Looking for tips on realizing this dado'd case design

[bill epstein]

Seems pretty straightforward to do on the table saw with a featherboard which is what has me worried:D

Anyone done this and can warn against potential pitfalls or tips to ensure the dadoes line up all around a case I'm building? Not the Turn Table, I just have always liked the look.

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[Paul F Franklin]

IIWM, I'd assemble the case and then plough the grooves, rotating the case 90 degrees after each cut. I'd use a backup block for each cut to minimize tearout.

[Brian Tymchak]

+1. The trick will be cutting the grooves centered on the panel and also with equal spacing. To center the grooves on the panel, cut the first groove on all sides, then flip the case and cut the 4th groove, without changing the fence. Add a spacer of appropriate thickness on the fence, and cut grooves 2 and 3 as you cut grooves 1 and 4.

Experiment with test pieces to get the spacing right.

[Robert Hazelwood]

It looks like the four pieces are joined with miters. So if your stock is dimensioned very accurately you can plow all of the grooves and then assemble, doing the assembly on a flat surface and making sure each stick is pressed down firmly at each corner. You will need to keep track of reference edges.

But even with all of that its difficult not to have a little misalignment in glue-up. So I would favor cutting them after assembly.

[Jim Becker]

Groove the stock while it's still a blg, long piece of material and then cut/miter for the casework, carefully marking the pieces so you have grain continuity through the corners. Only one may be slightly different...opposite ends of the board...and you can reduce that by using straight/rift grain material for the case. Put that one corner on the backside of the project where it will be least noticeable. Using this method should result in perfect alignment.

[Jim Dwight]

If you make the grooves while it is a long board, the risk is the wood wandering away from the rip fence slightly varying the position. A feather board should help significantly with that. If you assemble first, you actually have a similar risk but also have to deal with the height of the piece potentially wanting to tilt against the fence which will also shift the groove position. I haven't done this detail before but I ran into the tilting issue sawing the lid off a box. A tall fence should help but you probably can't rig a feather board up high and low. So I would probably cut the grooves in the board before cutting the miters and use a feather board.

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Jim; mill the stock and then make the frame out of it. The disappointment of a tearout on the last pass of the assembled piece can be pretty intense ;-). If you have trouble with miters then as an alternative with some tearout risks, mill the grooves after assembly. Backer material, well clamped and swapped for new for each pass will help the odds of tearout free cuts.

[Jim Becker]

Aside from it being easier to mill the grooves in a long, single board, the other advantage is that wrapping a single board for a case frame like that is superior visually...it kicks the project up a level, IMHO. Choose the right board and..."wow" can happen.

[Doug Garson]

One rule of thumb that applies here. Do the operation you are most concerned about first. That way, if you mess it up you have the least amount of work invested in the piece if you have to scrap it.

[glenn bradley]

Jim makes a good point that I overlooked. Hey, what am I? The Jim Becker Cheer Squad!?!

Anyway, a figure that does not wrap is OK:

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But, a figure that does wrap kicks things up a notch:

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