Well, maybe 'perfect' is a bit extreme. I'd like to make some simple
"Soma cube style" puzzles. Many of them are constructed by glueing
together smaller cubes into varying configurations.

What I need is to learn how to make small wooden cubes. Clearly, the
accuracy of the cuts needn't be microprecision, but that's no excuse for
sloppiness.

Can anyone recommend a book or two that details this information? Or
perhaps you can just give me a tip or two?

Thanks!

Jack

mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net wrote:
Well, maybe 'perfect' is a bit extreme. I'd like to make some simple
"Soma cube style" puzzles. Many of them are constructed by glueing
together smaller cubes into varying configurations.

What I need is to learn how to make small wooden cubes. Clearly, the
accuracy of the cuts needn't be microprecision, but that's no excuse for
sloppiness.

How big is "small"? Assuming it's not too tiny, you might try something
like the following:

Mill face and edge flat and square to each other (jointer, hand plane, etc).

Rip strips that are a bit oversize, then run through a planer once on
face and once on edge to get uniform thickness. You should now have a
long strip with a square cross section.

Cut to length on a CMS using a stop block for repeatability and a
sacrificial backer to avoid tearout. A sharp crosscut blade will give
very smooth cuts.

Chris

What I need is to learn how to make small wooden cubes.

I can't say I've ever made small wooden cubes before, perfect or
otherwise, and I don't think I've ever seen a cube-making book, but
I'll share my idea for how I'd attempt this anyway. Say you wanted 1"
cubes... I'd plane stock to 1" thick, then rip 1" strips of that as
accurately as you can given the saws in your shop. Then I'd probably
use a hand saw (dovetail or japanese) to crosscut those strips into
cubes, or possibly a CMS if you have one you trust. The Veritas Right
Angle Saw Guide might help here if you're going the quiet route. If
size is flexible, than make cubes to whatever size stock you have
planed flat and handy, i.e. 3/4" cubes if you have a lot of that. Does
this help at all, or were you trying to get ideas for a really unique
or simple way to make these?
Andy

mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net wrote:

Well, maybe 'perfect' is a bit extreme. I'd like to make some simple
"Soma cube style" puzzles. Many of them are constructed by glueing
together smaller cubes into varying configurations.

What I need is to learn how to make small wooden cubes. Clearly, the
accuracy of the cuts needn't be microprecision, but that's no excuse for
sloppiness.

Can anyone recommend a book or two that details this information? Or
perhaps you can just give me a tip or two?

Thanks!

Jack

Make a rectangular prism and then use a stop block to cut it into equal
sized cubes.

Dave

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 08:36:18 -0700, "mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net"
"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote:

Well, maybe 'perfect' is a bit extreme. I'd like to make some simple
"Soma cube style" puzzles. Many of them are constructed by glueing
together smaller cubes into varying configurations.

What I need is to learn how to make small wooden cubes. Clearly, the
accuracy of the cuts needn't be microprecision, but that's no excuse for
sloppiness.

Can anyone recommend a book or two that details this information? Or
perhaps you can just give me a tip or two?

The only thing I'll add to the other replies is that when gluing them
up to make the shapes you'll probably end up with having to glue end
grain, and given that you'd want the unconnected sides to look the
best you'd probably try to orient them with as much end grain to end
grain as possible. I'd probably reinforce those joints with dowels.

Unless you're going to do some kind of treatment to all the edges of
the cubes you can always cut yourself some 1x2 and 1x3 pieces to cut
down on the number of joints.


-Leuf

First you need a perfect margarita lolol
"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" "mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote
in message . ..
Well, maybe 'perfect' is a bit extreme. I'd like to make some simple "Soma
cube style" puzzles. Many of them are constructed by glueing together
smaller cubes into varying configurations.

What I need is to learn how to make small wooden cubes. Clearly, the
accuracy of the cuts needn't be microprecision, but that's no excuse for
sloppiness.

Can anyone recommend a book or two that details this information? Or
perhaps you can just give me a tip or two?

Thanks!

Jack

I'm not sure how small I would need them. It depends on the puzzle. I
don't think I'd ever need cubes smaller than 1/2" in length, and more
likely it would be at least 1" in length.

Chris Friesen wrote:
mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net wrote:

Well, maybe 'perfect' is a bit extreme. I'd like to make some simple
"Soma cube style" puzzles. Many of them are constructed by glueing
together smaller cubes into varying configurations.

What I need is to learn how to make small wooden cubes. Clearly, the
accuracy of the cuts needn't be microprecision, but that's no excuse
for sloppiness.


How big is "small"? Assuming it's not too tiny, you might try something
like the following:

Mill face and edge flat and square to each other (jointer, hand plane,
etc).

Rip strips that are a bit oversize, then run through a planer once on
face and once on edge to get uniform thickness. You should now have a
long strip with a square cross section.

Cut to length on a CMS using a stop block for repeatability and a
sacrificial backer to avoid tearout. A sharp crosscut blade will give
very smooth cuts.

Chris

That sounds like it would work. Like I said, real precision wouldn't be
needed, but these burr-style puzzles work best when there isn't much slack.

Andy wrote:

What I need is to learn how to make small wooden cubes.


I can't say I've ever made small wooden cubes before, perfect or
otherwise, and I don't think I've ever seen a cube-making book, but
I'll share my idea for how I'd attempt this anyway. Say you wanted 1"
cubes... I'd plane stock to 1" thick, then rip 1" strips of that as
accurately as you can given the saws in your shop. Then I'd probably
use a hand saw (dovetail or japanese) to crosscut those strips into
cubes, or possibly a CMS if you have one you trust. The Veritas Right
Angle Saw Guide might help here if you're going the quiet route. If
size is flexible, than make cubes to whatever size stock you have
planed flat and handy, i.e. 3/4" cubes if you have a lot of that. Does
this help at all, or were you trying to get ideas for a really unique
or simple way to make these?
Andy

I'm not as concerned about the overall strength, since these would be
for simple puzzles. But given that people DO often try to 'force'
puzzles, pushing and pulling when they shouldn't, maybe it would be more
prudent for me to consider reinforcing the connections.

Thanks!

Leuf wrote:

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 08:36:18 -0700, "mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net"
"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote:


Well, maybe 'perfect' is a bit extreme. I'd like to make some simple
"Soma cube style" puzzles. Many of them are constructed by glueing
together smaller cubes into varying configurations.

What I need is to learn how to make small wooden cubes. Clearly, the
accuracy of the cuts needn't be microprecision, but that's no excuse for
sloppiness.

Can anyone recommend a book or two that details this information? Or
perhaps you can just give me a tip or two?


The only thing I'll add to the other replies is that when gluing them
up to make the shapes you'll probably end up with having to glue end
grain, and given that you'd want the unconnected sides to look the
best you'd probably try to orient them with as much end grain to end
grain as possible. I'd probably reinforce those joints with dowels.

Unless you're going to do some kind of treatment to all the edges of
the cubes you can always cut yourself some 1x2 and 1x3 pieces to cut
down on the number of joints.


-Leuf

mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net wrote:
I'm not as concerned about the overall strength, since these would be
for simple puzzles. But given that people DO often try to 'force'
puzzles, pushing and pulling when they shouldn't, maybe it would be more
prudent for me to consider reinforcing the connections.

Thanks!

Leuf wrote:

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 08:36:18 -0700, "mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net"
"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote:


Well, maybe 'perfect' is a bit extreme. I'd like to make some simple
"Soma cube style" puzzles. Many of them are constructed by glueing
together smaller cubes into varying configurations.

What I need is to learn how to make small wooden cubes. Clearly, the
accuracy of the cuts needn't be microprecision, but that's no excuse
for sloppiness.

Can anyone recommend a book or two that details this information? Or
perhaps you can just give me a tip or two?


The only thing I'll add to the other replies is that when gluing them
up to make the shapes you'll probably end up with having to glue end
grain, and given that you'd want the unconnected sides to look the
best you'd probably try to orient them with as much end grain to end
grain as possible. I'd probably reinforce those joints with dowels.

Unless you're going to do some kind of treatment to all the edges of
the cubes you can always cut yourself some 1x2 and 1x3 pieces to cut
down on the number of joints.


-Leuf

No cutting ideas but for a puzzle to start with, try
http://www.geocities.com/dnehen/soma/soma.htm
Joe