Shopsmith Forums

Ed in Tampa wrote:Yea the best thing to do with a Harbor Freight is use it for a paper weight..............Ed

Ditto that. Buy American, buy it once (most of the time:D ).

brown_hawk wrote:Stay tuned, dusty,

I'll try to post more as I bumble through making these cabinets. This next step of joining end to end two 24" joined boards should be interesting:eek:

But I will post the mistakes and findings as i run through them.

Hawk

Hi Hawk,
You have chosen an ambitious project, without a doubt! Kitchen cabinets out of hardwood panels made from short narrow pieces joined together....WOW! Keep us updated.

Do you intend to make face frames or "European" style cabinets? If you use face frame construction, be sure to allow room between the cabinets to allow them to postion together with a small gap, so that only the face frames touch. You can use spacers to fill the gap where you connect the cabinets to one another. If you plan on making "European" style cabinets, the hardwood panels may not fit tight between each cabinet, and there may be noticable gaps between the cabinets. Or, maybe you have a sander that will do those large panels? Then it wood be okay.

Hi Hawk! Well, you certainly have an ambitious project going. Your ambition is to be admired!

Ed in Tampa already said all of the stuff about router bits I was going to offer, but here is one more suggestion.

After trying chalk to mark pieces I found it didn't work very good for lasting identification. When making projects with multiple, similar sized pieces, I have found it necessary to mark them with pencil or better yet, little paper stickers. Using stickers I can identify the inside or outside of a piece (helpful for grain and color matching) - left side, right side, front or back, top or bottom. These stickers can be found at an office supply store or a stationery isle in a department store. Sometimes they don't come off easily, but that is a good thing! A little peeling, sanding or mineral spirits removes them after assembly.

Tim,

I decided to go Euro after a lot of thought. The white oak in the raised panels will then cover the sides of the cabinet, pretty much hiding any joins. Some good matching should also help.

I finally saved up enough to buy a Performax 16-32 sander to take care of the glue up differences. I also had to buy a dust collector to take care of the dust created, and bought a Jet 1-1/2 hp with the drum filter.

One of the things you learn on a project like this is the tools you need to make the project. I've sanded down joined boards before, but this many needs a little more automation if I plan to have them done in a reasonable time frame.

And I am building up things that will help keep me busy in retirement. As someone noted in another thread here, getting it while I have some disposable income is good. I've been doing this accumulation for some time, waiting for stuff on sale, etc.

And this comes to the next lesson learned, this while I was doing a little clean up yesterday.

Lesson: The SS DC3300 moves around the shop much more easily than the greater volume Jet Dust Collector.

After getting the Jet, I was going to sell the DC and just use the Jet. But now I will keep the DC for general cleanup. It's just easier to use that way. The Jet is a good machine, and I can see the difference when attached to the router station, jointer and saw. But the DC will stay.

So another lesson might be: If you buy a replacement, don't be in too much of a hurry to get rid of the old one if it still works.

charlese

You are correct sir! I picked up the chalk idea for short term use. Essentially, pick the wood for the board, mark it in chalk, get the board glued together, THEN use the masking tape, paper, etc to mark what goes where.

That way the glued up board doesn't have pencil marks all over it which might distract from new pencil marks you now need.

Of course, Drew has now shown us how to get pencil marks off without sanding, but I've got a whole box of chalk now, so I might as well use it.

I appreciate your bringing that up and making it clearer that chalk is a VERY temporary marking tool. I mentioned in my original post that I had to renew the marks after drilling, but I left it at that.

I started this post to help people learn from my mistakes, and to pick up tips from others. I don't know if anybody has learned anything from me, but I've already learned from you guys!;)

Hawk

Hawk
Since you are in Dayton, will we be able to visit you and your shop when the Shopsmith summer get together occurs? Maybe lunch or dinner with a few Shopsmithers on the weekend between classes.

billmayo wrote:Hawk
Since you are in Dayton, will we be able to visit you and your shop when the Shopsmith summer get together occurs? Maybe lunch or dinner with a few Shopsmithers on the weekend between classes.

If you can stand the mess the house is in.

And I wasn't kidding when I said that half the basement was taken up in wood. Although by then, some of it should be in cabinets.

Hawk