Angle Madness! - Stock Prep from Hell

With Domizilla off probably invading Tokyo, I got a chance to get back to the Angle Madness entertainment center.  I should call it "the diamond cabinet formerly known as the entertainment center" as 'entertainment center' draws up so many uninspired chain furniture store images in my head...

This episode.  hmm.  It is stock selection and preparation, BUT due to all the inclinations, miters, and bevels, almost every aspect of "stock preparation" is affected.  There's nothing normal about the prep work needed on the stock for this cabinet!

While you may not plan on making a diamond-shaped cabinet, I think this episode will help you see some of the additional work needed up front during stock preparation of a project with inclined sides or "coopered" sides of sorts.  There should be some useful take-away (I hope!)

This one was a challenge to record with dual cameras; some of the lighting issues for the overhead cam will be resolved in future episodes, though they aren't too bad now.

If you like how this is going, lemme know in the comments or press the little thumbs-up button... I already have a troll taking care of the thumbs-down for ya :)

Quickie Zero-Clearance Insert for your Bandsaw

I needed to rip some small molding.  Each piece is just 1" wide by 3/8" thick by around 5 feet.  With this small a molding, the stock insert on my bandsaw would leave a lot of chipout on the backside due to the cut being so poorly supported.

When I have this issue, I usually grab a piece of scrap ply from the offcut bin, push it through the blade until it protrudes a couple inches on the backside.  Then I corner it in place with the two switchable magnets that are for my tablesaw feather board.  The position of the magnets prevents the board from moving at all, it's fast to setup, and the molding cuts were perfect.  Keep the ply around for the next time.

Using the KM-1 on a Table Saw

The Bridge City Toolworks KM-1 is a clever instrument for perfectly sizing a dado, groove, half-laps, or anything, really, if you treat it as an instrument for perfectly calculating an offset.  Visit the linked page for Bridge City's description of it, or, if you're not the type to "read it for the articles", watch the video of how it's used.

I'm currently making a simple cabinet for inside a closet.  This will be a wonder of plywood case construction with plywood shelves dadoed into plywood sides.  That said, I will be using the KM-1 liberally to ensure that I get exact dados for the "nominal 3/4" and "nominal 1/2" ply.

In the demonstration video, the KM-1 is registered against a stop block on a fence used while cross cutting to create the half-laps.  Naturally you can do the same on a table saw crosscut fence, but what if you're using the rip fence as I will since these sides are 4-5' long by 22" deep?  All you need is a stop block of sorts for the KM-1 to register against.

This is my stop block for the table saw along with a MagSwitch from my magnetic feather board and the KM-1 (I feel as though I should have anodized my MDF jig, but I digress...)

The MagSwitch has two flat sides so I get a very snug fit and it locks the jig to the cast iron like a rock.  Use the shoulder of the jig to register the KM-1 for the first cut...

...the flip the KM-1, move the fence, and make your second cut that will finish the perfectly fitted dado.

I have a router table in the extension wing so the MagSwitch won't work out there.  However, my fence rail is steel so I can move the jig there when I need to be out 22" or further.  Here it's shown with the KM-1 ready for the first cut...

...and flip it and move the fence for the second cut.

When I documented how I did a walnut inlay into cork flooring, I described how I used the KM-1 with the Festool OF-1400 router to make the inlay groove exactly match the inlay pieces.  Basically all you ever need is a stop block of some kind.  This MDF jig for the table saw will definitely make the KM-1 easier to use when dealing with the rip fence.

Offsetting Domino depth

Currently, I'm waiting for the new 4mm Dominos and cutter to arrive at a local store. These would solve my problem immediately.

But, no need to wait.

I need to put Dominos into 12mm ply sides and into 1/2" wide oak "banding" that will form a flat sideless drawer for my shop (all my drawers are like this in the shop and I find them too useful).

Problem: 5mm Dominos will fit into the 12mm ply, but the minimum depth of cut is 12mm, which is 1/2mm shy of punching through the banding. Just say 'no' to punching through.

My solution is likely inspired by those narrow stock spacers I discussed earlier. That is, I took 2 rare earth magnets that were 2.5mm thick and stuck them on the end of each registration pin. Now I can mortise on the 12mm depth and get basically 9.5mm deep mortises. I won't punch through. That leaves 20.5mm of the 5mm Domino to go into the ply, which I prefer anyway, so I can set the depth of those cuts to 20; the Domino really isn't 30mm; it's shy of that and everything works great.

Naturally, use strong magnets for this to make sure they stay put. I didn't have any problems. A non-magnetic version of this trick is to rip a small piece of wood 2mm thick and carpet-tape it to the face around the pins.