Mass production - Poker Chip Trays

[Joe Hillmann]

If you are drilling these you don't need to drill 720 holes. If you clamp two of them together, face to face, and drill the holes on the joint every hole you drill will get you 2 coves. So you only have to drill 360 holes + a few extra for mistakes.

[Richard Coers]

Its tedious production work that you should be able to make money on. I did some quick guessing on times and it looks pretty good for selling them for $32.00 each assuming a shop rate of $75.00/hr. You should be able to beat most of the times I've figured in.

Equipment: Good drill press with 6” throw, carbide tipped multi-spur bit, spindle sander plus stock processing equipment.
720 holes at 1 hole per minute = 12 hrs
setup for jigs= 6 hrs
sanding 6 hrs
stock prep 4 hrs
finishing 8 hrs
assembly 4 hrs
cutting outside strips 10 hrs
50 hrs

150 bf 8/4 stock @ 4.00 $600.00
tooling $250.00
Shop labor (50 hrs @ 75.00 3750.00
Total 4600.00
Per unit 32.00

No time allowed to build the jigs for the drill press, table saw, and router. Way short on sanding time (you'll need to sand with at least 3 grits, maybe more. Your time will be used up just changing and cleaning sleeves), way short on assembly time (144 trays in 4 hours is only 1.7 minutes per tray. Remember you will have to be moving parts, gluing, pinning and loading the nail gun), You've only allowed 3.3 minutes per tray for finishing, not many coats of finish and scuff sanding for that amount of time. Once again, remember how you are going to have to stack and move all these trays. You'll need a lot of area to lay them out to dry. You'll need trays or bins to handle all the parts. Does tooling include sand paper sleeves, sleeve cleaner block, sheet sandpaper, glue, and finish? Then add in a $1,400 drill press to get the 6" travel.

[Stew Hagerty]

I didn't notice where you said what the radius of the slots are.

As some have mentioned before, I would hog out the majority of the material either with a dado set or the angled "V" cuts that Dave mentioned:

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

Then, unless you can find the right size round-nose or core-box bits (Whiteside makes a 1" radius), I would have one made. Include the cost in your tooling expense.

[Mel Fulks]

I agree with Mark ,run them in long lengths on shaper or moulder .With KILN dried wood the movement would not be an issue especially in modern climate controlled buildings . If you have to sub that part buy the corg knives on line ,specify M2 steel and specify knives will not be accepted without 5 degree side clearance,some suppliers are lazy about side clearance and without it you will be sanding out burns. Who would want to look at the color shift on the exposed end grain if you run them in the other direction?. And who wants to do all that sanding ? Only issue I see is most moulders only do 8 inches ,but someone near you might have a 12. Shaper would be my preference anyway ,makeing two passes. BUY the knives ,and take them with you .Dont let sub make the knives ,they will charge you ,then keep them.

[Chris Hedges]

I promise you that all is as I have described. I built the ones in the picture! Grain looks totally different when you cut holes in it.

Chris

It looks the opposite in the picture, where the grain runs along the hole. Isn't the grain running the length of the hole in the picture?

[Mark Bolton]

I'm of the belief that the cross grain would not be a problem even with the thin material at the bottom of the flute however if these are actually drilled cross grain (and I believe Chris, as he made them) they will have to be made the same way. Complicates things a bit as far as ease of making.

I would also agree that the timeline posted for making them is extremely optimistic but..

Will be intersting to hear the numbers on the CNC option.

[J.R. Rutter]

Flat sawn grain with growth rings cupped up will give that cross-grain pattern.

Personally, i would be looking for a CNC shop who could flatten and cut flutes in a table-top sized piece. (I might even try to use a thin maple bench top as raw material.) Then cut the parts to size after the whole thing is shaped and sanded. The flute pattern can be varied to allow for a saw kerf every 5 flutes.

If you have the time and a high tolerance for dust, then a router jig that lets the router slide handheld over the top would be how I would do it in house. Basically, you make a trough that a plunge router base fits into, and make a couple of indexing strips - like some square sticks with holes drilled at the flute spacing - and use a dowel pin to locate the trough every time you move it.

[Mel Fulks]

The most time consuming part of the job is sanding and nothing is going to leave as good a surface as a m2 corg knife. That will make sanding easy. I would tell customer changing grain direction is going to work better and look better .

[J.R. Rutter]

The most time consuming part of the job is sanding and nothing is going to leave as good a surface as a m2 corg knife. That will make sanding easy. I would tell customer changing grain direction is going to work better and look better .

Agree - if the long grain is possible. Might not even have to sand the profile other than to scratch it for finish. Also, CNC routers designed for solid wood can run moulder heads and operate with a horizontal arbor. Not nearly as common as a simple point to point though.

[Chris Hedges]

The most time consuming part of the job is sanding and nothing is going to leave as good a surface as a m2 corg knife. That will make sanding easy. I would tell customer changing grain direction is going to work better and look better .

Do the opposing grain direction cause no concern? How do I effectively glue end grain to long grain?

chris

[Myk Rian]

Do the opposing grain direction cause no concern? How do I effectively glue end grain to long grain?

chris

Gorilla glue and pin nails.

[Mark Bolton]

IMO there is a slight risk due only to the very thin portion at the bottom of the flutes but in all honesty with such a small item I would likely just glue it and go.

Cross grain situations are most definitely an issue but look at all the situations where it works. End nosing on a stair tread? These are glued on every day of the week and were talking a 12" tread width. A wide top rail on a cabinet door, again, every day.

It's something to be cautious of but as with anything, can be completely overthought.

[Mark Bolton]

Gorilla glue and pin nails.

Whoa.. How in the heck would you handle the cleanup in all the chip flutes? Yikes. Sounds like a nightmare to me.

[Stephen Cherry]

I promise you that all is as I have described. I built the ones in the picture! Grain looks totally different when you cut holes in it.

Chris

Wow, I guess you learn something new every day.

[Mel Fulks]

Just spot gluing and using several headless pins would be fine after a short clamping period.