Two Levels of Puzzle Drawers...Done!

Apr 24, 2024

Two Levels of Puzzle Drawers.....Done!

I've finished the second tier of drawers for the Secretum Cista puzzlechests...Hooray!
It's been over two months since my last email update, which I'm not happy about but sometimes I feel I like a just need to put my head down and make progress without coming up for air. The good news: I am extremely pleased with the finished drawers! One critique I can't totally fix is drawer slop...which is something that seems to depend almost totally on how square the cabinet is. These cabinets are not always perfectly square. Lesson learned: wood parts move most across big expansions, and clamps are necessary to keep consistent dimensions in glue ups.
I was able to reduce the amount of play(or slop) artificially with the drawer guides/stops which keep the drawer from being able to come completely out of the chest, but also double to keep the slop down. From a woodworking manufacturer standpoint, it rubs me the wrong way, but it does help.

New puzzle prototype in the works

Josh and I have been sketching out CAD designs for new puzzleboxes for a couple of months now. The official story is that we(my idea :)) designed a box that was WAY too complicated to make...in the time frame we wanted. So, I decided to tackle a simpler box in order to continue to hone our skills in preparation for the really hard design we want to do later on. The box we ended up going with is based off an idea I had, but wrapped around a cylinder, which is still a very tricky thing to do, but still not nearly as difficult as the other box. I'm going to start making videos and releasing pictures about the new design, and I'm very interested in the response I'll receive from everyone.

Puzzlechest Progress Report

In other news....
I made a down payment on a CNC router that's being made by a local guy here in upstate NY. I wanted a 24"x48" table, which is not big by any stretch but not tiny, and a 4th axis milling lathe attachment. To be clear; I really don't care for mass produced laser cut boxes, or the very cheaply manufactured CNC carved boxes, and these products are not the goal of this purchase. The reason I got this Computer Numerical Control machine is the fact that certain designs benefit greatly from pieces only produced efficiently in unconventional ways...To alter a design in order to eliminate the need for a CNC spindle is not something I think is justified. On the same grounds, I would never alter a puzzle design to allow for the radius' and space needed to run a CNC toolpath. Both extremes are something I would never want to do...and I think many people's work suffer from taking one side or the other. Hence, CNC on the way!

Shipping Puzzleboxes Video

It seems I forgot to add a picture of myself in this email...or did I?