Thread: Channel cutting a dowel?

You could cut 45* V ina wider pice of timber so th when th dowel is placed in the top of the dowel is level with the top of the flat piece of timber.

Anchor at least one end with a small slat - think paddle pop stick- that goes across the end of the dowel and both sides of the V. Use hot melt glue to secure

Set up your router fence at the required distance and run the timber with secured dowel over the router bit.

Hi JRJR, and welcome to the forums.

You can cut a square groove along the straights by clamping them into a long vee block and either pushing them under an overhead router or using a hand held router with big feet attached to the base that can straddle the block. However that won't work for the curved section.

I would suggest you make the entire outer rim sections square initially and cut the grooves first. Then temporarily "fill" the grooves again with solid timber so the sections have solid square cross section again. Cut the curved profile on the spindle moulder then remove the temporary filler pieces.

If you must use round section material then for the curved sections the only two ways I can think of would be to: 1) clamp them down and use multiple cuts with a slot cutter in an overhead CNC router; or 2) construct a one-off scratch stock and cut them by hand. Very, very slow however.

Forum member Elanjacobs is a professional furniture maker who often comes up with brilliant solutions for these sort of problems; if he doesn't wade in with a suggestion I would recommend sending him a PM (Private Message) and asking him if it can be done using your available equipment.

for what it's worth

I'd be building that edge profile using a bent lamination for the curved ends. I'd probably also use a lamination for the straight sections.

with the appropriate jigs, the curved profile and square channel could be cut on the spindle moulder.

BUT, I might modify the above if I could see your whole design and your construction notes.

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

Forum member Elanjacobs is a professional furniture maker who often comes up with brilliant solutions for these sort of problems; if he doesn't wade in with a suggestion I would recommend sending him a PM (Private Message) and asking him if it can be done using your available equipment.

Hi

I actually had to do that exact thing not long ago. My approach was:

Screw a square block of the same dimension as the dowel to one end, use this block as a starting reference to buzz a flat surface the size of your groove (or slightly narrower). You can use this calculator to work out your buzz depth Circle Calculator which should be done in ONE pass. Then you can run past the moulder with the flat surface on the fence. If you have enough side pressure it won't be in danger of rolling. NOTE: moulding should be done with a power feed and featherboards/rollers for pressure, don't try to do it by hand.

Obviously that's only good for the straight bits. Both Chief Tiff and ian have good ideas for the curved ends.

If I was doing it i'd make the dowel myself from square stock, cut the appropriate groove in said spot using the table saw (use a dado set if you have one)then round the edges with a rounding bit on a router. Not sure how you'd bend it around a 300mm radius though, I'd think you'd need to make relief cuts and it would loose it's smooth rounded profile. Or alternately cut the dowel curved with a bandsaw and cut the groove using a router....would test my skills...but I reckon I could pull that off.

Thank you for the responses, pretty overwhelmed by the knowledge and generosity of this community!

I'll be using US Oak (here in Aus) cut into veneers to make the straight and curved dowels.
I have an MDF mould getting CNC cut for the curved section. I'll be getting started this week (hopefully) and will attempt some of your ideas.

Appropriate notes will be posted as I go.
Thank you all for the help!