Spaceball Spacing

[Jan Bianchi]

I'm working on a cherry country hutch, the bottom case of which is made of raised panels (solid cherry), styles and rails. I've used spaceballs before, and I've read all the threads here about spaceballs. The plan I'm using does not call for spaceballs. I've already modified the panels by making them 1/8 inch smaller on all sides as the spaceball instructions specify. But the plan calls for a 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch groove in the styles and rails for the panels. Most of the threads here refer to a 1/4 " groove, but it's not clear whether they mean 1/4 wide or 1/4 deep grooves.) With a 1/4 deep groove, once you get the spaceballs in there (.26), there's no room for the panel's tongue. I don't think I should compress them because, if I do, there won't be anything left to compress should the wood swell next summer. Should I be making the grooves in the styles and rails 1/4" wide, but 3/8" deep? Something else?

Thanks in advance.

[Tom Veatch]

Typically the tongue on the panel is 1/4 wide x 3/8 long and the matching groove in the rail/stile is 1/4 wide x 3/8 deep. You are shortening the tongue to accommodate the space ball. The groove should be cut as if spaceballs were not being used: 1/4 wide x 3/8 deep.

[Jan Bianchi]

Thanks Tom. Makes sense.

[Don Morris]

Tom, I get from your response "as if spaceballs were not being used", you plan no space to acommodate for the spaceballs?

[Cody Colston]

Tom, I get from your response "as if spaceballs were not being used", you plan no space to acommodate for the spaceballs?

The 1/8" gap between panel width and groove depth is the accommodation for the Spaceballs...actually accommodation for panel movement but it amounts to the same thing.

The Spaceballs will be slightly compressed which prevents the panel moving and rattling in the frame but allows for seasonal expansion/contraction.

[Larry Edgerton]

To quell your concerns, take a Spaceball and squize it with a pair of pliers. You will see that it just about disappears easily. I have used them for years and never had an issue, and I did not change the way I built doors.

Before Spaceballs I used a little dab of silicone caulk to do the same thing.