Cube in a Cube Lansing MI

Cube In A Cube

“I'm a carver. I've always admired whittled curiosities like balls trapped inside a cage, but never wanted to spend the time to make them. I figured there must be some way to make a similar object with a drill press. Kids play with it like a toy, but it drives adults nuts. They think it's a puzzle. They're sure there's some way to get the little cube out of the big cube. You can't.”

Step1.
Crosscut a 3x3x14-in. blank into four cubes. Solid wood is best, so it doesn't look like you put the little cube in the big cube by gluing parts together. Three-in. table-leg stock works well, but you can make the cubes from 2-1/2 in. or smaller stock if you want.

Step 2.                                                                    
Mark centerlines on one face. Mark one corner of every face with a small X. You'll be drilling each hole more than one time.The X's will help register the cube in the same orientation on the drill press.

Step 3.                                                                    
Set your drill press to run at its slowest speed. Arrange the belts so the smallest diameter drive pulley turns the idler pulley. Connect the idler to the largest diameter spindle pulley.

Step 4.                                                                  
Set up your drill press with a 2 in. Forstner bit. (Use a smaller bit with a smaller block.) Position a fence and stop block so the bit drills exactly in the cube's center. Drill one hole about 1/16-in. deep.

Step 5.                                           
Set the bit's depth of cut. Draw a line from the point where a diagonal intersects the hole you made. Adjust the drill press so the bit stops about 1/16 in. above this line. This method works for any size cube and any size hole. (I've drawn the inner cube so you can see how this works.)

Step 6.
Drill holes in the end-grain sides first.

Click here to read the rest of the article from American Woodworker