Hello – I need help!<!—-><!—-><!—->
I am making a china cabinet that will be placed on top of a hutch. It will have (I hope) a curved or convex door on each side. All has gone very well with the project until I started with the two curved doors. The doors are about 36 inch high and 16 inch wide. I have a good vacuum pressing system and know how to laminate a curve. I was planning to make them like a rail and stile door with a glass panel in the center. The glass will be 1/8 inch thick. The rail and stile set I was planning to use is from <!—-><!—-> <!—->Lee <!—-> <!—->Valley <!—-><!—->. The number is 16J68.91. <!—-><!—->
Here is the problem. How on earth do I rout the curved stiles? I feel utterly stupid not to think about this before hand. Is it possible at all or do I have to go to another mode, using a separate bit to rout the channel for the panel and then another bit or bits for the profile? But then again, how do I obtain the proper rail and stile joints in the corners. <!—-><!—->
Please help. <!—-><!—->
Stig. <!—-><!—->
<!—-> <!—->
Replies
Stig,
First thing that comes to mind is to stand the curved rails on edge, and rout or shape the rabbet using a flat cutter with bearing or collar to set depth of cut. Use the same set-up to cut rabbets in the stiles too, or use the same cutter plus a fence. Of course the profile of the mold on the face side will need to be run with the stock on edge also; don't know the Lee Valley cutter you cited will work this way or not.
Instead of a coping cutter, the corners can be coped by hand: Miter the mold on the rails as if for an inside corner, which reveals the profile of the mold. (Be aware that the rail's curved face will affect the way a miter will come together here.)Using the miter/mold interface as a guide, chop perpendicular to the edge of the rail, down to the place where the mold would be stuck on, if it were applied to the rail. This will leave a "pocket" for the rail's molding to fit into.
On the stile, cut off the mold, down from the end of the stile, by an amount equal to the width of the rail; leave the end of the mold square at a point where it will just fit into the recess you chopped into the rail.
Edit: You already got the curved glass?
Regards,
Ray
Edited 7/20/2006 2:10 pm ET by joinerswork
Thank You Ray for the advice.
After posting the message I sat down for some heavy thinking and came up with fairly much the same technique that You described. However - You did it in a clearer and more concise manner.
No I do not have the glass yet. I will make up a curved rail that I shall hand the glass company out in Carlsbad. They in turn will use the form to fit the glass to its curve. After that I will make the doors. In other words I will work with the glass as the absolute template since it can't be altered.
The reason we want a solid piece of curved glass is that we will have it etched and sandblasted with a motif later on. Leaded glass would have been easier but the customer, (my wife) will not settle for that.
Have You done something like this before? I'm asking since You came up with such a good solution in no time at all. I shall keep You informed of my process in a few weeks when I get the glass and so on. I'll do it on the same forum.
Once again, thank You for the speedy reply and interest.
Stig.
Stig,
I've got a project coming up soon that will have both curved panelled doors and curved drawer fronts. So I've been thinking the process through. The only curved glass doors I've had in the shop were repair jobs. Curved glass makes me antsy- I don't sleep well til it's out the door.
Regards,
Ray
Well Ray, the die is cast as they say. I'm too far down the creek to turn around now. So. here it is....
Today I finished band sawing and routing the four curved, (concave) stiles. They came out just fine. Next I will rout the rebate for the glass, as You suggested. The rebate will be 1/2 inch and 3/8 inch deep as per the glass company's spec's. Then I will go to the glass firm in Carlsbad and give them a duplicate of the stile so they have something to go by. In the meantime I'll cut the rails and rebate them as well. I will miter the corners, using a spline for strength. Then it is "hurry up and wait" for about two weeks. Luckily I had some 8/4 - good looking mahogany laying about in a quantity that will be enough to make all the trim on both the hutch and the china deck.
By the way, my biggest problem is and always have been that I rush in to a job without sitting down and draw a proper plan. The explanation must be that young guys like me are a bit impulsive. I am only 74 years old.
Thanks again Ray. I shall stay in touch and figure out how to post a picture of the finished product.
Stig.
Stig,
You're welcome, and good luck with the project.
Ray
Hello Joinerswork.
Long time no see as they say. I ran into trouble with my fishing cabin down in Baja California due to a big hurricane / tropical storm. The worse part of thr clean-up job is done and I'm back in my shop again.
Re: the curved glass doors, i finally have had enough time to make the laminated stiles. Next week i shall rout for the glass the way You suggested. I am going to make up a jig for the routher so that it stays flat and steady during the run. I also have figured out how to miter the corners for maximum strength. I will use splines and a jig that i have for cutting splines into picture frames.
As I said before, I shall take some picture and post them when i figure out how to do that.
Stig.
Stig,
Good luck with your project, even moreso with the pictures. Getting the things to appear here is often more than I can master.
Ray
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled