Panel question type thing...

[Jason Quick]

I'm getting ready to build a bed for my little girl - a Mission/Craftsman/whatever you call it captain's bed. As such, I'll be needing to construct panels for the head and footboards. I was figuring on either 1/4 or 1/2" MDF veneered with some nice curly red oak veneer I've got.

Easy enough, right? Thing is, I've never done panels before, and I'm perturbed by a scenario in my reptilian little brain that I probably already know the answer to::o

I get the panels laid up, sized and ready to go. Let's say they're 1/4". I have slots cut in my rails with a 1/4" bit on the router table. Wait...what? How's that gonna work? If the MDF is 1/4", and the veneer is 1/20" (2 sides @ 1/40" each), I come up with 0.3".

AFAIK, no one makes a 0.3" router bit. Do I just have to wing it? I don't know if I can sneak up 0.05".

Any suggestions are most appreciated.

Jason

[Dan Rider]

I'm thinking of a raised panel made with a backcutter. While its primary purpose is to offset the panel in the frame, it also sizes the panel's edge to 1/4" The same principle could be used to size your panels. Mill 0.05" off of the inside face, either with a backcutter raised panel bit or a simple rabbet. Of course it will alter the look of the panel from the inside.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Jason, you can simply make the first pass (0.25") and move your router table fence just a smidgen (that's the technical term for 0.05") and take another pass. It really doesn't have to be exact (and with wood, exact is a figurative term). The wood you're cutting the dados (slots) in will potentially swell and shrink a bit, so I don't think you want thefit to be too tight anyway.

Try making the dado cut on a piece or two of scrap until you feel comfortable making the fence adjustment, but it really is easier than it sounds on paper. Personally, I seldom measure things down to the kind of tolerances you're thinking of...I have pretty good results using my eye and my fingertips (for feel). I'll get it within 1/16" to 1/32" or so, then trim to fit as needed. Sneaking up on 0.05" isn't as hard as it might seem.

I hope this helps -

- Vaughn

[Dev Emch]

I'm getting ready to build a bed for my little girl - a Mission/Craftsman/whatever you call it captain's bed. As such, I'll be needing to construct panels for the head and footboards. I was figuring on either 1/4 or 1/2" MDF veneered with some nice curly red oak veneer I've got.

Easy enough, right? Thing is, I've never done panels before, and I'm perturbed by a scenario in my reptilian little brain that I probably already know the answer to::o

I get the panels laid up, sized and ready to go. Let's say they're 1/4". I have slots cut in my rails with a 1/4" bit on the router table. Wait...what? How's that gonna work? If the MDF is 1/4", and the veneer is 1/20" (2 sides @ 1/40" each), I come up with 0.3".

AFAIK, no one makes a 0.3" router bit. Do I just have to wing it? I don't know if I can sneak up 0.05".

Any suggestions are most appreciated.

Jason
I thought that amana and a couple others just came out with a new stackable groover bit made just for this problem. Check the last three or four issues of FWW. Oh yah, not the dribble but the adverts. Or call amana and ask them. Bits work similar to a shim stackable shaper cutter only smaller and there is no hole. For some reason, I also recall Freud pushing these as well.