rmaxa

I'm looking for some help with a problem I'm having. I'm building American Doll series furniture. I started with the bed. I created a template for the head and foot board, and the Top for both the head and foot board. The material is polar, and the head/foot board are 1/4", and the top is 1/2" (see attached pictures). I'm able to us the templates to flush trim the 1/4" head/foot board, but when I try to flush trim the Top it breaks into pieces. I know I should have a hold down, but I don't think that will keep it from breaking the piece. I the first bed I had to do a lot of sanding to get the two pieces to fix correctly, and I still had to us wood filler.

Help Confused!
Rolf

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Rolf

"I love it when a plan comes together"
Hannibal Smith

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challagan

Hi Rolf, I assume since you are not clamping then you are double sticking the mateiral to the pattern. I expect that part of the problem is the relatively small work piece. Clamps very well may work better. I also assume that you have the grain running for the most part horizontally on the work piece? I would definitely try clamping it as it really would be safer as well.

I am interested in what others have to say on this subject. I would like to do something like this for some clocks. BTW, my daughter is into that American Girl stuff. She sure enjoys them! The finished bed sure looks nice though! Kids grow up to fast these days. I will let my daughter play with the dolls until she decides she doesn't want them anymore. I see to many little girls trying to make the jump to women at 11 years old!

Corey

Another thought... if the problem is the thin wood, I wonder if you double it up and make it 1/2 and cut the head and foot top at the same time??

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bobj3

Hi Rolf

I think I would try this to see if does the job,,,
Glue some 1/16" or 1/8" birch plywood on the back side, a gross grain thing to help hold the stock from breaking into pieces ...some 3M spray glue should do the trick.
Because the part(s) are not that big you could use 1/4" polar and do the same thing cross grain the two boards into one....

Bj

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Joe Lyddon

I think Bob & Rick ran into a similar situation on the show about making office goodies... IN / OUT trays, base for pen & paper clips, etc.

It was on the curved board of the IN/out tray... They did NOT route it using ONE pattern because of 1/2 of the cutting would be OK but the Other Half would have been a 'climb cut'. To solve the problem, they made a fixture where 1/2 of the board was clamped into the fixture that only cut the curved part and some of the straight cut. Then, they turned it over & clamped the other end of the board into the fixture to cut the other half. Result was that all cuts were NOT climb cuts resulting in very smooth cuts.

It may be that you will have to the same thing to really get consistent good results.

You might be on the look-out for that show on www.TheWoodworkingChannel.com and watch it waiting for the fine details you're after.

Good Luck...

rmaxa

Thanks for all your input. One thing I do need to do is make a bigger template, I have almost no place to hold the work piece. It looks like I will have to make two templates, one that does the top and the other that does the inside curve. It's the inside curve that is giving me the biggest problem. One more quick note, the grain of the wood runs the length of the template. I will try all your ideas, thanks again.
Rolf

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Rolf

"I love it when a plan comes together"
Hannibal Smith

Joe Lyddon

Rolf,

Here's a thought...

Make a fixture that will hold a rectangular piece of your stock where only the outside edge is formed for 1/2 of your desired shape. And it's clamped in place.

Take a piece, large enough to fill your space with some hanging over the outside edge.

Route 1/2 of the piece.

Flip and route the other half.

At this point, you have One finished edge of your desired result.

NOW, place a spacer in the fixture so that if the same workpiece was put back into it, it would hang over the edge far enough so that when you route again, the piece left over will be what you're after. Route as before cutting a piece off the end of the board, which is what you're after.

The first piece could be the big piece for the Header... insert spacer & route the Footer (slightly smaller by the spacer).

For the small, narrow piece, insert a spacer to get the width desired.

Would be a piece of cake!!

I hope I described good enough to understand what I was thinking.

Maurice

Hi Rolph:
One other thing..check the direction of the wood grain. If it is vertical on that long piece it will break easily.
So make sure that the grain goes the long way of the piece.
Mo.

rmaxa

Joe, don't laugh, but I made a drawing of your idea. The green piece is my template, and the orange is the rectangle piece of stock. Am I in the ball park.

Mo, the original piece is going the long way.

Thanks Rolf

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Rolf

"I love it when a plan comes together"
Hannibal Smith

Joe Lyddon

Let me describe the jig / fixture again...

The template pattern, at the open end of the jig, is for 1/2+1" (for overlap) of your pattern; the other half is just open, hanging out, and the cutting pattern stops before going into it.
Workpiece is inserted into jig, clamped, and the cut made for 1/2 of the total pattern.
Workpiece is now flipped, so the other side (uncut) lines up for the template pattern, clamped, & cut (with a little overlap) to complete the overall cut.

That is the basic cutting procedure.

Now, make the jig deep enough so that the workpiece will be a little longer than required for the project so there will be clamping wood available for the last cut.

Your Thin part looks like it may be say 1/2" high with two identical patterns on each side. (the problem cuts).

Start by positioning the workpiece in the jig (at the start) so the end will be cut off leaving the pattern.

Now, with a spacer added which is say (1/2" + the diam. of your bit) wide, the workpiece end will be hanging over the pattern end so that when you make the two cuts, you will have the this Thin part of your bed. (as well as the top cut of your next part).

Go to table saw and cutoff the workpiece board for the Footer part.

Put remaining workpiece board back into the jig & cut the pattern at the very end, again.

Go to TS to make final cut to make the Header part.

Does that make more sense now?

The grain of the workpiece wants to be going across the front of the jig.

From what Rick did on the show, to never be cutting "climb cuts", I would think that the same logic would work here. The critical cutting would be the second set of cuts for the Thin part... If that part still breaks, you may have to use a scroll of jig saw... but I'd try the jig/fixture first.

rmaxa

Thanks Joe, I think I get it. Let me try making the jigs. I'll post some picture when I get it made. One last point about this piece, the whole thing is 1/2" thick, by 1/2" high.

P.S. Did you like my freehand drawing?

Rolf

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Rolf

"I love it when a plan comes together"
Hannibal Smith