← Back to context

Comment by cweagans

3 years ago

CNC sounds like kind of a bad fit unless you're going to mill the entire frame out of a solid piece of wood -- you'd lose a lot of material to the router bit and still have to do a fair amount of finishing by hand. For mitered joints like this, there are computerized saws that can feed and cut the lumber pretty precisely, but those are very expensive.

I'm not super clear on whether or not you're doing all of this by hand or working through a factory. If it's the latter, I would recommend just setting your expectations for the final product very clearly and then make sure that the end product is meeting those expectations. If you're doing it by hand, practice makes perfect! Go to your local lumber yard store and get some construction grade pine or fir boards and cut several dozen miters by hand (you can also invest in a compound miter saw -- that's generally useful for any woodworking that you'd want to do down the road as well and you can find them used for ~dozens of dollars or brand new for ~100-500 depending on features, size, power, etc -- just make sure you've got a good, sharp blade with lots of teeth for a nice smooth cut). You'll get the hang of it. For soft woods, clamping pressure and even glue distribution matters too -- you can clamp them a little tighter and the wood fibers at the boundaries between the boards will crush down a bit and help to even out the joint. That doesn't work so well with hardwoods though - you'll have to be pretty precise to get those done right.

Depending on the thickness of your wood, you might be able to do something with a laser cutter, but you'll need to figure out how to square up the edges appropriately (since laser cut edges on thicker lumber are rarely perfectly square).

If you're particularly lucky, you might be able to find somewhere that will give you some time on a water jet. Those edges will be perfectly square and everything will be cut perfectly -- just make sure to thoroughly dry your parts before assembly.

Hey, thank you for that comment. Those are really good tips regarding the woodworking. I'll look into one of these miter saws.

  • Frame making is actually more complicated than it seems, it's not enough to just make one mitered cut on four pieces and call it a day (if you want it to look good / fit well). It's certainly a learnable trade, but more complicated than just butting four square pieces together with glue. If I were you I'd stick with what you have working now, unless your current process is significantly time-consuming or costly.

    As for the look, see if you can make the wood grain go the same direction for the entire frame, rather than the grain changing from vertical to horizontal. Should make it look more attractive. To expand the appearance from there, you can sand it down and apply different oils, stains and paints.

  • Sure thing! Feel free to reach out (email in profile) if you get stuck or want input on something. Woodworking (and especially woodworking with tech inside) is one of my favorite hobbies and I'm glad to share what I know when I can :)