Thread: Newbee difficulty with fitting tubes

I find this problem sometimes with the burls, or slightly less dry wood. I think the wood expands with the heat of drilling, and then shrinks slightly after it cools and dries a bit, sometimes have to ream out with the drill before glueing in the tubes.

Welcome to the mad house.

Before attempting to glue in the tubes make sure they are a nice slip fit. GP has the cause, another way is to use sand paper around a pin punch or drill and dress the hole till the fir is correct.

If the fir is to tight and you use thin CA it will set before you get the tube fully in. Use med CA or epoxy and you should be OK

If you get to "know" which wood causes the problem, you could always use a fraction bigger then use 5 minute epoxy to glue it in, with some woods, especially if you Xcut the blank, it is wise to rub the tube with sandpaper to roughen it so that the glue will adhere to it, and to run some epoxy through the blank first making sure that all the wood has a coating, then insert the blank with a twisting motion. This will minimize "blowouts" especially on cross cuts. Some use potato in the end of the tube to stop glue going into it while inserting the tube. Amos

Some use potato in the end of the tube to stop glue going into it while inserting the tube. Amos

I use my chain saw file to rid the inside of tubes of stray glue, saves on potatoes!!!. mmm ..only a good trick if you have one I suppose

JD

Don't try to glue them up right after drilling. The hest of the drilling process will slightly dampen the inside of the blank, and caause almost instant grip with superglue.

I use potatoe in the end and shish sticks to apply the glue in the blank and on the brass, messy proceedure but never a glue failure (use it like someone else is paying for it) then a clean one to zot the potatoe slice out.

Often drill a hundred at a time and glue same number in batches. My finding is the predrilled Goldfields Burl and such always need checking. A handy tool is a 7mm drill in a wooden handle and check each one before. Murphys Law says that one very rare and special blank every now and again can suffer especially using CA glue. The other slip fit check can enable you to check the length and if with Simlines one is shorter use that one for the top. Sometimes timber will dissapear quickly while you face off someone told me.

Have success Peter.