Boxes: Making joints with machinery

richard6299 · 24 Feb 2016

HI. I'm a newbie at woodwork. Lets say that you wanted to make, as a commercial venture in a small workshop, boxes 150mm height. And you decided to use dove - tail joints at the corners (dove-tail considered most appropriate, but other similar joints may be adequate).

What machine (or labour saving device) would you or could you use to make the joints with? Thanks.

marcros · 24 Feb 2016

i think that the first consideration would be to consider what your customers wanted, both in terms of a standardised product and joint.

Is it a hand cut dovetail box that they will pay a premium for? If this is the case, I would look at batch production if it is a standardised product- cutting several sets of pins and tails at a time. If a dovetail is considered essential but it can be machine cut, then a router and dovetail jig may be appropriate. For one offs, it may be quicker to cut by hand rather than set up the jig.
Do they want a dovetailed box, or just a box that looks aesthetically pleasing? If so, then there are various router joints that would be quicker than dovetails- a lock mitre joint (once set up) for instance. Is it solid timber or veneered sheet. you could set this up quickly if you use a standard thickness of side, but I dont know how sensitive it would be if you were 1/2" a mm didfferent between boxes.
Do they want bespoke items- one offs in their choice of timber, potentially choice of size, lining etc.

If you can avoid the dovetail, keyed mitres would be a reasonable option, with a couple of jigs on the table saw.

Many things to think about- some examples of what you want to make and an idea of batch size/quantity would help you to get better answers.

RobinBHM · 24 Feb 2016

A dovetailing machine

Brookman is a well known make and there are some Italian makes.

For low volume a router and jig.

biskit · 24 Feb 2016

Richard have you considered box joints like Fishandchips did, and he made a jig that can be found a few threads down .
Table saw box joint jig.

sunnybob · 24 Feb 2016

If you want to make money on boxes, then dove tails are far too time consuming unless you are going to make low volume high price items.
45 degree mitres are much much quicker.
research your market before you buy any tools. there are so many people making boxes for market stalls and car boot sales, you might find yourself working for 50 pence an hour, or even a loss.