Cutting Small Wooden Cubes - What tool?

It might help if....

It might help if we knew what the cubes were to be used for.

Tony B

I'm making bases for little trophies and miniature models.
From what I've read so far, I need to get my hands on a:
Jointer
Planer
Table Saw
Chop Saw

That seems like quite a lot of tools

I have access to all of these except a jointer. And that seems to be THE tool for getting your initial plane and your first perpendicular plane.
Is there a good substitute?
Cheers,
Sam

Unless your stock is square/straight when you get it then you need a joiner, otherwise you risk injury to yourself and your wood when cutting on the T/S. If I needed to cut those sizes you need here is how I would do it. I would try to start with a little bit longer stock, maybe 24", run it through the joiner, thickness planer, cut the width I needed on the T/S, and finish cut the lengths on the miter saw.

Here's how I would mass-produce cubes: first obtain some "select grade" hardwood (poplar might be an inexpensive choice) and use your thickness planer to mill the board to the exact dimension you want for your cubes. Then go to the jointer and do a light cut on one edge of the board, making certain that you have a 90-degree edge. Third step -- on your table saw, rip a length just a bit oversize. Set that aside. Go back to the jointer and true up the rough edge on the remainder of the board. Again do a rip cut on the table saw, and put that piece aside as well. Continue until you have used up the entire board. (You now have a collection of sticks that are true on three sides, assuming that your jointer and your thickness planer are properly adjusted.)
Assemble the almost-square sticks with the rough side up, and clamp them with slim wedges to a sturdy base board underneath, wide and long enough to support them entirely. You can almost predict what comes next: several shallow passes through the thickness planer to get the desired dimension for perfectly square sticks.
Next, back to the table saw without dismantling the wedged sticks. Calibrate your mitre gauge very, very well, and set the fence to produce cut-offs just a tiny bit bigger than your desired dimension. The first cut is just to true the ends of your first cubes, and you must use a really good planer blade. The base board that supports your sticks, is on top of the sticks, and the table saw cuts only through the sticks, not the base board. Your fence will have to be lower than the dimension of the blocks, so that the base board can pass over top of the fence as the cubes are cut. If on the other hand you're using a radial arm saw, the base board would stay underneath, of course, but the fence would have to be raised to allow the base board to extend past it underneath.
Now you want to lightly sand the two remaining faces of the cubes that weren't machined already (this will be end grain). A belt sander edger with a fine sandpaper belt is your friend. Construct an accurate jig with parallel fences that allows you to push one cube at a time perpendicularly toward the belt, giving a very light touch to only one face. Do this with all your cubes. Then you want to do the finishing dimensioning step. I would set up a fence parallel to the belt, but a tiny fraction of one degree away from parallel, so that pushing a cube against the direction of travel of the belt, creates a wedging effect, and the sixth face becomes properly sanded. A cube pushed all the way to the other end, should then be perfect.
Okay, admit it -- order your cubes from a supplier and save a lot of money and bother!

I wonder if he's still having problems cutting those tubes 13 years later?

Probably not, but it was a helpful, detailed post by @Karl in Waterloo. Welcome to WoodworkingTalk!

Karl - I suggest that you click on the "New" bubble in the top right corner of the web page to see the current threads where members are active.

Ignore the "Recommended Reading" at the bottom of threads, which often shows long ago dead threads from people who are no longer active.