Thread: WIP - Maloof inspired rocker

Originally Posted by Nanigai

As you say, it does grind away wood really fast Andy but I think you'll find you will still need a dust mask to keep it down or out side with a big fan behind you

Don't get me wrong, this is a great piece of kit but I found it isn't as efficient as I expected.

Cheers, Ian

I used it for about two days when I first got it at the start of the year. Dust extraction isn't as good as a random orbital (I'd say it picks up about 70-80%). I found most of the dust that doesn't get picked up by the DE just fell beneath where I was working. When using the galahad wheel on the grinder, dust would fly around all over the shop. My room filter was working overtime. I still wear a dust mask and open door/turn fan on.

It does take a little while to get used with the rotating dust shroud but I'm very pleased with it. I'd say with more experience with rotating the handle/shroud, dust extraction can be improved. But I agree it's not perfect. Combined with the rotex it's a very handy tool to have.

So I finally got a chance to start gluing the legs. I think it's best to glue the front legs first then after they're dry, glue the rear legs. This was way I'm not rushing.

I'm using west system epoxy 206 and 105 mixed with 403 microfibre blend. This gives the epoxy a thicker consistency which makes the epoxy even stronger.

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There's plenty of sculpting to be done around the leg joints so I'm not too fussed about squeeze out.

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Great to see you back at it Andy.

Hope all the family is going well, and not too much sleep deprivation.

Rear legs are now glued up. Now I can start blending in the leg to seat joints and making the rocker look more refined. I'm hoping for a good workshop session on Sunday, but with a new born child now I can't say that with confidence anymore....!

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Originally Posted by shanesmith80

Great to see you back at it Andy.

Hope all the family is going well, and not too much sleep deprivation.

Thanks mate, things are going really well. I think we are really lucky that she's sleeping well at night so far. The first few weeks was a test and I felt like I was at recruit training again being woken up every few hours!

Originally Posted by groeneaj

Thanks mate, things are going really well. I think we are really lucky that she's sleeping well at night so far. The first few weeks was a test and I felt like I was at recruit training again being woken up every few hours!

It's called "L" Plates for parents Andy and WOW it's a big and sometimes very steep learning curve....saying that, we have done it and survived as will you with your best girls....

I took the clamps off today and positioned the rocker so I can start sculpting. I dry fitted the arms to see how it would look when I realised that I now have a gap between the arm and leg joint. I must have clamped it in such a way that skewed the leg, therefore creating a gap.

Just wondering if anyone had some ideas on how to fix it? The left arm is much worse than the right.

At this stage I'm considering:

1- Glue the dowel in the arm and reposition the arm so it's flush against the rear leg. Then mark out and drill for the dowel. The only problem is the left arm (pictured) is skewed which means the front of the arm does not sit over the front leg. Not sure if there is a way around this?

2- Use a wedge and glue it in with walnut tinted epoxy. Not sure how this will turn out?

3- Plane material from the rear leg and arm so it sits flush and gap free again. This will then slightly shorten the length of the arm, which means I'll have to glue, fill and drill the hole for the dowel again.

4- Just make the arms again. I don't have enough walnut for the arms so I'll have to buy more which means I'm not guaranteed a colour match.

So out to you folks. What do ya reckon?


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Hard to say what the best option would be. Given the amount of work you've put in so far, if it were me, I think I'd remake the arms.

Bugger!

cheers,

ajw

Bummer!,

Personally,I'd be adding a piece/wedge onto the back leg between leg and the arm if you don't want to remake the arms. By doing this, the relationship between the arm and the front leg remains the same. I guess the arm will be dowelled to the back leg?
Looking at the gap, it's quite small so it's not going to stand out but I'm not sure I would epoxy it, but use a less obvious glue as it's not going to be strength bearing if dowelled.

JMO.

Would it be possible to apply heat to the joint and take it apart again? Epoxy softens nicely with a bit of heat

Remake the arms to fit me thinks. A wedge will bug you into eternity.

Originally Posted by groeneaj

3- Plane material from the rear leg and arm so it sits flush and gap free again. This will then slightly shorten the length of the arm, which means I'll have to glue, fill and drill the hole for the dowel again.

So out to you folks. What do ya reckon?

My brain is a little "addled" at the moment BUT I remember seeing a YouTube clip solving the same issue but at the joint between the bottom of the leg and the rocker. The clip implied that this issue was very common and that the joint needed to be 'mated' before the dowel was drilled? The solution was to use cloth backed sandpaper and draw it repeatedly through the gap reshaping one side of the join until both faces mated?
I remember thinking at the time that I should remember this because "one day, I'm going to need this".......!

Originally Posted by NCArcher

Would it be possible to apply heat to the joint and take it apart again? Epoxy softens nicely with a bit of heat

Not sure if this is possible Tony? I don't think I could get adequate heat to the whole joint.


My initial reaction was to remake the arms but thought I'd see if it can be fixed first. Removing material with a plane and drilling for the dowel again seems the most logical solution, but still not sure. I suppose I can give it a shot and if it doesn't work out how I'd like, I'll just remake the arms?

I used the cloth sand paper method that Fletty posted on my Merbau bench seat arms but I hadn't drilled the dowels for the arms to front legs yet. It certainly worked to give a gap free match between the rear of the arm and the rear upright. The only problem was maintaining an exact alignment re arm height and rotation.