How does the Box Creator gadget work in VCarve Pro & Aspire for making dovetail boxes?

Overview

The Box Creator gadget creates the vectors and the toolpaths for a dovetailed box. You enter the box size and material thickness, choose which of the six sides you want, and the gadget draws them with angular dovetail joints and calculates the toolpaths for you. The joints are milled from the top of the material, so a regular end mill does the job. No dovetail bit is needed, and no separate Dovetail gadget is needed.

Getting the Gadget

Box Creator is a free download from the gadget library, not part of the default installation. Download it, then use Gadgets menu > Install New Gadget and pick the downloaded file. It then appears in the Gadgets menu. The preinstalled gadgets are Celtic Weave Creator, Dragknife Toolpath, Keyhole Toolpath, Setup Sheet Editor and the Wrapping sub-menu.

Key Settings

Job size and material thickness: set these in Job Setup first. Measure your actual sheet thickness with calipers rather than using the nominal size (for example, 3/4" plywood is often a little under 0.75").

Box dimensions: width, depth and height of the box.

Joint Width: the length of the dovetail.

Allowance: extra clearance so the joint goes together. If it is set to zero the finished box may be too tight to assemble, and the right value also depends on your machine and tool accuracy.

Sides: tick the sides of the box you need. On a smaller machine you can place individual sides on their own layers to make the most of the machinable area. This is also handy when the lid is cut from thicker material.

Tool: the end mill used for the joints.

Joint and lid type: choose from the options on the form.

Workflow

1. Set the appropriate job size and material thickness
2. Gadgets menu > Box Creator
3. Enter the width, depth and height, the joint width and an allowance
4. Select the sides you need and the end mill
5. Choose the joint and lid type and press OK. The toolpaths are calculated automatically
6. Open the Toolpath Preview and check the toolpaths are suitable and positioned correctly
7. Edit the tab location and thickness on the profile cut-out pass so the parts stay held down
8. Save and output the toolpaths

Toolpaths Are Locked to the Layout

The dovetail toolpaths the gadget creates are locked to the layout position. You cannot move the toolpaths to a new position once they are created. Before you press OK, check that the layout fits your material and the machinable area of your machine. If you need a different layout, delete the result and run the gadget again with new settings. Do not drag the panels around and expect the toolpaths to follow, because they will no longer sit on the vectors.

Fitting Tips

• Always cut a test joint in scrap first. The right allowance varies by material, tool and machine.
• Starting points to test on scrap: about 0.01" (0.25 mm) for MDF, a little more for plywood. If a joint is too tight, increase the allowance slightly.
• If the edge length does not divide evenly into the joint width, expect some joints to differ slightly in size. Check the preview.
• Internal corners are rounded because the tool is round. This is physical, not a gadget fault. Use the Dogbone gadgets or the Fillet tool to overcut corners where mating parts must seat fully.
• Solid wood moves across the grain with humidity. Plywood is more stable for boxes, and in solid wood consider letting the top or bottom float.
• You can add 3D clipart or carving to the faces before or after generating the box. The library page mentions decorating surfaces with clipart.

Dovetail Gadgets (For Your Own Designs)

The separate Dovetail gadgets use the same top-down method for parts you draw yourself. They work in two stages.

Stage 1: vectors. Use either Dovetail Detect (finds valid dovetails in vectors you drew yourself and places markers on a layer) or Dovetail Pin Creator (select single straight lines and add pins or tails with an amount, width, depth and angle).

Stage 2: Dovetail Create. Set the depth of the dovetail, the angle, the start cut depth, the cut depth, the cutting allowance (in this form a bigger allowance means a looser joint), the marker layer, the tool and a name for the toolpath. Click OK to create the angled toolpath, then preview it.

When you make the profile cut-out toolpath for the parts, rejoin your vectors with the Join Vectors tool first.

Flat-Part Slot Joints (Manual Method)

For slot-together projects that are not boxes (furniture, puzzles, display stands):

1. Design the individual flat parts as 2D vectors
2. Draw slot vectors at the intersection points. Slot width = material thickness plus allowance. Slot depth = half the part height for same-height parts, or full depth for T-joints
3. Use Pocket toolpaths for slots and Profile toolpaths for outlines
4. Add dogbone or T-bone fillets at interior corners so square tabs can seat fully