BoxMaker: A free tool for creating boxes using tabbed construction

version 0.96 - 24 Apr 2017

Original box maker by Elliot White - http://www.twot.eu/111000/111000.html
Heavily modified by Paul Hutchison

About

This tool is designed to simplify and speed up process of making practical boxes using a laser cutter (though it can be used with any CNC cutter) to prepare the pieces.

The tool works by generating a drawing of the pieces of the box with the tab and hole size corrected to account for the kerf (width of cut), these pieces are composed of sides, each side being a discreet object, to move a piece in the drawing the edges need to be grouped together.

Release Notes

So far no serious bugs( i.e causing runtime errors ) have been found. The program works with python versions 2.6.5, 2.6.7 and 2.7.2, other version have not yet been tried except python 2.5.1 which fails with a syntax error.

Version 0.94 has been tried on windows XP, windows 7, Ubuntu and Mac OS X with no serious problems ( the live preview works most of the time but can be flaky).

Only crude input checking has been implemented in the program but as the only output is a drawing the worst that can happen is a messed up picture ( control-Z cures that problem ).

Donate

Any donations will be gratefully received and help me spend more time on laser cutter tools like this:

To do

• Tidy the code - it is rough and unpythonic. Needs some work by a master Python guru.
• Improve program documentation. Improve input checking to restrict values to correct solutions.
• [Schroff] Maybe replace the somewhat obscure collection of Schroff rail input data with a dropdown box listing well-documented rail types (Vector, Z-rails, whatever it is that Elby sells, others?)
• [Schroff] Add support for multiple mounting holes per rail where possible (this would definitely make the previous todo item worthwhile)
• [Schroff] Add support for 6U row height

Use - regular tabbed boxes

The interface is pretty self explanatory, the extension is 'Tabbed Box Maker' in the 'Laser Tools' group ( hopefully more tools will soon{ish} join it ).

In order of appearance:

• Unit - unit of measurement used for drawing

• Box Dimensions: Inside/Outside - whether the box dimensions are internal or external

• Length; Width; Height - the box dimensions

• Minimum/Preferred Tab Width - the size of the tabs used to hold the pieces together

• Tab Width: Fixed/Proportional - for fixed the tab width is the value given in the Tab
  Width, for proportional the side of a piece is divided
  equally into tabs and 'spaces' with the tabs size
  greater or equal to the Tab Width setting

• Tab Style - there are three styles of tabs avaiable:

  • XY Symmetrix - each piece is symmetric in both the X and Y axes
  • Rotate Symmetric ("waffle block") - each piece is symmetric under a 180-degree rotation
    (and 90 degrees if that piece is square)
  • Antisymmetric - tabs on opposite sides go in opposite directions

• Tab Dimple Height - the height of the dimple to add to the side of each tab, 0 for no dimple

• Tab Dimple Tip Width - the width of the tip of the dimple; dimples are trapezoid shaped with
  45-degree sides; using a dimple tip width of 0 gives a triangular dimple

• Material Thickness - as it says

• Kerf - this is the width of the cut ( e.g for 3mm acrylic on an epilog cutter this is
  approximately 0.25mm )

• Clearance - this value is subtracted from the kerf in cases where you deliberately want
  slightly slacker joints ( usually zero )

• Layout - controls how the pieces are laid out in the drawing

• Box Type - this allows you to choose how many jointed sides you want. Options are:

  • Fully enclosed (6 sides)
  • One side open (LxW) - one of the Length x Width panels will be omitted
  • Two sides open (LxW and LxH) - two adjacent panels will be omitted
  • Three sides open (LxW, LxH, HxW) - one of each panel omitted
  • Opposite ends open (LxW) - an open-ended "tube" with the LxW panels omitted
  • Two panels only (LxW and LxH) - two panels with a single joint down the Length axis

• Dividers (Length axis) - use this to create additional LxH panels that mount inside the box
  along the length axis and have finger joints into the side panels
  and slots for Width dividers to slot into

  • Note: dividers only work properly when using XY-symetric tabs

• Dividers (Width axis) - use this to create additional WxH panels that mount inside the box
  along the width axis and have finger joints into the side panels
  and slots for Length dividers to slot into

• Key the dividers into - this allows you to choose if/how the dividers are keyed into the sides of the box. Options are:

  • None - no keying, dividers will be free to slide in and out
  • Walls - dividers will only be keyed into the side walls of the box
  • Floor/Ceiling - dividers will only be keyed into the top/bottom of the box
  • All Sides

• Space Between Parts - how far apart the pieces are in the drawing produced

• Live Preview - you may need to turn this off when changing tab style, box type, or layout

Use - Schroff enclosures

Much the same as for regular enclosures, except some options are removed, and some others are added. If you're using Elby rails, all you'll need to do is specify:

• Depth

• Number of 3U rows

• Row width in TE/HP units (divide rail length by 5.08mm/0.2")

• If multiple rows, inter-row spacing

Installation

Boxmaker.inx, Schroffmaker.inx and Boxmaker.py need to be put in the inkscape extensions folder generally in:

...\Inkscape\share\extensions

or linux:

usr/.../Inkscape/share/extensions

(NOTE: you need to make boxmaker.py executable)

Version History

version, Date, Notes
--------, ------, --------
0.5, ( 9 Oct 2011), beta
0.7, (24 Oct 2011), first release
0.8, (26 Oct 2011), basic input checking implemented
0.86, (19 Dec 2014), updates to allow different box types and internal dividers
0.86a, (23 June 2015), Updated for compatibility with Inkscape 0.91
0.87, (28 July 2015), Schroff enclosure add-on
0.93, (21 Sept 2015), Updated versioning to match original author's updated v0.91 plus adding my 0.02
0.93a, (21 Sept 2015), Added hairline line thickness option for Epilog lasers
0.94, (4 Jan 2017), Divider keying options
0.95, (20 Apr 2017), Added optional dimples on tabs
0.96, (24 Apr 2017), Orthogonalized box type, layout, tab style; added rotate-symmetric tabs