Has anyone actually measured Proof Grade Medium Cherry plywood or Medium Draftboard thickness with a caliper?.
I just finished a box I designed in Cuttle. It asked for wood thickness and I entered .125 (1/8"). One of many boxes I have designed in Cuttle. I measured the proofgrade material with my printed thickness gauge and with masking removed it measures a tight 1/8".
When I measure the proofgrade material with my two sets of calibers it measure .1348. The tabs on the box are really tight, (I know it’s better to have tight tabs than loose tabs.). When I assemble the box I have to use hand clamps to force the tabs into the slots and have actually damage some of the tabs. I have to waste material experimenting with .1348, but I’m tired of re printing parts due to damaged tabs.
My Glowforge is fairly new and has performed very well.
Wood is an organic material and it is subject to environmental conditions. It is best to always use calipers when tolerances are tight. With Cuttle it is extremely easy as you simply input the actual thickness of your material and the adjustments required are automatic. Proofgrade material is probably less variable than wood purchased from other suppliers, but it is still variable and should be measured.
I just received orders of material from THD and GF, so I spent a little time measuring when I opened the packages. Nothing is the same as stated “nominal” 1/8 and 5/32, and none are the same as each other. Within a few 1/1000ths but the acrylic was the worst.
Thank you for your information. I spent most of my Sunday experimenting with making tabbed boxes. I realized that setting the wood thickness only determines the depth of the tab and not width, I set thickness for 1" and my tabs were 1" deep, which makes sense. I’m using Boxpy, a very limited option program that you can only enter dimensions in mm. There is a setting for burn, which sets how tight the tabs are. The bigger the number the tighter the tolerances. I went thru a lot of my previously used proofgrade material experimenting with different settings. Also in this program I found the thicker I made the wood the wider the tabs. I finally made a box with nice smooth locking tabs. Didn’t have to use a clamp to draw them together. Glowforge is a constant learning curve. Such a small part of my problems is the machine, and usually my fault for not reading everything. Thanks again for your input. Frustrating one day and wonder full the next.
Terry