I can’t remember where I saw it, but there is a video that shows someone trying more and more fingers. IIRC there was a point at which the fingers were too small and although the joint stayed intact, the two pieces of wood did not: the joint snapped off of one side or the other.
Also, google seems to think that I have arthritis now, after several searches for finger joints. Arthritis meds just took over my adspace.
Sure, there’s always that point at which the negative impacts supersede the benefit.
I wish I could find it, it was an interesting video. I also vaguely recall that at some point he makes some finger-joints that he could not get back apart, or struggled to get apart without a mallet.
Searching for it has not returned results yet. Gee willikers there are a lot of videos on youtube.
Ball bearings?
I really want to see these with large Rare earth magnet balls in them jsut to see people try to get them unstuck to roll.
I’ve been thinking about this with the blocks and wondering about having such a sharp edge. Might run the edges over a router table and give them a chamfer or round over.
Maybe just a little sanding will do the trick.
Very fun!
Could you use the grayscale/depth mapping/gradient to mellow out the edges like with your basket weave trial?
It would work to a little degree but not give a good slope within a 1/16 of an inch. I also want to avoid the charing too. Long engraving times are no fun. I avoid them. My router table with a 1/4" radius bit would make pretty quick work with all the sides for lots of cubes.
It is a good question though for design. What to do with sharp edges that result from laser cuts.
Possibly, but the way grain goes in the overlaps of the sides, not sure. I’ll try it on my belt sander with a finer grit.
Why is that? I’d think a 256-shade gradient would work a 1/16" curve, no? What’s the real-world result of something like that?
I wonder what the effect of ‘softening’ the hard edges with a soda blaster would be?
I guess I should preface that with an “I’m not going to go through the trouble of figuring this all out.” My blocks are going to be 1 3/4" cubed. That is about the limit of the material thickness with crumb tray removed. So I would only be able to engrave after they are assembled to get a consistent chamfer on each edge. Then I’d have to do each block six times. Possibly with a jig I could do multiples in one operation.
There was this topic from way back and a few others addressing bevels, so I’ve just about convinced myself that it was not worth pursuing.
The 3D functionality might make this all pretty easy design and UI wise, but at the moment I do not have that functionality with ease. I’m still figuring out the variable depth engraving with the 256 gradients and while some of the weaves look promising, I’m not going to spend too much design time figuring it out. I have so many other design challenges.
I looked at Mathias Wandel’s stuff and couldn’t find anything specific in his test videos other than that finger joints are pretty strong. That is a good question. When is it aesthetic and when is it practical and how to balance them. I’ve been thinking about this today and engraving rabbets on the edges of a lid and the mating sides would allow for a full surface unbroken by joints on the top. The rabbet and a good glue would be enough for most small boxes.
Ah. Thought that was coming from an experience you had. It’s something I’ve been interesting in seeing or trying out myself for sure. So close to being able to do this stuff myself! I’m definitely re-excited about my Glowforge these days. 
Oh! I thought we were starting another potato thread for a second. No bean bugs for me thanks.