Got lots of them to make for a gun cabinet. Today, I'm building a quick jig for sizing them so I can use a router. 

The bean counter that came up with the idea for undersized plywood should be gut shot and hung! 

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

A big 10-4 on the undersized plywood.  You order 1/4" you would expect 1/4" - - - - Then again, what do you get when you order a 1 X 6 board?????

Will awaiting your pix, Gene

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Fred
aka Pop's Shop
www.pops-shop.com
'Soooooo many patterns - sooooo little time'
Scroll Saw Forum Host

Right there with you on that one Gene.

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John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

Nah I say we make him build his own cabinets with no 11/16th router bit

 

Here ya go, Fred.

First pic shows the jig with two pieces of 3/4 scrap between the guides. Just snug up the guides and lock it down with the wing nuts.

After the two guide parts are constructed, the 1/8 piece where the router rides (bearing against the scrap) is trimmed with the router and bit that will be used for the dadoes. So, it will only work with the same bit and same router used to trim.

Here it is with the router and a 3/8 bit. Just rout up one side and down the other.

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

Might just have to make me up a jig like that. Have a few simple cabinets to make and a little big for the table saw.

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Harry Brink
Bulldog Woodworking
Montana

The bean counter that came up with the idea for undersized plywood should be gut shot and hung! 

Are you sure that it's not a metric size masquerading as inch standard?

I will only do routered dadoes when I need a stopped slot.  It's just too much fuss and bother to make and set the jig when I can shove my saw through the pass with repeatability between boards as close as 0.005" 

I have in fact done stopped slots on the saw as well, but one needs the room to accommodate the radius of the dado cutter.

Nope, it's not metric. 

Got 6 dadoes to do on odd angled stock. And, 6 more to do on 17"X66" stock. Don't like cutting anything that long on my dinky saw table. Plus, my dado set is in the shop for grinding so it'll cut flat bottoms. 

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

I like Mike's idea.

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Ron Dudelston
Site Administrator

Above and Beyond WoodWorks

You could get a set of Freud 89-670 router bits.  Of course there is no guarantee that the undersize bits will actually mate to your undersize plywood.

This is funny: They mess with the plywood and then the router bits  have to be smaller and you  just know that before too long they'll mess with the plywood again and of course that means  new  smaller router bits and later on ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I'd guess  you are stuck with making two passes with a smaller cutter. Anyway don't forget to use a down cut spiral to eliminate chip out.

Cliff, you are so correct! There is a difference between, say 1/2" BB and oak ply. There's even a difference between veneer core ply and solid core or MDF core from the same supplier. Don't know if it's the same manufacturer, though.

Another reason to make the jig is to easily size dadoes for solid wood, which, as we all know, can vary from project to project. 

I do use a 3/8 DC spiral. 

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

I stumbled across this very informative  - and discouraging - article on plywood.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/basics/choose_the_righ...

It's informative because  - - well it is.

It's discouraging because it reinforces the "you get what you pay for" fact of life that so many of us would love to find exceptions to. You know - - like that myth that there is a good bottle of wine for less than twenty bucks?

I keep telling myself that if the French would just grow more grapes wine could be cheap as beer. But that too is  wrong.

Thanks for the link, Cliff. Although my measurements were not nearly as extensive, I find the same sorts of variations. 

Originally, I thought of using the "fix" they suggest, that is thinning the tongue to fit an undersized dado, but I discarded that as unwieldy, mistake prone and too time consuming. 

Isn't Ripple or Mogen David considered "good" wine? Or, is the memory of those college days a bit rosy? :-)

I'm not really sure that they used actual grapes in Ripple. 

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

Isn't Ripple or Mogen David considered "good" wine?

They are nothing  compared to Richard's Wild Irish Rose.  Which comes in red or white now.

Dadoes? What the hell are dadoes? Well Actually I know what dadoes are. For the most part I gave those up 10 to 12 years ago. I still use them once in a while here and there but not many. When I did make a lot of dadoes I always used a dado blade on the table saw. I tried the router a time or two but I did better and was faster on the saw. With today plywood sometimes varying in thickness between and withing the same sheet I didn't try to make them to snug. I would  randomly check a few sheet and go a fuzz bigger that the thickest piece I found.Â

For the past 10-12 years I just use butt joints and screws mostly. With a little practice indexing cabinet parts without dadoes isn't all that hard. It helps to have a flat assembly table. I tack the box together with a brad nailer, I use spacers if I need and intermediate fixed shelf or divider. Once parts are tacked in place is very easy to fine tune any misaligned parts with a rubber hammer and then drive my screws.Â

Some may call me a hack or point out dadoes are stronger and maybe they are. My long term experience with butt joint and screws has convinced me butt joint and screws are strong enough. I build a lot of cabinets and book shelves that go into class room and offices in the school district where the teachers load them down with paper and books like you would not believe and the hold up fine.Â

Here's some photo of some kitchen cabinet I'm currently building in my home shop. If you look close you'll not see and dadoes.Â

Â

Â

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Somewhere in Kenya.... a village is missing its idiot!

Alaskans for Gobble Warming

Must be good stuff 'cause it doesn't come in a cardboard box.

Cliff said:

Isn't Ripple or Mogen David considered "good" wine?

They are nothing  compared to Richard's Wild Irish Rose.  Which comes in red or white now.

Must be good stuff 'cause it doesn't come in a cardboard box.

The container has that whiskey-bottle look which appeals to discriminating  winos everywhere.

Struggling out of the morass of  booze and bottles - - - - - - - - - - and back to some semblance of the OT.

So Gene, What did you do? Get a down cut  spiral cutter  in a  smaller size and build a  jug  ( Oops Jig) ?

Cliff,

It's early. The Ripple is only half empty.

What was your question?

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

That's a nice jig and it works very well!

I found I had to slightly modify the base on my Porter Cable router. The plastic base is round but not perfectly centered on the router housing. Ground a flat side on the plastic base to assure keeping the same side of the router against the edge guides of the jig.

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

Richard,

May I ask how you made the edge trim on the "Lazy Susans" in the first picture?

Thanks.Â

Richard McComas said:

Dadoes? What the hell are dadoes? Well Actually I know what dadoes are. For the most part I gave those up 10 to 12 years ago. I still use them once in a while here and there but not many. When I did make a lot of dadoes I always used a dado blade on the table saw. I tried the router a time or two but I did better and was faster on the saw. With today plywood sometimes varying in thickness between and withing the same sheet I didn't try to make them to snug. I would  randomly check a few sheet and go a fuzz bigger that the thickest piece I found.Â

For the past 10-12 years I just use butt joints and screws mostly. With a little practice indexing cabinet parts without dadoes isn't all that hard. It helps to have a flat assembly table. I tack the box together with a brad nailer, I use spacers if I need and intermediate fixed shelf or divider. Once parts are tacked in place is very easy to fine tune any misaligned parts with a rubber hammer and then drive my screws.Â

Some may call me a hack or point out dadoes are stronger and maybe they are. My long term experience with butt joint and screws has convinced me butt joint and screws are strong enough. I build a lot of cabinets and book shelves that go into class room and offices in the school district where the teachers load them down with paper and books like you would not believe and the hold up fine.Â

Here's some photo of some kitchen cabinet I'm currently building in my home shop. If you look close you'll not see and dadoes.Â

Â

Â

---

Somewhere in Kenya.... a village is missing its idiot!

Alaskans for Gobble Warming

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!