Dice Tower Design Decisions

After fooling with the TowerAndBase4 model today, I've decided that a little bit of sanding to fit isn't a bad thing. Trying to machine things ultra-precisely, or more likely a bit loose to ease assembly, could lead to fit that's either way too tight (endangering the MDF) or too loose (requiring filling). Looseness, while not a big deal in MDF where we're going to do ugly gap filling before putting on pretty paint (Note to self: pick up a can of gloss red), would be a lot worse when we start doing these in prettier hardwoods.

Dad's idea is a good one: essentially to glue up panels out of ~3" wide 1/2" boards and make the sides from those. It's a very small leap to add a walnut "racing stripe" or something similar. I wonder whether the jointer can be gotten back into any sort of shape to make those glue joints better. Time to invite Ken Spontelli over to the shop? ;-)

Good day in the shop. Looking forward to tomorrow.

One Piece Dice Tower, 1/2" v1

I modified the design of the 1/2" MDF dice tower to include an integrated tray. I'll make them both ways, show them off, and see which is more popular.

It worth noting something I just discovered while looking at the toolpath preview in VCarve. The way the drawing is done right now is fine for MDF, but when we start using wood, we'll need to rearrange the parts so that the grain runs the same way on all the pieces.

Dice Tower, 1/2", v4

TowerAndBase4.skf is the 1/2" dice tower with slightly shortened ramps to allow a little more clearance for larger dice. The tray is also reduced in height from the prototype.