Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Angle Madness! - Box Glue-up and Panel Cutting

Bet you thought this project found its way into a dumpster :) No!

The idea for the Tim Burton table popped into my head and I put this project aside since I was at a point where I needed to decide on a few things before being able to proceed.  I'm not good at having a big design laid out at the start although this project has had to force that a few times, including now!

In this episode,we'll glue-up the drawer tier boxes and show how you can easily clamp ridiculous compound angles... a method that's equally useful for regular mitered corners.

I cut the panel to the lines with the tracksaw and have a few tips on how to make lining it up easier.

Lastly, there's prepping the panel for installation into the box, which delves into the design of the drawer a bit and why a chamfer into a rabbet is a good idea.

Not an action-packed tool-cam video, but hopefully some take away.  Next episode of this project build will make the drawer webbing on the inside.  ...and I haven't forgotten about the 3 remaining episodes for the Tim Burton table (No Comment #2).


Sunday, September 1, 2013

Refreshing a Guiderail Splinterguard and Dimple Marking Technique

A bit of a quickie video. I'm working on Angle Madness again and needing to cut the panels for the tapered octagonal drawer boxes. For that, I really need the splinterguard on the MFT to be dead accurate. It always has been, for years, until I needed to quickly cut something on the MFT during the Tim Burton Table build while I had the Panther blade in the TS-75. Unlike the TS-55 blades that all have the same kerf width, TS-75 blades sometimes differ.  Now, my splinterguard is about 0.5mm off.

The first part of the video, though, covers something I often do anyway with the saw: dimple marking (my own silly term :)  With the saw on the rail, it's easy to use the ATB blade to mark exactly where the cut will be. Great for verifying and occasional adjustments. For 12 panels, I want the splinterguard accurate...

Second half of the video shows how to bump the splinterguard over so you can recut it accurately. Seems easy enough, but it comes up on forums all the time. Usually people are trying to peel it off and reuse the aged adhesive. I'll show you a better way that works quickly and has no peel-off problems.

After posting this, some people asked about the turners' tape mentioned in the video. It is essentially a double-stick tape. A good one is this one from Lee Valley.  The one I used in the video is from InterTapePolymer.com, but I can't find the woodworking store that sells it now.

I used a different brand that I have handy. Many woodworking catalogs will call this type of double stick tape "turners' tape" since, I guess, turners use it (I don't turn yet!)