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Shop Project #13 Home & Decor Machine: CNC Router Intermediate — Two-Sided Indexed CNC Router Setup

Lattice Trivet — Woodworking Plan & Build Guide

7-1/2" round trivet. Grooves 7/16" deep on each face cross at right angles; where they meet, 3/8" square windows open through. Download the printable PDF plan, vector SVG, layered CAD/CAM DXF, and 3D carving files below—complete with step-by-step build instructions and our 100% plant-and-wax finishing protocol.

Finished Spec 7-1/2" round trivet.
Recommended Stock 3/4" hardwood, 8" x 8" (maple, cherry or walnut)
Est. Build Time 1.5 to 2 Hours (plus 15-min finish buff)
Recommended DuraGrain Finish DuraGrain Walnut Oil (12 fl oz) or DuraGrain Hardwax Oil (12 fl oz)
Lattice Trivet Completed Build Finished with DuraGrain
Completed Shop Build • Finished with DuraGrain Walnut Oil (12 fl oz) or DuraGrain Hardwax Oil (12 fl oz)

Plan & CAD Downloads

Production-ready CAD vectors nested in inches with layer names encoding operation type and exact cut depth.

⇩ Download Standalone Printable Plan PDF
⇩ Primary Cut DXF Layered CAD/CAM vectors ⇩ Blueprint SVG Dimensioned part layout ⇩ Complete Lattice Trivet Project Archive (.ZIP) Includes Plan PDF + All Multi-Sheet / Underside DXF & SVG Cut Files
Individual Sheet / Underside DXFs: lattice-trivet.dxf • lattice-trivet-trivet-underside.dxf
Free to download, print, build (including items you sell), and share—just please do not edit or modify the files and redistribute them.
Section 01 • Cut List, Stock Selection & Tooling

Bill of Materials, Hardwood Species & Shop Tooling for Lattice Trivet

Accurate stock preparation is half the battle when building the Lattice Trivet. Verify your blank dimensions and thickness before adhering the template or zeroing your CNC/laser axis:

Part Name Qty Stock Thickness Part Bounding Box (W × H)
Trivet13/4"7-1/2" × 7-1/2"

Recommended Hardwood & Sheet Stock Selection

For laser-cut finger-joint boxes and desk organizers, use void-free Baltic Birch plywood (B/BB grade) or hardwood-core veneered MDF/plywood, and always measure actual sheet thickness with digital calipers before cutting. For CNC-routed keepsake boxes, valets, trivets, and wall racks, select kiln-dried American Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Cherry, or White Ash planed dead-flat so pocket depths and through-tenon shoulders register with sub-thousandth accuracy.

Required Shop Tools, Blades & Bits

  • CNC router, two-sided job. 3/8" end mill makes each groove in one pass (a 1/4" end mill pocket works too).
  • Each face is grooved 7/16" deep in 3/4" stock, so the grooves overlap by 1/8" and open through. If your stock is thicker, deepen both to keep that overlap.
  • The solid 1/2" rim keeps it strong and hides the groove ends.
  • Hold-down clamps, double-sided CNC tape, or brad nails on a leveled spoilboard
  • Flush-trim chisel or oscillating tab cutter + 120, 180, and 220-grit sandpaper
Section 02 • Step-by-Step Shop Workflow

How to Cut, Carve & Assemble the Lattice Trivet

Follow this numbered shop sequence to take your Lattice Trivet from rough lumber to a crisp, heirloom-grade piece ready for finishing:

Step 01

Measure Actual Stock Thickness & Verify Machine Setup

Before running your machine, measure your actual stock thickness with digital calipers (nominal stock: 3/4" hardwood, 8" x 8" (maple, cherry or walnut)). Import the production DXF into VCarve or Fusion 360 in inches with Z-zero set to the material surface, select all vectors, and run Fit Curves to Vectors (0.002″ tolerance) for silky G-code.

Step 02

Machining & assembly stage 1

Cut the underside grooves first (run across the grain is fine either way).

Step 03

Machining & assembly stage 2

Flip, register, and cut the top grooves at right angles, then profile with tabs.

Step 04

Machining & assembly stage 3

Sand the windows with a strip of sandpaper; ease every edge.

Step 05

Machining & assembly stage 4

Finish with DuraGrain Walnut Oil or DuraGrain Hardwax Oil (100% food-contact safe; cures inside the grain and won't soften under hot cookware).

Step 06

Recommended VCarve / CAM Toolpath Sequence

Execute your CNC toolpaths in this exact order to maintain vacuum/tab hold-down rigidity until the final perimeter cut:

  • Underside first: in VCarve Pro use a double-sided job and import the -underside file onto the bottom side; otherwise run it as its own job, aligned on REFERENCE_OUTLINE.
  • Pocket, layer POCKET_0.438: cut depth 0.438", 1/4" end mill. Select every vector on the layer together so islands are left standing.
  • Profile, Outside, layer PROFILE_OUTSIDE_0.750: cut depth 0.750" (through), 1/4" end mill, with tabs.

Section 03 • Master Woodworker Notes

Pro Shop Tips & Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Grain Orientation & Short-Grain Strength

Always orient the long grain of your board strictly parallel to the X-axis (left-to-right on the template). Diagonal grain runout across a narrow utensil neck, hook tenon, or featherboard finger creates short grain that can snap under everyday load.

2. Progressive Sanding (120 → 180 → 220 Grit)

Never skip grits or sand raw hardwood above 220 grit before applying natural polymerizing oils. Over-polishing raw wood to 400+ grit burnishes the wood cells shut and prevents DuraGrain Walnut Oil or Hardwax Oil from anchoring deep inside the fibers.

3. Water-Popping & Wiping Excess Oil Dry

For kitchen utensils and trivets, misting with warm water before your final 220-grit pass eliminates raised-grain fuzz permanently. When applying DuraGrain finishes, always wipe the surface 100% bone-dry after 15–20 minutes so the oil cures inside the wood rather than turns tacky on top.

100% Food-Contact Safe • Zero Petroleum Mineral Oil • Cross-Linking Cure

The DuraGrain 2-Stage Polymerizing Finishing Protocol for Lattice Trivet

Never soak a handcrafted Lattice Trivet in drugstore mineral oil. Mineral oil is a liquid petroleum distillate that never polymerizes—meaning it leaches right out into hot soup, pasta water, or charcuterie cheeses after two washes, leaving your hardwood gray, raised-grain fuzzy, and unprotected. Instead, lock the wood fibers from the inside out with our 2-stage drying-oil and T1 carnauba system:

Stage 01 • Deep Internal Cure

Flood & Cross-Link with DuraGrain Walnut Oil (12 fl oz)

After water-popping and final sanding to 220 grit, flood the bare hardwood generously with DuraGrain Walnut Oil. Because our walnut oil is 100% alkali-refined and cold-pressed (with protein allergens removed via filtration), its low-molecular-weight triglycerides wick deep into tight maple, cherry, or walnut pores. Wait 20 minutes, wipe the surface completely bone-dry with a lint-free shop towel, and let oxygen cross-link the oil into a permanent, hydrophobic internal seal.

Stage 02 • Carnauba & Beeswax Armor

Buff with DuraGrain Board Butter (5 oz in 8 oz Wide-Mouth Jar)

Once your base coat has cured, apply a dime-sized dab of DuraGrain Board Butter using one of the 2 included #0000 ultra-fine white applicator pads packed inside the lid. Our proprietary ratio of polymerizing walnut oil, domestic yellow beeswax, and rock-hard T1 Brazilian Carnauba Wax (melting point 180°F / 82°C) buffs to a warm satin luster that shrugs off boiling cooking liquids and hand-washing.

DuraGrain Walnut Oil 12 fl oz Bottle
Stage 1 Penetrating Base Cure • 12 fl oz

DuraGrain Walnut Oil

100% alkali-refined polymerizing drying oil. Zero petroleum mineral oil, zero solvents, 0.0 g/L VOC. Formulated & poured in Pittsburgh, PA.

$18.99 Shop Walnut Oil →
DuraGrain Board Butter 5 oz Jar with 2 Free #0000 Applicator Pads
Stage 2 Topcoat • Includes 2 #0000 Applicator Pads

DuraGrain Board Butter (5 oz in 8 oz Jar)

Walnut Oil, T1 Brazilian Carnauba & USA Beeswax with 2 reusable #0000 white applicator pads nested inside the jar.

$15.99 Shop Board Butter →
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