57 - A Shop-Built Pin Router, страница 26
SHOP P R 0 J, LATCH With the tray complete, you can turn your attention to the outside of the case. This is nothing more than a pair of floating panels wrapped in a hardwood frame, as you can see in the margin photo and Figure 1. But what's interesting is the case doesn't start out as two separate parts. That's because I've y',,/':. found it difficult to make /; : / / sure the outside edges of / .. /' / both parts align evenly if / / /• you build them separately. ,: So I use a different method to """ - V /' ./ make sure everything aligns. " . And that's to build an enclosed case ' and then cut it in two. Enclosed Case - Building an enclosed case isn't all that difficult. 4 To form the case, The trick is determining the overall floating panels of size. And the key to that is the tray. figured wood are The easy part is determining the wrapped with a length of the front, back, and sides. hardwood frame. They just wrap around the outside of the tray. But you'll need to consider a couple more things when it comes to determining the width of these parts. As you'd expect, youH need to allow for the thickness of the top and bottom panels, as well as the tray and the object it holds. But the important thing to keep in mind is that the case will be cut in two. So you'll need to LATCH PINS POSTER- BOARD LINER CALIPER TRAY CARPET TAPE LOWER CASE LINER 1" x V/&" BRASS HINGE HINGE LATCH BACK add the thickness of \ the saw blade to allow for the kerf (Figure 1). ^_^ (For my case, the overall thickness before cutting the case in two was lVs"-) At this point, you can rip the front/back (B) and sides (C) to final width from extra-long pieces of W1-thick hardwood (Figure 2). Then to accept the top and bottom panels, you'll need to cut two grooves in TRAY FRONT BOTTOM each piece, as shown in Figure 2af Once the grooves are cut, you can miter each piece to final length. Top/Bottom - Now you can turn your attention to the top and bottom panels (D). These are pieces of W-thick hardwood that are cut slightly smaller (Vs") than the distance between the grooves. (I used quar-tersawn oak.) The panels are rabbeted on all four edges. This forms a tongue that fits the grooves you cut earlier. I like to cut the rabbets wide enough so there's a slight (Vie") "shadow line" all the way around the top and bottom, as shown in Figure 2. Besides giving the case a unique look, it provides room for the panels to float in the frame. Glue-up - To ensure the panels can float without splitting the case apart, only apply glue to the mitered ends of the front/back and sides. Maintaining an even gap around the edges of the panels can be a chal-i lenge. So I slipped a few posterboard shims in place as I clamped the case together (Figure 2). SHIM FRONT -(B) BACK TOP PANEL (41/a" x 101/a") BOTTOM PANEL BOTTOM NOTE: V FRONT, BACK \ AND SIDES ARE 1 1/2"-THICK HARDWOOD; TOP AND BOTTOM ARE !4"-THICK HARDWOOD 26 ShopNotes No. 57 |
