Kapla Blocks

Have you guys heard about Kapla blocks?

"Kapla is a wooden block construction toy for children and adults. Each block is an identically sized and shaped piece of pine, with dimensions in the proportions 1:3:15"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapla.

Checkout out this site for a gallery of creations.
http://www.kaplatoys.com/

I have always wanted to get a set of blocks for myself. Its a great way to be creative. So yesterday while I was in the garage an idea popped into my head. I had a lot of scrap wood laying around from other projects that I have been working on. I was going to eventually throw them out anyway. So I decided why not just take those scrap pieces and cut out Kapla Blocks.

Hey its a cool project. Something that can be done on your free time. And in addition you are recycling and saving money. This could be an excellent Christmas gift for someone.

Lets get started...

Step 1 Required Tools and Material

So to design these Kapla Blocks you will need the following tools and material.

Tools

A table saw. You can also use a CNC machine to cut out the pieces. If you don't have either you can try cutting them out with a handsaw, but that's going to take a long time.

If you don't have the tools at home. Call your local high school, middle school, or university art department. Introduce yourself and tell whoever your talking to about the project your working on and that you would like to use their cutting tools. I'm sure they will be more then happy to help you out.

I borrowed a portable table saw from my uncle's place. It was nice of him to let me use it.

You will also need a wooden guide to push the blocks when cutting. I would not recommend that You use your fingers. You might accidentally hurt yourself.

WARNING!!! Be very careful when using the table saw. Have someone around to help you. And just to let you know if you hurt yourself I do not take any responsibility. You are taking part in this project at your own risk!!!

Materials

Materials you will need. That's simple, scrap pieces of wood. If you don't have any, don't go out and buy a new piece of wood. Call your local high school or university wood shop. They have a lot of scrap pieces laying around.

Comments

[Lawlho]

The kaple toy sis redirected to a scantily clad broad.

[thepelton]

The wikipedia Kapla link goes to a dead end.

[thepelton]

I built a jig that can be set to make specific length cuts repeatedly. I put an Incra-jig (c) on a board, and attached to the cross cut slide on my tablesaw so that I could set the length to make cuts all the same length.

[AdHd]

In the future, if a value is less than one, please include a leading zero. '4.5" x 1" x .5"' looks like '4.5" x 1" x 5"'. '4.5" x 1" x 0.5"' would be clearer, and '4.5" x 1.0" x 0.5"' would be even better. Thanks.

[thundernospam]

To cut blocks of this size, you need to build some fixtures which will slide along the fence or slide using the slot in the table while holding the block. The saw blade should have a guard. If you follow the advice in this step as shown in this figure, it is likely that you will get injured.

[sun2407]

You are correct. Safety is very important. I would also recommend that anyone who is working on this project also develop fixtures. And yes the saw blade does need a guard.