Cork Board Project

I made it at the TechShop (www.techshop.ws) in Menlo Park.

 

The final project (main image shows a prototype) requires a large number of wine-bottle corks to be cut transversely into two nearly equal lengths. To avoid cutting them individually, this stage involves building a jig to allow 50 corks to be cut in one operation.

 

The corks are about 1 7/8” long by 7/8” in diameter, or just under that. The sizes vary slightly. This jig will need to accommodate them snugly. (The dimensions given are those used in this project – different ones may be used if convenient, but they will need to be calculated to fit the corks.)

 

How the corks are used in this project will be described separately. But this section will provide for any project which needs cork segments.

 

Materials needed:

1. Plywood sheet ¼” thick, 1’ wide by 2’ long.
2. Wooden board ¾” thick, 8” wide by 2’ long.
3. Wooden lath for spacer 3/8” thick, 1½” wide by 8” long.
4. Wood glue.
5. Four wood screws 2” long.
6. Two ¼” steel bolts, 3” long, with wing-nuts, and 4 appropriate washers.

 

Tools used:

1. Table saw.
2. Drill press.
3. Band saw.
4. Clamps.
5. Belt sander.
6. Hand-held electric drill with sander attachment.

Step 1:

Take ¾” wooden board and mark-up for cutting in two equal pieces, each at least 3¾” wide by 22” long.

Mark-up one of the halves for drilling cork-holes. Omit one hole at the end to ensure orientation. There should be three rows of holes (17, 17, and 16), the centers separated by 1” laterally and lengthwise. 

Comments

[adamallstar]

Very cool project. Curious if drilling the holes to hold the corks is necessary though, could you just fill up a similar shaped box at full capacity to keep the corks from moving, then cut them?

[sleemanjc]

Thanks for the question. Sorry for the delayed reply.
The problem is the varying size of the corks. It's hard to make a jig which adjusts and still holds them all firmly. And we need to get a grip on both ends. I have had to make a couple of other jigs for bigger and smaller corks.
I need a solution which works for a lot of corks but it's not worth the effort to do a really industrial size automated system. Still a lot of human effort.

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Love the look! Awesome job!