makin boxes with tabs that fit together

[emtdonald]

Was wondering if any one knows of a corel draw video that shows how to make boxes with the tab and slots. Such as the tissue box pattern thats on the web site. I have tried to do them but they never come out correct.

[tux_linux]

I hope it's ok if I throw in my knowledge:

Joints and tenons are pretty often used in all kinds of woodworking. These are technics, which need to be made absolute exact and with a lot of precision.

Dovetail joints are the most complicated ones. Woodworker who create furniture are using jigs to get finger joints and dovetail joints into perfect shape. Most times they use routers for this - it's by far the most exact way to get this done.

Do some simple projects to learn them. Try to get the joints, tenons and mortise as exact as you can (saw them a bit smaller and sand them into shape).

I'll post a simple plan for a saw blade holder later (currently working!). It uses grooves and tenons and slots and can be assembled without any clue or screws. Just wood joints. A pretty neat project.

regards
Torsten

[tux_linux]

Sorry, pretty late here in Europe - but here is the pattern: Scroll Saw Blade Holder (PDF)

Please use this one as a guide and create your own pattern to fit the dimension of the wood you will use. All cut outs have to be as width as the wood size is.

For help: it's easy to cut this pattern on paper and to assemble the parts. This way you can easier imaging which part has to fit in another part.

regards
Torsten

[SawTooth]

The answer lies in your cutting on the pattern line vs to one side vs to the other side... and "correct" could depend on the pattern maker.  If you were to cut the slots first,  then outlined them on the tab pattern (to modify the pattern to what you actually cut), keep in mind that the entire outline you draw needs to be kept as the outer border of the tab.  Or you could cut tabs first and outline them and then the line needs to be kept as the border of the slot.

Gary MacKay has published many projects that use the technique and he describes how to do it right for his projects in his magazine articles and box-making book.  My recollection is that he says to cut the first one on the line to remove the line, and for the mating part to keep the line as the border of that part.

Bottom line ( pun is intended!) is that you don't cut both parts on the pattern line.

Spence

PS  In re-reading your question, I now wonder if you wanted the info I gave for cutting tabs/slots, or if you are talking about desire to create patterns... perhaps the answer to that is that the dimensions of tabs should exactly match the slots and in use, the cutter needs to follow the above procedure.

[jimbo]

You are probably looking at finger jointing, similar to tenon joints these can be done by making a simple jig for your bench saw there is plenty of free sites to show you how
Jimbo