but I found that if you're going to lay out the 3 rod sections, you need some space... I think it's still manageable. I bound the 6 pieces by hand (just don't put glue on 2 opposing joints) using URAC. The end-caps were fit to the tube once it set up. I used a jig to hold the end-caps on my router, in order to cut the inside rabbet and put on the outside ogee. Otherwise your fingers are too close to the spinning router blade - for my taste, anyway (It'd be harder to cast without your thumb and index fingers...) Sanding the inside of the box is a real pain, by the way! Brass-plated piano hinge from lee Valley, rare earth magnets to hold the box closed... Rod hold-downs are felt-covered closed-cell foam. Local awards and plaque makers will make a brass plaque for a few bucks...
I unabashedly swiped as many ideas as I could from Rob Smith of Pentalux who showed his penta box here months ago, but I like the elegance of my piano-hinge-and-magnet-closure system better than his hinges and leather straps (although his might be more secure...) His internal rod-retention system is better than mine.
Anyway, it was fun, both to make, and to give as a surprise gift.
Lee
