WIP I hope this works!

[woodbrains]

Hello,

I'm intending to set the top flush with the sides. I thought the end grain on the upper edges might look, well different, at least, hopefully beautiful!

There is a difficulty with a M&T frame for drawer support in a solid sided cabinet. The front rail can be fixed to the side, but the rest must not, as there is a cross grain conflict; the M&T frame is a fixed dimension the carcase sides will be subject to seasonal expansion and contraction. Obviously there are ways around this, a frame can be left unglued in a housing in the sides, for instance. But this would mean that the frame would need to be short of the full depth of the cabinet and a back put on to hide the necessarily unfinished frames. Also, my case sides are thin because of the scallops, so there is little to fix the front rail of the frame to and not much depth for a housing for the frame, either. In other words, trying to make something different from a post and panel carcase, with a frame and panel back on, which will work very well with a M&T frame drawer supports, adds significant construction challenges that might not seem obvious at first glance. (And sadly, probably not appreciated in the finished piece, hey ho).

Mike.

 

[will1983]

To avoid the glue penetration issue in future look into using Ben Crowe's "masking tape and super glue trick". Similar to using double sided tape but sticks much better.

Basically stick a piece of masking tape onto each component to be joined and burnish them down tight, then run a bead of superglue down one strip of masking tape and press both components together. Once your done you just pry the two parts apart and peel off any remaining masking tape.

There's a video on his Youtube channel "Crimson Guitars" showing it used for all sorts of things.

BTW apart from being a YT subscriber I don't have any affiliation to Crimson Guitars. However if they would like to send me one their beautiful custom made guitars I wouldn't argue!!

 

[dzj]

I understand the reason for the long mitres on the top and plinth, but they're not visible on the
dust panels... so why bother? Also why not use secondary wood here (on the inside)?
BTW, how do you intend to attach the plinth and dust panels to the sides. Then joints will have to be pretty
strong, seeing how you're not using a back panel.

 

[woodbrains]

I understand the reason for the long mitres on the top and plinth, but they're not visible on the
dust panels... so why bother? Also why not use secondary wood here (on the inside)?
BTW, how do you intend to attach the plinth and dust panels to the sides. Then joints will have to be pretty
strong, seeing how you're not using a back panel.

Hello,

Your right, I didn't need to do the dust panels the same as the top and plinth, although because the bottom dust panel is above an open space, in theory it's underside could be visible, I thought it better not to use a secondary wood. Also and more importantly, I would have had to ensure the secondary wood had exactly the same seasonal movement as the ABW, otherwise there could be problems with the sides, top and plinth moving differently to the dust panels. ABW has a very small movement in service and any secondary wood would likely (definitely, in fact) have a larger movement; I don't want my case sides to split. As to making them all with long mitres, yes I still could have used walnut throughout but made the dust panels more simply with edge glued on rails front and back, but I decided that once the machine set ups for cutting identical widths, lengths, running identical mitres, cutting identical biscuit slots from a story stick etc. I ended up with 4 identical panels, rather than 2 and 2 others that would need different machine set ups and then fettling to match. It is purely a consistency thing.

Mike.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Not got much done today either, child minding duties again, so here is a catch up from Wednesday's work.

I made a simple screwed together router jig, to run some grooves in the end grain of the panels. I'm putting in 2 short grain, loose tongues in each end, to maximise the strength of a larger gluing area than one wider one. The trick is to make the grooves consistently spaced, and repeated in the mating grooves in the sides. The jig is simplest if it is as wide as the panels, so in effect the router fitted with a bush, will make grooves referenced from the top and bottom faces. This is another reason why I made all the panels identically. The only slight variation in cutting the grooves is with a guide bush change. I didn't want the upper groove for the top panel to be too close to the end grain in the sides, so I made a bush change here to move the groove further from the edge. I just need to remember to make sure the same bush is fitted when I do the mating sides!

I'll rout the matching grooves in the sides tomorrow, jig already made.

Mike.

 

[dzj]

Flatsawn ABW moves the same as spruce or pine, so you wouldn't have issues,
but I understand your train of thought, as it is just the one piece you're making.

 

[lurker]

I'm watching as well, might not be saying much but you've got my interest

+1

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Thanks for the interest shown by everyone, I hope there is something different or useful here.

The next stage is to cut the corresponding housings in the carcase sides. When I mage the jig for routing the slots in the panels, I cut a plywood strip that was the exact width of the panel thickness. This meant that I was, in effect, referencing the guide bush off the top and bottom of the panels. Ordinarily it is best practice to only reference off the one face, but I made sure the panels were all precisely the sane thickness when I made them, as I knew I would be using two reference edges. This makes jigging for the double slot easier and the precise panel thickness guarantees that the drawer pockets will be accurate. So, when I cut the spacer strip for the panel jig, I made a bit extra to make the side jig, always looking to maintain consistency. The side jig will now produce slots spaced identically to the panel jig.

Now there is a problem I have been aware of since a day or so after gluing up the staves to make the sides. I sort of predicted the possibility of the sides cupping, and despite hoping my best hope, they did, the blighters. Now, when I made the staves, I took the best care to acclimatise the stock, make all the mating edges ultra square and all the staves as dimensionally accurate as I could. So what went wrong? Simply, running the hollows on the spindle (obviously) took more material from one side of the timber, exposing one side to a lightly wetter interior, which once dried out, shrank that face slightly and caused the whole board to cup. Could I have let the staves reacclimatise and plane up the back and square up the sides again; possibly, but doing so might have been harder to maintain the dimensional accuracy of all the staves and keep the hollow central and between two fine, feather edges. So, perhaps unwisely, I did what I did. In reality, it is not disastrous. You will notice a heavy caul, clamping the sides flat, as I route the housings. It didn't take much force to flatten the boards and I should be able to pull everything flat during glue up.

Happily, all the grooves match up on sides and panels. It is surprising how a little difference in spacing will make twin slots impossible to mate up, so it was gratifying when every pair of grooves mated up with a test fit. I used some 1/4 in thick plywood for testing, but this will not be used during glue up. I will need to make some solid timber, short grain splines, to keep everything seasonally stable.

Next, I will have to make some clamping cauls, shaped to fit into the scallops, for the glue up.

Mike.