Woodworking is the art of making fixtures. While we have internet-connected toasters, thermostats, cars, and coffee makers, the Internet of Things has yet to really hit carpentry. However, that is changing, and [Ben Brandt's] Boxjogger Internet of Things shows what a cheap computer connected to the Internet can do. It fully automates the process of connecting enclosures using a stepper motor and a Raspberry Pi.
[Ben's] electronic jig is very much inspired by [Matthias Wandel's] amazing advanced jig. [Matthias's] design, which has become one of the "must have" fixtures in a modern carpentry shop, uses wooden gears to move a carriage and mandrel along the saw blade recess. This works great, but in order to properly use this manual version, you have to do some calculations beforehand and, in the worst case, cut another tooth on a bandsaw.
The [Bens] electronic box joints do not use gears to move the piece of material over the wire rod. Finally, stepper motors are cheap, and using a Raspberry Pi, stepper motor drivers, limit switches, and LEDs, [Ben] has built an internet connection that can make perfect connections.
The build uses a Raspberry Pi 3 and Windows IoT Core to display a web page that stores the various connection profiles of the box. By feeding the workpiece with the blade and starting to press, this electronic pusher automatically moves the substrate to the next required cut. All [Ben] has to do is look at the red and green LEDs and move the sled back and forth.
You can watch [Ben's] video below. Thanks [Michael] for the tip.
