Noden Adjust-a-Bench rail question

[Doug Shepard]

I'm getting about to cut the rail for my Noden AAB legs and have a couple questions. I'll call them tomorrow and ask unless someone knows already.

The instructions say to use a 1x6, but the diagram shows a dimension of 3/4 for the thickness. I've got a piece of Cumaru that's possibly a full 1" thick or maybe just shy. Does it matter or do I need to plane it down to 3/4"? I cant see anything obvious on the leg panels that indicate it would matter but...??

Second question. If I'm interpreting the parts diagram right, the 6" width isn't critical but the 2 7/16" x 7/16" dado's nned to be spaced 4-3/4" apart. So no big deal if I don't rip my stock down to 6"?? It's around 6-1/4" or so right now. The edges are already jointed and if I dont need to rip it and rejoint it I wont.

[Jim Becker]

Doug a "1x6" is typically 3/4" thick. You should be able to engineer a true 1" thick member to work with the threaded rod stretchers. As to the second question, logically, the grooves need to match the spacing of where the rods will engage the bench end assemblies. I believe you have options there since you could also put a cabinet between them. (And Geoffrey still recommends the rods even with a cabinet)

[Doug Shepard]

Thanks Jim
I would have cut them last night if I could have verified for sure, but Italked to him this morning. Both the wider and thicker will work and are actually a bit better for stiffness since I'm using the one-rail brackets. He also suggested a couple of other things I'll have to look at tonight re: the dado depth vs rail/leg flushness and the spacers that hold the rods into the dados.