Tambour Top Desk.

[murrayeast]

Hi,

I hope some of you will be able to give me some pointers in the right direction!!
Iv got a commission to build a tambour top writing desk. The tambour itself will be approx 44" in width. It will conceal an internal carcase of pigeon holes and small drawers. Because the depth of the desk overall can only be roughly 28" i need to keep the internal carcase as far back as possible to maximise writing space. I am struggling to find any written material relating to the relationship between minimum radius of the curve in the groove and the thickness and width of the wooden slatts.
Obviously the tighter the radius the further back the carcase can go!

Does anyone know what the minimum radius for a slat of 3/8 thickness by 5/8 would be? Or a formula for working it out??

Thanks
Murray

 

[DomValente]

Welcome to the forum

Can't help with your question, but this chap seems to have made a good one.
Although I will say that with the width of desk you are making the slats will need to be fairly thick




http://www.van-vliet.org/dempseywoodwor ... tml#bottom

Dom

 

[Ratter]

I have a book called "Built-in Furniture" by Jim Tolpin which has a couple of pages about tambour doors.

His slats are 1/2 x 1/4 and he recommends 1/16 to 1/32 clearance in the track, chamfered edges to the slats and supported with canvas. No mention of minimum radii I'm afraid.

The book is American and has lots of good design ideas. I bought it on a whim from Amazon a couple of years ago and have found it a mine of information.

He refers to commercially made tracks but I don't know whether these would be available over here.

 

[ike]

Hi Murray,

I'd tackle this question with the help of a ruler and compass. By drawing different radii and slot width you can then measure the width/thickness of slat that'll fit within the compass circles. OK, it's an empirical approach to the problem but doesn't require too much brainpower!.

cheers,

Ike

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Murray

Welcome to the forum.

You could look here, here, here and here.

HTH.


Cheers
Neil

 

[9fingers]

My slats are 3/4 x 3/8 but reduced to 1/4 thick at the ends to fit the guide slot which is about 5/16.
The radius I use is about 2 inches and it all works smoothly.

The tambour is fitted to a bookcase rather than a desk but the principle is the same.

I used Ike's method for my design and to be sure made a mock up in softwood first.

Good Luck

Bob

 

[engineer one]

like some of the folding desks, the tambour top is often used in a situation where the writing surface comes out on a kind of loper when the tambour is moved. that would help increase the radius that you need.

44 inches wide is very wide for this kind of thing even with a thick backing.
and will have a visual depression in the middle if you are not careful.

fine woodworking have had a couple of articles about this in the past, can't reference, but maybe it is worth checking their on line service. and i think norm has also done something in one of his shows.

paul :wink:

 

[Pete W]

Norm did one in the New Yankee Workshop that's almost exactly what you're looking for:
http://www.newyankee.com/getproduct3.cgi?9812

His is 50" long and 30" deep but I can't see where you'd have trouble amending the design to your dimensions.

NYW plans (including this one) are available in the UK from Brimarc:
http://www.brimarc.com/home.php3?page=products&pc=C_098

 

[Alf]

Welcome to the forum, Murray.

Dunno if this link would be any use? Whatever you do I'm sure I'm one of many who'd be interested to hear (and see!) how it goes.

Cheers, Alf

 

[murrayeast]

Thanks for the replies, I think I will have to do some mock ups to try out different radii. This is prob the best way to go i think!

I realise this is quite a large tambour, however still not as big as some of the old French 17th cent pieces i have seen at the Wallace Clooection in london!

Thanks again

Murray