Mass production - Poker Chip Trays

[Chris Hedges]

I dont normally make this many of anything but got a commision that requires me to make 144 poker chip trays. Drilling out 12 or 14 is no big beal but I have no plans to drill 720 holes. Lets hear some ideas on how you guys would approach this.

Chris

[Myk Rian]

Several passes on a router table with long boards and a bowl cutter bit, taking a little off at a time.
Cut boards to length, and apply the end caps.
It's going to take a while to do this project because of the multiple passes on the RT.

You could also make the channels on the table saw with the stock skewed.

[Philip Rodriquez]

Have a CNC shop do the work for you.

[Richard Coers]

My favorite kind of post. I got a "commision", then it's "help me" with the design or construction methods. I'm always curious how you get a commision without knowing exactly how you will make it. How can you price the job to get that commision? Drilling would be the last way I would make these. No surface quality at all.

[David Hawkins]

What do you have for tools and what horsepower?

[Matt Day]

I would get some wide and long stock and use the RT with a bowl bit. Some 8' maple stock for instance will yield you probably 20 or so chip holders per piece after you cut the routed 8' stock to size.

It's not going to be easy no matter how you do it, but that's mass production. I would think drilling on the DP would leave too rough a surface or burns.

Maybe it's just me, but those pin nails stick out like a sore thumb!

[Jeff Duncan]

I've priced more than my share of jobs without knowing exactly how I'll build them. I'll generally have a couple ideas on how I could do it, and just leave enough wiggle room to figure it out if I get it

As far as how to do this job, there are probably several ways to skin this cat. Drilling would not be something I'd explore. I think my first choice would be running the coves in full length stock on the shaper. Then cut to size and glue up several to make the tray. The sides I'd make a template for and just blast them out on the shaper as well. You could mill all the stock in several hours and then just work on sanding and glue-ups.

Alternatively you could have them done by a shop with a cnc......it just wouldn't be as much fun

good luck,
JeffD

[Glenn Kramer]

Hi,
I'd hog out most of the waste with a dado head, them take a few passes on a RT to get the final finish. An indexiing jig on a table saw sled should minimize positioning chores!

Good luck, Glenn

[David Hawkins]

If you don't have a dado head you could set the blade at a 45; make jig and cut out "V" shaped cuts to lighten up the load on the router

[mreza Salav]

Shaper with a power feed, makes them fairly effortlessly; you can do it with a router table with multiple passes too.
You probably don't even need to join your stock, just plane to same thickness as they will be cut to such a small pieces.

[Bill Huber]

I don't know but the bowl bits I have are flat on the bottom and these need to be round.

[david brum]

Just throwing something out there: What about a table saw moulding cutter like this one? Click on the tiny picture next to the black profile of the cutter. You could cut the long channels pretty quickly and easily, provided that you were diligent about proper hold down, etc. Used moulding heads sell for a song these days, with the Delta heads being preferred.

[Larry Fox]

Shaper with a power feed

+1 This is exactly what I was thinking as I read the post. If you have the spindle length and horsepower for it you might be able to stack several large fluting cutters on top of each other with a spacer between for the separator and cut a long run of them, cut to length, and apply the ends. Should be fairly straight forward. With all due respect to those who suggested it, given the diameter of a standard poker chip I don't think this is the work for a router table - I think you are into shaper territory.

[Mike Goetzke]

If you don't have a dado head you could set the blade at a 45; make jig and cut out "V" shaped cuts to lighten up the load on the router

This is what I was thinking too but maybe use the BS? Also, I don't have one but could you use a coarse paper on an oscillating spindle sander?

[Joe Hillmann]

Using the tools in my shop there are two ways I would try making these.

If I wanted the center piece to be made from a single piece I would rough the blank out with a band saw, then using a jig on the table saw cove cut them to the final size and shape, then sand them with a proper sized sanding drum on the late or drill press.

If I didn't mind joints in the center piece I would do what Myk Rain suggested but I would use two passes on the table saw to cut a V out of the center of the board then do several passes with a cove cut to get the right shape. When doing the cove cut I would make sure the fence was clamped very well, and would use at least two feather boards to hold the board down to the table and another two to hold it to the fence. Once all the covering was made I would cut it into 3 foot pieces, glue 5 of the coves together then using a cross cut sled cut them to width. I would probably do final clean up with a beltsander and a sanding drum