Round Box from M.Tyler

[Rick P]

I would like to make the M.Tyler round box, but my red oak supply is 13/16" thick and I do not have a planer. Can I set the thickness in board settings to .812" and be good to go???

[atauer]

I would like to make the M.Tyler round box, but my red oak supply is 13/16" thick and I do not have a planer. Can I set the thickness in board settings to .812" and be good to go???

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to. It should work without a problem...

[mtylerfl]

That should be fine, Rick. It'll look great in oak!

[SteveEJ]

Michael's designs are great. I can't find the round box mentioned. Any links?

Thanks,
Steve

EDIT: Found it..
http://www.carvewright.com/downloads...icks_Apr09.pdf

[Dhaffner]

Just tried doing the box from the tips and tricks newsletter....
In 3/4 inch cherry (not particularly hard wood). Carved the back, and
finished carving the front lid with the 1/16" carving bit...then put in the 1/8" cutting bit...it drilled down into the wood and immediately snapped.
Nice.
I've had the machine over a year and the first project I download that uses the cutout feature breaks the bit. So much for that.

[mtylerfl]

Just tried doing the box from the tips and tricks newsletter....
In 3/4 inch cherry (not particularly hard wood). Carved the back, and
finished carving the front lid with the 1/16" carving bit...then put in the 1/8" cutting bit...it drilled down into the wood and immediately snapped.
Nice.
I've had the machine over a year and the first project I download that uses the cutout feature breaks the bit. So much for that.

Hello,

I'm very sorry to hear you broke a bit. That should never happen.

Could you provide some details about how you ran the project? (i.e., did you follow the instructions exactly?) The projects are all thoroughly tested before release to guarantee success as long as no deviation from the instructions occurs.

Common reasons why folks break bits are the following...

- the board was too short, allowing the stock to not remain captive under the rollers, causing bit binding which in turn causes the bit to break

- the bit adaptor was not fully seated either due to lack of thoroughly cleaning the QC of packed fine sawdust before the bit swap between the 1/16" carving bit to the 1/8" cutting bit, or not verifying with a mirror and flashlight that the red indicator marks are touching/overlapping

- the outfeed tables were not adjusted properly, leading to very slight board "lift" which can bind the bit, causing it to break (on stock less than 3 ft long, you do not need to use the outfeeds unless the stock is very heavy - it is OK to adjust them "low" so that the stock does not actually come into contact with them)

- the use of a sled where the measured thickness option was selected during setup instead of the project thickness option (this can lead to the cutting bit trying to cut through the combined thickness of the stock and the sled - possibly stressing the bit)

In over two years, I have only had one bit break - totally my fault. I was on the phone with a customer during a bit swap, and when I closed the cover and pressed ENTER I was in a rush to get out of "noise range" of the machine before the cutting motor powered up. Unfortunately, the right cover switch (the cut motor switch) had not engaged and I failed to notice in my haste. As a result, the truck began moving into the board without the cut motor rotating the bit, which caused the bit to snap of course. Was totally avoidable if I had been paying proper attention.

[Dhaffner]

Sure thing...

The board dimensions were approx. 1/2 inch larger on width and length than indicated in the project, however I set the machine not to scale (leave the project original size). The thickness was exactly as project specified.

I have my machine set on a cart, and I have outfeed support tables on either side that are about 18" each. I have them "calibrated to be 1/32 lower than the rollers on the end of the outfeed tables.

As a standard, I usually plane, then drum sand my boards to get them to thickness...trying to ensure they're flat with no twist. This board looked really good.

The only part I can't verify is whether or not the QC was fully clean and the bit fully seated....as a habit, I usually clean out the holder between bit changes with a quick shot of air then a wipe with my finger. I did this on this project. If it wasn't seated properly, I have no clue how I would have gotten it any better.

The cherry I used is pretty light and a breeze to cut.

At the end of the day, it's always possible I just had a bad bit.

The box wasn't a loss.... The lid was complete on both sides...so I manually routed out the interior of the base, then cut out the center of the middle section...then glued the base and center piece together....fitted the lid and then used it as the template to cut the outside of the base and center. A little sanding and it looks pretty good.

[mtylerfl]

Hello,

Sounds like you were good on everything. It's a mystery why the bit broke. Something caused stress to the bit, but after-the-fact is difficult to troubleshoot sometimes.

Only two other things maybe worth mentioning...

- try to remember to look at the red marks under the QC to verify full seating (I also tug down on the bit out of habit just to be sure, even after cleaning the chuck at bit swaps and verifying the red marks touch/overlap).

- if the bit was not mounted in the adaptor properly or securely, bit runout could also cause a stressed bit and "snap" (I had one occasion where a brand new bit was improperly mounted from the factory and stuck out way too far from the adaptor - the setscrew completely missed the ground flat on a cutting bit when "whoever" mounted it in the first place - I had to remove the bit from the adaptor and reinstall it myself)

[Dhaffner]

Good suggestions. I'll see what I get with a new bit and some more carefull review while I'm carving.
Thanks!

[mtylerfl]

Got my fingers crossed for ya!

All the Best...