Thread: WIP - Maloof inspired rocker

Originally Posted by ajw

Very hot day to be working in your garage today! You must be very keen.

Enjoying watching this take shape.

Cheers,

ajw

Thanks!

It was hot but I had the doors open and the fan going so it wasn't too bad.....

I've now started working on the rear leg joinery. The rear leg needs a two sided dado that fits the tenon cut on the seat corners.

The most common way is to cut these out on the table saw. You need to be very precise to ensure both dados line up perfectly. I was not that keen on this method so I decided to make a jig that I saw online.

This first step was to make a small block that is the exact thickness of the tenon. I used hand planes to sneak up on the fit.

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Then lightly clamped two right angle plywood pieces together with the small block in between. This will give me the correct dado width.

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I attached the second support piece and tested it. It fits like a glove!

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This jig will clamp over my rear legs and I can rout out the two sided dado (after repositioning the clamps). I need to do a few test cuts to get the right depth (1/2"). This joint is exposed on the sides so it's worth spending a bit of extra time getting the perfect fit.

I'll post a pic as soon as I use the jig on the legs.

I snuck in about an hour of workshop time this morning before work. I've fine tuned my router so it's cutting a hair under 1"2. Although 1/2" is my target, I'm much more comfortable using a router plane to remove the last of the material to get a perfect fit.

I used my table saw with a mitre gauge to remove the bulk of the material and stayed away from the material. You can see how awkward it is to cut and why I wasn't all that keen to cut the actual joint on the saw.

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I used chisels to remove a little more material. The router bit I'm using is bearing guided and will run along the plywood jig to create the dado. The bearing however just makes contact with the jig so I'll need to make the cut in one pass at full depth. This is reason for removing as much material as possible otherwise I'll put too much stress on the router bit.

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It was all set up and ready or the router when my alarm went off to go and get ready for work.

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Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the first rear leg joint compete.

Cheers!

Originally Posted by groeneaj

.....Now the blade is not tracking properly. This has been ever since I installed a 1"4" blade. I need to spend some time adjusting and tuning the bandsaw......

This would normally be the case when using different blades.

I finished the first rear leg joint this morning. After routing out the dado I rounded over the inside corner to match the seat joint.

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I'm pretty happy with the fit. This is what it looks like without fine tuning the joint. As you can see there is a hairline gap on the outer edge. This probably tells me that the round over bit needs to be raised slightly but I'll just fine tune it with scrapers.

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Cheers!

My bandsaw is still giving me headaches! I can't cut in a straight line (I'm not using a fence) and it wanders off my line.

I've installed the 1/4" blade so it's running in the middle of the wheels (the crown). I've rotated the wheels by hand with the guides well clear and adjusted the wheel knob. The top and bottom guides are then set about 1mm from the blade. I've also set the blade tension to the 1/4" mark.

Anyone got any thoughts as to what is happening? The bandsaw is a Hammer N4400.

Cheers

Try bringing the wheels in while rotating the upper wheel until the bearing starts to spin. Back the bearing off to where it just doesn't spin. Then any sideways pressure on the blade will cause them to spin. Same for the thrust bearing. So I'd say my bearings would be half a mm away from the blade. Closer than some recommend but it cuts pretty darn straight.

Originally Posted by hurcorh

Try bringing the wheels in while rotating the upper wheel until the bearing starts to spin. Back the bearing off to where it just doesn't spin. Then any sideways pressure on the blade will cause them to spin. Same for the thrust bearing. So I'd say my bearings would be half a mm away from the blade. Closer than some recommend but it cuts pretty darn straight.

I actually tried this method this morning without reading your post.

I adjusted the lower and upper guides so the tip of the blade was not between the guides. And while rotating the wheel by hand I noticed one of the guides was moving so I adjusted that and it seems to be cutting better. I also cranked up the tension a bit more.

Although it's cutting straighter I wouldn't say I'm overly pleased with the results. Maybe it's because I'm cutting 50mm thick material? I'm about to change blades again so I'll see how it goes with the 1/2".

Cheers.

The bandsaw was cutting straight enough to rough out the back slats. These slats will now receive quite a bit of attention with my Galahad wheel and rasps. The ends are left a bit longer but I'll be using tenon cutters to create 1/2" tenons that will attach to the seat and headrest.


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Now the rear leg joinery is pretty much complete I've started removing excess material.

I used a small paint can to draw on curves and removed the material on the bandsaw.


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I'll eventually be using a die grinder to blend the curves in with the seat.

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What sort of blade are you using Andy? Is it clean? Resin on it will cause it to drift. A 2" cut shouldn't be a problem.

Just read your earlier post. A 1/4" blade won't hold its line as well as 1/2" or bigger.

Originally Posted by AlexS

What sort of blade are you using Andy? Is it clean? Resin on it will cause it to drift. A 2" cut shouldn't be a problem.

Just read your earlier post. A 1/4" blade won't hold its line as well as 1/2" or bigger.

Hi Alex,

It's a brand new 1/4" blade from Henry Bros.

I tested it on some 12mm ply and it cut pretty straight. I ended up using it today and it performed ok. I'm about to change back over to my 1/2" so I'll see how I go.

I couldn't help myself... I had to dry fit the legs to see how it looked. There is obviously a ton of sculpting to do but I'm happy so far.

You can see impact that the 6 degree adder block has on the rear legs. This now means I need to cut the bottom of the legs at 6 degrees to have a flush fit with the rockers.

My course Holey Galahad wheel also arrived today so I'll stop procrastinating and start carving out the seat. Part of the reason I haven't started yet is because I'm deviating from the plans and changing the front seat profile.


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I had some more practice with the grinding wheels this morning. I'm really surprised as to how much control there is particularly with the course wheel.


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Tomorrow I'm hoping to start on the seat. If you don't hear from me in a while it's because I've stuffed the seat up!