Don't feel too bad. I just finished a Calc 3 course so it is a little fresh in my mind. I could've brought up partial derivatives or triple integration for volumes. I think I will have nightmares about those problems for a long time.
I guess the idea of making a box just cause you've got some scraps just doesn't appeal to me. I tend to make things I can use or to give away, not just for the sake of using algebraic equations to maximise the use of scrap wood.
To each their own.
John Emmons
It's a nice way to teach a lot of things when you're working with a shop class. Calculus is not one of them, however.
I would not call a 7" wide by 60" long piece of cherry scrap. The system is to eliminate scrap. But at times, the dimension of the box are not all that critical. If you want a "catch all" for your bureau, what is the big deal if it is 10 x 6 or if it is 9 1/2 x 5 3/4 as long as it looks reasonably proportional?
If you feel it is worth a 90 mile drive to get the exact dimension, feel free to do so. When I buy wood for a project I always get a little extra. This is a good way to utilize that top grade wood so it does not become scrap.
To each their own.
I think that should be "To eaches their owns" or "To each his/her own" : )
But I digress.
What if the board you have is a special board - one with a very nice, unusual grain pattern and you want to make a coherent, wrap around grained box? I had a wild grained oak board I'd cut from a fallen branch on a friend's ranch. The grain pattern was unusual enough to warrant a name - The Van Gogh Board because of the frenetic, contrasting wavy grain pattern.
Alas, the top didn't look right so I went with a sycamore top.
charlie b
Sorry Charlie. Some of my posts are not getting through. I answered there. For max volume, two of th cuts have to be equal to the width. The other four pieces should be of equal length for max volume.
Quite. I do get my jollies from squeezing every last chip from lumber. So far, 4.8 bf of 5/4 ash has yielded: 28" frame resaw, 28" frame saw, stair saw, panel gauge, huge mallet, drill press fence (check on the end, useless for anything else), a couple pair of bar gauge heads, and just today, a skew rabbet plane. I'm down to 1 piece ~9.5" x ~1" x 5/4". I'll think of something...
Oh, and I used a Rockler coupon for the ash, 20% off..
I ran into the same thing tonight...
That's noted on the page I posted where I wrote "The only graphic I have a full version of is the one below at the right."
I only have one full sized image of the board plan. That is linked.
The other images are not linked. Sorry, but I won't be making any effort to rectify that.
djb
A little different spin on things...
While I can appreciate wanting to not waste any wood I'd be concerned that the aesthetics of the box would suffer by simply maximizing the dimensions and volume of the box via a maximization formula. Personally I'd rather "waste" some wood and end up with something that looks "right" than end up with no waste.
What is needed is a maximization formula that incorporates the golden mean in the dimensions of all faces of the box... ;-)
John
Ah... therein lies the problem. When I saw all the dead links I didn't bother reading the page as I figured it wouldn't make sense if I couldn't view the graphics!
John
The missing graphics are pictures of the box the author made and are not critical to the technique nor particularly illustrative.
If posting the page is of no value, please let me know and I'll pull it and save the disk space on the server as well as the bandwidth. No problem.
Thank you, Dave! This is the precise page I was looking for. I appreciate the trouble you went to getting that page up.
Thanks also to Charlie B who took the time to email me his solution. It is interesting to compare the two slightly different solutions.
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