Looking to cut a wedge-shape from a block of wood

[Tyler Crumpton]

Hey all! Long-time lurker, but finally created an account!

I came across these arcade control sticks on the internet:

http://i.imgur.com/rYCd2ob.png
http://i.imgur.com/mV5qrrS.png
http://i.imgur.com/X2Qvuq4.png

The website claims that it's "Hand Crafted from solid hardwood", but I'm not sure if that means that it's carved out of a single block or is made from solid boards fastened together.

I want to custom-build one for a friend, and for my purposes, I want to try to cut one from a solid block, if possible.

I'm having trouble figuring out how to cut the slanted parts and bevels. I have access to a few power tools; RAS, table saw, tiny band saw, cheap small planer, a router, a small 40x60cm CNC router, and a bit more. My guess is that something like this would be cut on a large bandsaw, but I'm very new to woodworking and am hoping I can try this out with the tools available to me.

Any thoughts on how to cut the block down to the right shape? I can handle carving out the back and cutting out the holes for buttons, etc, but I'm at a loss as to how to get the block shaped correctly first.

[Lee Schierer]

I'm having trouble figuring out how to cut the slanted parts and bevels. I have access to a few power tools; RAS, table saw, tiny band saw, cheap small planer, a router, a small 40x60cm CNC router, and a bit more. My guess is that something like this would be cut on a large bandsaw, but I'm very new to woodworking and am hoping I can try this out with the tools available to me.

Any thoughts on how to cut the block down to the right shape? I can handle carving out the back and cutting out the holes for buttons, etc, but I'm at a loss as to how to get the block shaped correctly first.

The walnut one looks pretty easy. You just need a router with a 45 degree bevel bit to make the champfers around the bottom.

The black on is a bit harder. Since you have a planer, you can build a sled The sled would be a piece of plywood with a fence on one side to hold the thick edge in place and a shoe on the other side to tilt the block you are planing. You would probably be advised to run 12-18" long pieces through the planer on your sled. The first pass would just remove the corner of the piece that is lifted up by the shoe. Each successive pass would cut the slope a little wider until you reach the desired width.
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[Larry Fox]

Lee's ideas would certainly work well but if it were me I would be inclined to approach this with a hand plane. Lee Valley sells a pretty neat gizmo that attaches to the bottom of their block plane that allows you easily and accurately cut the 45-degree reliefs on the bottom, the rest you can eye.

[Bill Adamsen]

For cutting that primary wedge shape (I had to look at the photos several times to catch it) for just one unit, you could use a hand rip-saw and then sand flat. Keep the board long, and mount vertically in a vise as if cutting a dovetail, just rotate 90°. That would be a nice low-tech "get it done" solution. Bandsaw would probably be the safest and easiest tool. The planing solutions Lee and Larry mention have the advantage of no sanding.

Can't quite tell how all the angles align. Are the sides perpendicular to the bottom? If so, a router (preferably in a table) with a bevel bit would cut the chamfer. Rout the crosscut ends first with either a backer or leave the board wider than finish (tearout), and then do the lengthwise chamfers last. You could also do the chamfer with a tablesaw (easy) or miter/RAS (much more difficult). The reason it would be difficult with the miter/RAS is that the cutting is from the opposite side of the registration, and by the time you do that operation, the piece is wedge shaped. Although that could be a nice math problem to solve. If done with a saw, you'll need to sand the bevels and edges. Easier said than done.

[Myk Rian]

Band saw. Tilt the table the required degrees, and run the stock on edge along the fence, slowly.

[Jim Rimmer]

Lots of good ideas on how to make the shapes you want. But to your original question - are they cut from a solid block? Probably not - if they are, they have to be hollowed out some how and then resealed after the switches, controls, wiring, etc are added.

[Tyler Crumpton]

Thanks everyone for the great ideas! I may try to check out a couple of the ideas if nothing more than to see how different they all are.

Lee, I really like the sled design for the planer. Do you attach the stock to the sled or anything, or just let it ride along?

Larry, I don't own a hand plane, but I've seen a bunch of cool videos with them and might give that a shot for this. I guess I would prop it up like in Lee's suggestion and plane it level? That angled plane-fence looks perfect for the bottom bevels.

Bill, the hand rip saw might not be a bad way to go. If I make markings down board, it's shouldn't be too awful to keep it angled and aligned properly.

Myk, unfortunately, I think that my band saw is a little too small for this; it has about 3-4" of exposed blade and the block would likely be around 8". It definitely seems like a really string way to go otherwise.

Jim, I was thinking that too. I've built a few controllers made from a few boards fastened together with notched joints and glue, and they worked pretty well. I imagine that if they used some sort of miter-joint, they could make it look really solid. I'm no wood expert, so I can't really tell from the photos whether or not the end-grain on the sides makes sense for the cuts or not.

[Art Mann]

If I were going to build this project, I would start out with a single solid block of wood. There are several good ways to bevel the upper surface including those that have already been mentioned. That is the easy part. The trick is going to be hogging out a pocket on the under side (that none of the pictures show) in order to accommodate the switches, joy stick, connector and wiring. I would do that job with my CNC router and since you have access to one, that is how i would suggest you do it. There are other ways to hollow out a pocket but they are more difficult and require more skill to achieve a professional look.

[Tyler Crumpton]

Thanks again for the help everyone! I gave the "sled" and planer idea a shot with some scrap wood, and it looks like it might be the way to go. Here are some photos of the sled and finished piece:

IMG_20141118_211254.jpgIMG_20141118_211230.jpgIMG_20141118_211855.jpg