Made some progress today!
Had a successful cut of what will become a bee hive box (Warre). The finger joints need a bit of work but pretty good.
My goal is to cut all the parts in a single run from a piece of 8x10 rough pine board. Still a little irregular as it cuts nearer to the edge.
Looks great! Nice work
Thanks for the post, this is very exciting for all of us. Lurkers…
Did you use a 1/8 in cutting bit? Can you tell me more about the box joints - fit etc.
Also you mentioned you were trying to cut it on a single board, you stack other boards up next to it to support the machine as it was cutting ? Or was it hanging over the edge?
Hi,
I used a 1/4" compression bit - cut is clean but these things are loud!! Sounds like a happy banshee on a joyride.
The fit needs work; I used Estlcam and added corner over cuts and generally this allowed for the fingers to join pretty well but there are some corners where the overcut was not completed in full leaving a curve that prevents the pieces forming together. Not the end of the world - will file the corners. It’s for a beehive and I’ve found they don’t care for perfect corners!
I had a couple of failed cuts when the board was by itself and the cuts were within around 50mm of the edge. The supporting boards fixed this. I also found that the fitness ramped up from ~60 to ~80 when using the boards vs. the underlying ply for calibration.
frank.
Looks darn good!
Looks fantastic, Frank! Thanks for sharing!
That’s fantastic! I was thinking about building more warre hives when I got the CNC. Cool to see someone already marking it work 
My wife keeps bees and we have (cruder) Warre hives.
What is the purpose of the removable panel with the two handles on it? The screws are on the inside and obstructed by the comb so unless you give the bees tiny little screwdrivers I don’t see how it could come out.
You went to a lot of trouble to add that feature so I’m sure it has a purpose.
Ah I see. Thanks.
