Panel Glue up options question

[Scott Davis]

Hello,
I haven't had to glue up many panels before and had a few questions. I am building my shop and my resources are a good table saw well tuned, a bisciut joiner, lots of pipe clamps, bar clamps (no Bessey's), and some of the 4 way clamping system clamps my Dad used to use I guess. I need to glue up a 24" wide panel, 24" long for a table top. I have 6" wide boards. I do not have a jointer or planer and that is my question. Is there any way to satisfactorily do this with my current resources? I am looking around for Bessey's, Jointer, planer, but that won't happen right away (Craigslist scanning). Can I trust my saw (PM 66 with WWII blade) to rip the boards straight enough to glue up? I saw somewhere about ripping the boards "face to face" but did not understand what exactly the mechanics of that are. I was going to just rip the boards and glue them up with bar clamps using cauls originally, then finish then up with a belt sander/scraper. WIll that not work?
thanks

[Bill Huber]

If you have a good rip blade you can do it with the table saw with no problem. I have a Freud Glue Line Rip and the cut is as smooth as it can be.

I would cut the boards face to face as you have suggested and here is why.

Lets say you set you ts blade at 90 degrees, but it is not really 90 degrees, when you cut face to face then you glue them together it will make no difference.

258661

[John TenEyck]

Well, you still have to start with a really straight edge in order for your TS to make the other one straight. IMHO, the odds of getting edges that mate perfectly directly off the TS is pretty low, although I know many say they can do it; maybe I'm just really picky. A router and a straight edge, however, would do a great job of giving you straight edges at 90 deg. And long ago, before there were power tools, furniture makers used hand planes to shoot straight and square edges on boards. The good news is that process still works.

John

[glenn bradley]

To answer your last question first, yes that will work. The unasked question that Bill and John are helping you with is "will it work well enough?" Bill and John's methods are both sound but, both rely on having a flat reference surface. Take a look at Bill's drawing and imagine what happens to that angle between the table and the blade when the face of the material resting against the table teeter-totters due to the board face being warped. The same holds true for John's router solution. The router cut would be perpendicular to the board face but, if the face isn't flat, the edge isn't either.

Pardon me while I ramble on a bit; both methods will work to the degree that the reference face is reliable. If that is good enough for you to mate the edges to your satisfaction, you're all set. I have been faced (no pun intended) with this problem due to stock thickness that won't tolerate adequate face jointing to achieve "flat". In that case I will split the difference to some extent by jointing the edges (with the boards face to face but, not forced flat) using a hand plane. This is similar to Bill's face to face tablesaw method shown above.

An additional "save" is to route a slot in the now jointed edges using the "show" face as the reference surface. Add a spline to aid in alignment during glue-up. It is never wise to force edges together that do not meet correctly nor to crush joints together through heavy clamping pressure during assembly. This almost assuredly results in out of square assemblies when the clamps are removed and the material shifts under the new forced-joinery stresses. Work to get the edges to meet while the boards are setting unclamped on the bench. The closer you get to a happy coexistence without clamps, the better your result will be when you remove them.

All this is worth exactly what you paid for it :rolleyes:.

[Sam Murdoch]

Work to get the edges to meet while the boards are setting unclamped on the bench. The closer you get to a happy coexistence without clamps, the better your result will be when you remove them.


That is the wise woodworker quote of the day !

[Charles Wiggins]

http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/resource/TablesawTechniques/Jointing/index.html

[Scott Davis]

Many thanks! Some sage advice. All my projects have been ply and frame, so panels are new. I appreciate everyone's time.
Here's to building up the resources in the shop. Now if someone would just find me a place to put 50 tricycles, bicycles, wagons, and all other manner of plastic toys, I may even have room for a planer and jointer some day!
Scott