Woodworker's Journal 2007-Winter, страница 53

Routing Miter Slot Extensions

3/8" Strip

Rout the 1"-wide extension slots for your miter gauge in two passes, using a 5/8" straight bit. Attach a 3/8"-thick strip of scrap wood to the fence with carpet tape for the first pass. It serves as a spacer. Then remove it for the second pass.

Rout the 1"-wide extension slots for your miter gauge in two passes, using a 5/8" straight bit. Attach a 3/8"-thick strip of scrap wood to the fence with carpet tape for the first pass. It serves as a spacer. Then remove it for the second pass.

Miter Slot Extensions

(pieces 12) in place — they float freely to allow for expansion and contraction. Be sure to check for squareness as you tighten the clamps.

Once these two subassemblies are dry, go back to the dado blade and mill the rabbets for the base top (piece 13) and the grooves for the base bottom (also piece 13) as shown in the Drawings. To prevent chip-out, be sure to back up these cuts with some scrap.

Attach edging (piece 14) to the base top and bottom with glue and finish nails, drilling pilot holes through the oak for the nails. Set the nail heads, fill the holes and sand the edging flush. Complete the base carcass by gluing and clamping the top and bottom to the front and back, checking for squareness as you go.

Building the Drawers

We used aspen to make the drawer sides (pieces 22) and the fronts and backs (pieces 23), but you could use other woods or even plywood to produce sturdy drawer boxes. Cut the drawer box parts to size and mill the 1/4"-wide by 3/8"-deep grooves that hold the bottoms (pieces 24). Stop the grooves on the

fronts and backs 3/8" from each end so they won't show when the boxes are assembled.

Now create a 1/4"-thick by 3/8" tongue on each end of the drawer fronts and backs. These tongues fit into the dadoes on the drawer sides (see Drawing, page 54, for locations). Cut these dadoes on your table saw, and you are ready to assemble the drawers with glue and clamps. Remember to measure diagonally for squareness, and don't glue the drawer bottoms. It's critical that the drawers are square so they engage the drawer slides properly.

The drawer faces are plywood panels (pieces 25) that are edged with mitered solid oak (piece 26). Make the faces now, but don't attach them until the drawers have been installed; that way you can align them perfectly. Installing the drawers is a matter of following the instructions that come with the drawer slides (pieces 27). However, before you can install them, you'll need to attach the casters (pieces 21), so you're working on a level surface.

Once the drawers are in, align the faces and secure them from the back with screws. Install the knobs (pieces 28) next and you're ready to make the removable blade caddy.

Constructing the Blade Caddy

Making the caddy is fairly easy because it uses the same dado setup several times. It is sized for ten 10" blades and an 8" dado blade, but you can change that to suit your own saw or collection of blades.

With the parts cut to size, plow two vertical dadoes on the inside face of the sides (pieces 29), using a 1/4"-wide dado blade set for a 3/8"-deep cut (see Joint Detail on the next page). Next, cut the dadoes for the blades and handle. The first two cuts run down the inside center of the front and back (pieces 31), then additional cuts are made to the left and right, each 1/2" on center from its neighbor.

The last operation to perform with this setup is making the grooves on the bottom of the front and back to hold the caddy bottom (piece 30). Because you're using a 1/4" dado, you'll have to take two passes. The corresponding grooves in the sides are best done on a router table, as these are stopped at each end.

Now it's time to make the tongues on the ends of the front and back. Raise the blade height to 1/2" and set the fence for a 3/8" cut, making two passes with the miter gauge.

Winter 2007

53