Scratch ™ - the wonder construction material. The kit is a zillion 2cm ply cubes, a set of formica sheets and some glue.
Using a flat formica sheet cubes and glue you can make a table top, using the 90 degree angled formica sheet you can make the legs for it, then fix the legs on in your preferred manner. You could also make a chair, a wardrobe (although I don't have any robes...) You could, with a big enough mould make a house, or a car.
What's the advantage - no sawing, which is a pain (sometimes literally) and every time someone says "I made this from scratch" I get some free advertising...
And yes I did take a look at Blank Wooden Building Blocks [blahginger]-- random_patenter_syndrome_victim, Dec 12 2009 Not entirely unrelated for some http://www.youtube....watch?v=CorOfxWfTU8 [zeno, Dec 13 2009] A wise man once said that one shouldn't bun without commenting. Therefore, i shall say that i approve, but would it sag?-- nineteenthly, Dec 12 2009 Add some electronics, and you could build a computer.-- ldischler, Dec 12 2009 With blocks of ice and water for glue, an igloo.-- ldischler, Dec 12 2009 There's a viagra joke in their somewhere. But, I digress. Shouldn't do as the it has grain going in multiple directions, maybe shear might be a problem. If someone wanted to make sure of it they would align all the cubes with the majority grain running along along the longest side, if you see what I mean...-- random_patenter_syndrome_victim, Dec 12 2009 I think bricks might be prior art.-- ldischler, Dec 12 2009 Hi ldischler, I'm working on a wooden pc case as we speak (type?)..how did you know? <Looks for hidden camera> There's some of my blood on the case from a sawing accident, so maybe that's where I got the aversion to saws. You could say it's a saw point...
I suppose Scratch ™ white ply cubes for the Inuit market would be good, as it woodn't melt...wood you believe it...ahem-- random_patenter_syndrome_victim, Dec 12 2009 I think "Blank Wooden Building Blocks [blahginger]" got all the flack for basically coming up with something like bricks.
Bricks are not made out of wood, they lack grain, they are not they cubical and I wouldn't want a picture frame made out of bricks. So, there are a few differences.
Heard some miserable bugger saying "there's no such thing as a free lunch" and I refrained from pointing out the sun (the free source of all our food), bricks (which would be a complete devil to make if there was no such thing as clay) blah blah blah-- random_patenter_syndrome_victim, Dec 12 2009 They could still be made of MDF and have a grain veneer. They could also have matching grain.-- nineteenthly, Dec 12 2009 "They could still be made of MDF and have a grain veneer"
I'm not quite sure what you mean..
If that was why just not the whole thing out of MDF then -" Very true...but..I was making a pc case out of MDF and that dust!!!! It's unbelievable bad on the lungs..so I'm kind of averse to anything that involves sawing up MDF. I think it would have to be veneered, as MDF ain't exactly pretty, but MDF is difficult to veneer onto. I was using iron-on veneer and it didn't really work out. I think it's the resin in it, it makes it too smooth. I'm sure in a huge factory then can just press it on, but for you and me, out in the back yard or shed, it's not easy."
If that was the cubes themselves could be made out of MDF with veneering then " Could be done, but then it'd have to be on at least one side, to get a joined up veneer, or two sided for top and bottom, but then what about the outer edges? If you go for all six sides then lot of the veneer is going to be out of sight, which seems a shame as veneer is pretty and I found veneer to be very difficult to stick onto MDF, so there's the risk it might delaminate and it's make the item a lot weaker"
...why didn't I just wait for you clarification and I'd save myself all this RSI, klutz that I am..-- random_patenter_syndrome_victim, Dec 12 2009 I love the idea of anything with wood, but I must vote against formica and/or particle board. Nothing personal, just artistic preferences.-- normzone, Dec 12 2009 MDF is nasty stuff that ought to be destroyed in some way which definitely doesn't involve burning.
Concerning the veneer though, i was considering something like a linoleum surface with printed grain which sort of fades into another grain and matches up. Either that or it could constitute subtle clues as to how to assemble a piece of furniture, so for example you could stick bits onto the cubes so they'd match and you'd be able to assemble a chair or table without a plan.
Having said that, MDF or anything similar is probably best just forgotten about. Aren't there some woods without inconvenient grain? What about Araucaria? I heard that was pretty unwoodlike wood.-- nineteenthly, Dec 12 2009 How would you clamp it all together while the glue is curing? If you have N blocks, there are at least 3N degrees of freedom to go horribly horribly wrong.
If you include in the design small holes centered on each face of each cube, and use little dowels to hold everything in alignment, you might have a fighting chance of producing something that doesn't look like a failed abortion.-- afinehowdoyoudo, Dec 12 2009 Did my anno get deleted? Ah well, i thought i was helping. 'Bye then!-- nineteenthly, Dec 12 2009 I didn't see your anno, was cooking some curry..
" Either that or it could constitute subtle clues as to how to assemble a piece of furniture"
Good idea, some kind of furniture jigsaw...and a lot easier to follow than those apparently machine translation instructions that seem to come with Chinese stuff..
"but I must vote against formica" I agree, in this case the formica is just being using as a mould, cos it's non-stick to most glues...-- random_patenter_syndrome_victim, Dec 12 2009 A wood pc case? Not easy. There has been talk of that before on the halfbakery and I offered my services then as I do now. I would make this for you for the lowest possible price, just let me know and send me specific drawing. //end selfpromotion\\
I like that you're doing it yourself though. On the subject of veneering: veneering without a large heated press or any other professional (sp?) equipment is not that difficult at all.
Take board (mdf, particle board, multiplex or even solid wood) apply white wood glue on both sides, add veneer on both sides, add an extra board on both sides, stack books on top if this pile and let dry for 24 hours.
Alternative: Take board, apply glue and let dry for an hour or so. Put veneer on glued and dried surface, iron the veneer. repeat on other side.
Note: always put veneer on both sides to prevent warping.
For furter tips and help, email me at arjan42 at gmail.com. If you like.
As for the idea: putting stuff together from blocks of wood or anything else just doesn't work like that. The alignment will be the problem.-- zeno, Dec 13 2009 I agree with the general sentiment that keeping the blocks aligned is the main problem.
I think a better modular woodwork design would be rectangular rods with a tongue & groove joint along the entire length of each side. The rods would slide together and be secured with dowel rods in regularly spaced holes.-- xaviergisz, Dec 13 2009 "I think a better modular woodwork design would be rectangular rods with a tongue & groove joint along the entire length of each side. The rods would slide together and be secured with dowel rods in regularly "
That's interesting...I think if that's a kit to make a specific product, like a chair, then print that outline on the wood as it might end up a bit "insert dowel 22 into slat 397" otherwise. But you still have to be sawing something. Anyway, go market it and when you're in your gold-plated Rolls-Royce some day, remember your old mates on halfbakery...
I'm not sure I understand the alignment comments, I would use the formica mould sheets to make sure it's all square and level, but there is also the option of a random block direction to give a pleasingly random surface, or arranged in groups of (for example) four to make a checker-board effect..handy for chess-boards.-- random_patenter_syndrome_victim, Dec 13 2009 "Not entirely unrelated for some....Sawstop" Don't look cheap to me, and it's still sawing stuff up.
I would have gone for the trained termites option myself..although knitting all those matching "Team Termite" sweaters for them would be a little fiddly..-- random_patenter_syndrome_victim, Dec 13 2009 More on the alignment topic. You propose a zillion little blocks, piled up on a flexible sheet of formica. This pile will not stay straight and square and without gaps between the blocks. No. It will slip and slide and the rows and columns will tumble into a heap of falling-over mess. And then you apply glue? Please. Besides, I think that the most interesting shapes would be necessarily be ones that have a flat face wider than anything else on the part. So there needs to be some method of holding the blocks together and in the correct position while the glue cures. Sorry about the crude idiom earlier BTW-- afinehowdoyoudo, Dec 13 2009 "into a heap of falling-over mess. And then you apply glue? " Well, possibly more profitable as you could sell it as modern art.
I didn't actually intend the formica sheet to be flexibile...as you point out it would make a pretty poor moulding surface..
"you might have a fighting chance of producing something that doesn't look like a failed abortion."
Don't worry about it, I always find it more worrying when people agree with me...also, wouldn't that be a successful abortion? I mean, if the abortion fails then you get a child?-- random_patenter_syndrome_victim, Dec 13 2009 If the abortion fails, you get something that could have been a child, if not for the damage.. the sort of thing that you hide away in the attic and don't talk about-- afinehowdoyoudo, Dec 13 2009 "the sort of thing that you hide away in the attic and don't talk about"
So that's why I'm up here in the attic! Shades of HP Lovecraft..-- random_patenter_syndrome_victim, Dec 14 2009 Well, I was thinking Robertson Davies.. or some cheesy faux-horror like the prequel to Ginger Snaps.. But in any case, it is morbidly misanthropic to exclude the damaged from humanity, even if it is meant in jest. I beg the forbearance of all gentle bakers.. please chalk it up to a channeling of the prick-ly spirit of U-know-who.
Digressions aside.. what would this actually be good for? The resulting product would be weak and heavy and noticeably pixellated. Or rather, voxellated.-- afinehowdoyoudo, Dec 20 2009 How about, if you make the blocks with holes in the center of each face, that go all the way through the block. That is, three holes each mutually perpendicular. Then you could use wooden dowels of various lengths - little short stubbies for placing the blocks side-by-each, or longer ones for spanning longer gaps where you don't want to use all blocks. It would be very similar to TinkerToys, but bigger and on a 3D Cartesian grid rather than the polar coordinate system employed by TT's. You would probably want three or six little setscrews in each block to lock dowels in place. For furniture applications you could cover your coffee table or wardrobe or whatever with cardboard or coroplast or plexiglas or construction paper or fabric or even plywood..-- afinehowdoyoudo, Jan 29 2010 random, halfbakery