So, this is my attempt at providing an interim update on my Robland X31 combination machine and Laguna LT16HD Bandsaw. I purchased these as a package deal from Laguna about 6 months ago. I decided it would be more interesting if I combined this with a project report so, for this first installment I will cover making a Federal Period style card table mainly from plans published by Steve Latta in FFW # 180, December 2005, as can be seen in picture #1 (FCT1).
I chose some curly cherry I bought at Steve Wall lumber for my primary building material and pine for the brick laid skirt. I decided that I would make veneer to cover the skirt (1/16") and top (3/16") to extend the value of the curly cherry. This first installment will cover most of the construction of the base. I use the X31 to plane one side of the 9+' wide curly cherry flat and then veneer cut on the LT16HD. To make the brick laid section for the skirt I used sections of pine that were about 1' in length and cut to a 22.5* angle at both ends using the sliding table on the X31 (FCT2). I laid these out for a dry fit on top of a full-size pattern I drew on some 3/4" MDF (FCT3). Everything fit perfectly so, I just did a "rubbed" fit using TB3 since it has longer open time.
In the next picture you see the glued up brick laid skirt about to make a trip around the LT16HD. I made a jig for turning the skirt out of some scrap plywood and pine which worked just fine for making this cut. In FCT5 you can see the outside portion of the skirt after completing the cut and before adding the veneer. I was a little concerned about everything coming out nice a square but, as you can see I had no problems. I kept the fall off from this cut so I could use it as a caul when gluing on the veneer face. In picture FCT10 you can see the clamping rig I ended up with in doing the skirt veneering. This worked very well and prevented me from needing to make a caul that wouldn't likely be used again for a long time.
The legs for the table require use of a mortice and tennon joint in one set of legs (back lateral) and saddle joints in the two front legs. Additionally, the back legs require a stop dado to be cut in the legs where they overlap the skirt (see FCT 13s). I used the morticer on the X31 to make the mortices, cut the stop dados and make the saddle joints in the legs (FCT9 & FCT8s)). I really like the morticer on this machine and am constantly finding new opportunities to put it to use. In FCT7 you can see the veneer on the skirt. I soaked the veneer in hot water for about 30 minutes prior to putting it into the bending and gluing jig.
This project also calls for the back legs to be hinged to they can swing out to support the table when the top is opened to full size. This requires you to make two wood hinges to accomplish the task as can be seen in the picture FCT15s taken from the backside of the base. The one in the picture was not my first attempt. The hard part about this is that you have to make certain that the hole you drill for the brass hinge is absolutely 90* to the run of the hinge and that it is also perfectly parallel to the faces (FCT15s) or else when the legs pivot back they will be off plane for the top. FCT 12s shows a frontal view of the base with the legs dry fitted.
So, that's it for the first installment. The machines have been wonderful to use and had few if any shortcomings. The LT16HD bandsaw may be flawless. It has more power than I will likely ever need, tons of resaw capacity and no downfalls that I can figure so far. The X31 is the swiss army knife of woodworking. The sliding table saw function is extremely accurate and smooth. The angle adjustment on the sliding table is a little awkward to adjust but, nothing major. The jointer and planer functions are exceptional with the planer having a steel feed roller and the jointer has proved accurate. The jointer fence is rather large and unwieldy to remove and replace but, I guess that's to be expected in a combination machine (see FCT 11s). I have not used the shaper yet. It comes with a spindle for both 3/4" cutters as well as 11/4" cutters. The morticer is a dream to use and may be one of my favorite tools.
More to come in the next installment: completion of the construction of the table and finishing... Your comments, critiques and suggestions are welcome.
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