A design-pattern for wood as a material.
The biscuit joiner is a controversial tool. Some hate it, others love it. Whatever its strengths and weaknesses, the construction of box-like structures that leverage the biscuit cutter for positioning certainly forms a design pattern that is worth investigating.
Overall, this design pattern delivers large, accurate box-like structures without requiring careful measurement. It does so by leveraging a good tablesaw, a CNC machine, and a biscuit joiner.
The biscuit box design pattern essentially assumes plywood. It's a quick, accurate, and cheap material to use. MDF would work as well. When using the biscuit cutter, accurate work is limited to only two operations:
When approaching the design, care must be taken to consider the role of end/edge grain. This page details these concerns. The upshot is that, no matter the resulting finish, exposed plywood endgrain is often undesirable. Notable exceptions include quality baltic birch and MDF. Depending on the purpose of the box, it may be possible to hide most or even all of the edges. This is desirable.
Take care to identify the "interface" features of the box. These are any bits of geometry needed to connect the box to "external" (e.g. non-box) functionality. For a box containing drawers, for example, the interface would be the holes for the drawer-slide screws. If the box is a rolling cabinet, wheels will mount to the bottom. For the latter example, accuracy is not very relevant and screw-holes for the caster wheels can simply be drilled by hand later. For the former example, however, holes should be pre-drilled before assembly and pre-marked by CNC machine before drilling. Consider especially where the coordinate system will be located - that's the reference edge. Variations in material thickness and tablesaw cut dimensions will accrue outwards from the reference with each passing joint.
A plan should exist for all "interface" features that does not require complex jigs and accurate post-assembly geometry alteration (such as drilling). All such accurate complexity should be performed by the CNC.
Cuts must be very square and pretty accurate in x/y dimension.
TODO write or reference practices for accurate tablesaw cuts.
TODO write this, mention using the bottom surface of the biscuit joiner on a very flat steel table for best results.