Ribbon boxes were something that I had always cut out with a scroll saw. They are quite common in scroll saw work. I thought that it would be a perfect job for the CNC. As it turned out I was able to precisely cut the same parts out with toolpaths from vcarve as I could with a scroll saw, only much easier with a CNC machine. I have done many designs on clocks and jewellery boxes using a process that, by hand, is called “chip carving”. That is an art in itself, which I could never do. I used vcarve software to create my designs for the “chip carving” toolpaths and then a v-bit to create them on my CNC. The bitmap tracing feature in vcarve made the job easy.
It is an enhancement to all the other tools I use. I don’t carve large pieces that require extended run time, nor do I need to place a half sheet of goods under the gantry. CNC machines can take up lots of floor space simply because of the way they operate. In terms of hardware and software its clear to see that Ray is fully equipped to push creative boundaries – and we think he has done this by making the ‘Ribbon Box’… The basic 24x 24 Is the perfect machine for me. I have made ribbon boxes with my scroll saw in the past. This particular one is from a scroll saw pattern book. The shape of the box and the ribbon is really up to individual imagination. The box could be round, oval, or polygon, whatever you like. The flat ribbon strips are best ripped on a table saw. The curved bow pieces do not have to be a definite shape they can be whatever one wants them to look like. They are easily designed with vcarve software. The ribbon box required that layers of contrasting wood be glued and clamped together to represent ribbon.
I get these thin pieces by re-sawing on a bandsaw and then drum sanding to the thickness of. Gluing and clamping must be tight with no gaps. I found that I had better success cutting out if the piece had two days dry time, as the centre was still a bit wet after one day.
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