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Panel glue up advice

1518 Views 5 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  tomp913, 
J
For my next project I bought Mike Pekovich's plan for the Essential tool chest. It should be a good learning experience. Lots of hand cut dovetails, wedged through mortise and tenon and panels with rails/stiles.

I have four 3/4" thick panels to glue up. Joining a 7 1/2" to a 5" maple board to give me 12 1/2" wide by 24" long. I am using parallel clamps, a wood caul and c clamps on the ends to hold the panels aligned. I don't have a biscuit jointer.

Does anyone have plans for a glue up table? or other suggestions where/how to put the clamps on. This is working but there must be a better way.

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Cherryville Chuck
Splining will help with alignment and cutting the grooves on a TS is fairly quick work. !/4 ply would make a good spline. Otherwise, you are doing what most of us do when we glue up a panel. One issue if you will be doing a raised panel though is whether you will wind up cutting into a biscuit or groove.
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D
What you have shown is a sound approach. It is critical to have a level surface for your clamps and a table saw is a great choice. Two cauls would be better IMO but that is not a big glue-up size wise so one is probably OK. Dowels are another option instead of splines. There are a number of dowel jigs available that register very accurately to keep the boards aligned. Jessem make an excellent one. JessEm™ Dowelling Jig - Lee Valley Tools
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T
Charles got it right about the plywood spline, for this project more of just a precautionary thing and a bit of practice, and I agree with Dennis about a couple more cauls.
Other wise, looks good to me. Pretty much how I'd do it.

The easier you want to make this process, the deeper its gonna dig into your pocket. And let me tell ya, it begins to dig deep fast.

Besides, after about the first 15-20 thousand panel glue-ups, it starts to become second nature :)
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DonkeyHody
I agree that what you have looks just fine. For a panel with only one joint, especially that short, I don't even use cauls. I just start at one end and align at the first clamp as I tighten it. Then, work my way to the other end, aligning and tightening as I go. After about an hour, I'll release the clamps and shave off the glue squeeze-out with an old chisel while it's still soft. A little extra attention at the joint line with the sander, and you're good to go.
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T
I saw an article - can't find it at the moment - where the author used several pieces of PVC pipe to raise the glued panel off the workbench and allow him to slip the clamps under the panel as he worked. The pipe would be parallel to the clamps, perpendicular to the boards. I would be using pipe clamps for the job - don't have enough of the big fancy clamps - so probably 1-1/2" PVC would allow clearance to slide the clamps under the wood. And the glue won't stick to the PVC which is a bonus...........
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