I’m still working on figuring that out now, i’ll let you know what i come up with.
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These are just friction fit.
In this case i just used http://www.makercase.com/ to generate the finger joint box and then modified the plans in AI for the final design. The site has a parameter for kerf adjustment. I think i used .004 for the particular acrylic.
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That’s impressive. Acrylic tends to be quite brittle and prone to cracking under stress. But for small elements like this that are not under huge stress I could imagine that the finger joints could be sufficient. I love assemblies that don’t require chemical intervention of any kind. Particularly when they’re functional. Perhaps we should have a ‘dry assembly’ section dedicated to such designs – it should stretch people’s creativity.
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This!
If you get a very tight fit and DO decide to add solvent glue, be aware that you may cause more problems then you solve(ent).
I found that for glued up items that were going to be handled a 2 hour anneal in a warm oven (~180F) made a big difference. The heat removed a lot of the stress. Think of it as a relaxing hot tub for your projects…
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Does annealing cause a “permanent” de-stress? Or is this something that should be done soon before the gluing?
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should be the former as long as ylou let it cool before moving it.
Everything I’m reading about annealing acrylic states it should be done after every step in the process that has potential to induce stresses. Machine, then anneal. Laser cut, then anneal. Glue/weld, then anneal. Polish (by flame or machine) then anneal. Of course that’s from acrylic manufacturers and may be conservative/overly cautious. I don’t see hobbyists going to that extent.
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yeah it also depends on how things are being used, an acrylic sign with a little glue is probably never going to need it vs a laser cut piece being used structurally or cut and then glued, etc.
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I have machined a lot of acrylic and only annealed it when it warped. Usually that was if I had taken off a lot of material asymmetrically on the mill. Laser cutting seems to induce an enormous amount of stress right at the cut edge, and I was able to see it cracking when I used a solvent glue. I don’t see any downside to multiple annealling steps though so if you have time it will certainly make your work less brittle.
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What online box generator did you use, and what did you think of it?
I used http://www.makercase.com/
It was ok but i had some issues getting the sizes correct. I had it set to inside measurement, but the first box came out small. I would just suggest double check your sizes before printing.
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They look amazing! I have created my own game for a special group, now I need to create an acrylic box to hold it. Wasn’t sure if the box generator would work with acrylic but thanks to you I am inspired to give a try…TFS
Congratulations on your first paying GF job!
I’m missing something , where is the kerf adjustment in the maker case site ?
awesome box btw.