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Cribbage Board

(Wood, Brass, Aluminum)

CNC has opened a whole new realm of project possibilities. First, it allows me to make several of the same part, all interchangeable (at least to the accuracy of my mill, which is plenty accurate for my needs). Second, it relieves me of the drudgery and error-prone work of manually cranking in tool movements. Both of these advantages served me well in building this cribbage board.

I started with a 3-1/2" x 12" x 3/4" oak plank. It was a simple matter to locate the 124 holes that the board required, and to draw the pocket to hold the pegs when they were not in use.

Holes Being Drilled
Pocket Being Milled

The holes were drilled 1/8" diameter by 5/16" deep. The pocket was milled with a 1/8" end mill, 2-3/16" square with filleted corners and 5/8" deep. I used the end mill for both operations, so I wouldn't have to deal with a tool change in the middle of the program. When I get more comfortable with Vector and CNC in general, probably that will not be a problem. There was nothing sacred about these dimensions; they just seemed appropriate for the size piece I was working with.

Here is the board, with holes drilled and pocket cut. The job took about 20 minutes. However, since I'm just learning the Vector software, it took most of a day and several "practice" runs on scrap wood to get the coding right. But now I have the coding on floppy disk, and can make another cribbage board whenever I choose.

I made the first lid for the pocket out of brass, but decided it was too heavy and too easily scratched. So I made a second one out of 1/4" poplar; I didnt have any oak of the right thickness. Poplar proved to be too soft and too light in color, so I bought some 1/4" oak and made it again.

The knob was turned from 1/2" aluminum round.

And here is the final product. Since I made this as a wedding present to my daughter and her husband, I engraved the bottom of the board with their names and the date of their wedding. Seems like a nicer gift than a mere toaster, and since there will be some cash in the pocket with the pegs, they get the best of both worlds -- some help for their honeymoon, and (I hope) something they'll treasure long after I'm gone.