Angled face frame without tablesaw

[Mrs C]

Help!

I want to build a free standing tall corner cupboard with a door on the front. Cross section attached where the door will end up on the diagonal. The door will be mounted inside a face frame.

My first dilemma is how to cut the angles on the face frame accurately without a table-saw (as per the red circles).

The second dilemma is how to assemble it. Assuming I put back and sides together first and use biscuits to locate the face frame, will I be able to drop the frame in last or are the biscuits not going to like being on an angle and have minds of their own?

Any thoughts gratefully received, thanks

 

[dzj]

What tools and machines do you have at your disposal?

 

[Mrs C]

A track saw, router, thicknesser and hand planes.

 

[AndyT]

Have a look at how Roy Underhill tackles this challenge with hand tools here

http://www.pbs.org/video/woodwrights-sh ... pboard-mz/

He shows how to plane the long mitres and how to use a special shooting board to get the angle right.

 

[MattRoberts]

Use your track saw to make an angle cut on the two pieces. Make sure there's extra material either side to support the track when working with thin pieces.

Biscuit joiners can also join at an angle. I'd try on some test pieces first

 

[Marineboy]

+1 for track saw. You can get very accurate angles, very quickly.

 

[dzj]

The face frame/ side requires beveled cuts. I imagine you could do this on the track saw, sharp blade and all that.
Regarding assembling, I'd complete the joinery of the face frame, but first glue only the stiles to the sides.
Once this is complete, glue the remaining rails of the face frame. Doing the glue up in stages is easier to control.
I think it would be fiddly to fit the face frame when all else is done.
Also, often times such cupboards have the corner angle greater than 90deg.
HTH

 

[Roughcut]

Using a track saw I would cut the pre-determined bevel angle on the edge first and then set the saw back to 0 and cut the finished section width.
Although it would be a slight faff changing the saw angle back and forth it would mean you could cut straight from the board without having to deal with putting a bevel cut on small width sections.

 

[MikeG.]

A track saw, router, thicknesser and hand planes.

You've got planes........That's your answer.

 

[custard]

Andy's right, follow the Roy Underhill method, that's pretty much the established, well proven way of building a corner cupboard.

Splines win over biscuits or butt joints in this application for two reasons, firstly it's tricky getting sufficient cramping pressure for a tidy glue joint using PVA on angled components without something to locate the joint, and secondly there's enough wiggle room in the assembly for splines but not enough for biscuits, dowels or loose tenons.

If you rip the angles with a track saw take great care setting the angle. If you use an adjustable bevel then make sure you measure the saw's sole against the saw plate, i.e. make sure the blade of the bevel is resting between the teeth firmly against the saw plate and not against the teeth. In any event you should test on some scrap, if your plunge saw has pre-set angle notches then don't just assume they're accurate!

I envy you this project, it'll be a lot of fun making it. But when you're dealing with angles the build gets quite a bit trickier; so if you haven't successfully built comparable square pieces before then it would probably be best to save this angled version for later in your woodworking career.

Good luck.

 

[sunnybob]

You can buy angled cutters for routers.......

 

[Phil1975]

I recently made a corner TV cabinet & used the following method to glue up & 'clamp' the 45 degree (well 2 x 22.5 degree corners):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvxLCfnw4YQ

I have to say I was sceptical about the whole tape thing & not using any form of biscuits, splines, domino's etc. However the joints are tight & 6 months later & there is nothing nasty happening, so I am calling it a success.