Tinkerman
27th January 2006, 11:12 AM
Although I started out with no greater ambition than to build rustic garden items (pergola, compost bins, worm bins, etc) and to extend and (very crudely) fit out the house (framing, cupboards, open shelving and so on).... I'm now developing an unhealthy interest in cabinetmaking.
I'm currently kitted out for what initially interested me: I've got all the hopelessly inaccurate and wobbly Triton stuff (great for rough projects: I love it). I appreciate that with enough shimming of every part and re-adjustment after every cut I can do fine cabinet work with this stuff: you can do fine work with any kit if you try hard enough... but I'm starting to aim higher.
Of course.. the obvious retort to any request for advice is "don't start from where you are at"... but the fact remains that I'm starting from a (usable) Triton 2000 Workcentre with (excellent) Triton Saw, (excellent) extension table and (quite appalling) planer attachment and from a (useable) Triton Router Table with (excellent) Triton router and (useful) jigsaw attachment but with (now I'm starting to raise my sights) an ancient but glorious Multico Morticer, a somewhat abused second hand Scheppach HM260 planer/thicknesser and an excellent Scheppach Basato 3 bandsaw (that's the 2360mm blade midsized item not the huge and stunning Basato 5 that any cabinetmaker should dream about on a regular basis).
Anyway... I'm now working out how to progress from where I'm at... and at first glance that seems to me to mean using the saw and router from my Triton system (both excellent tools) in a home-made super-table fitted with the Incra positioning system, ideally with rails (TS-LS) and wonderfence.. but perhaps specialy adapted so that the positioner can be transferred with little fuss to my otherwise excellent bandsaw (which currently resaws far more accurately than the Triton setup with no lead and minimal waste).
Of course... to be very much use... the above also implies building a horizonal routing attachment with vertical movement so that I can dovetail 2' wide, 6' long boards without them wobbling all over the place - the idea of using the Incra fence and jig with a conventional router table when dovetailing anything more than a small box seems rather misconceived (what jig is going to hold everything square? Surely not that tiny aluminium extrusion).
That's where my thinking is at... and I guess my question is... am I thinking straight? Is the above the answer... or should I perhaps just swallow hard and start saving for a decent tablesaw (on which the table doesn't have 1+ mm of vertical travel and need resetting after each cut), a Leigh jig (seems the only one worth having: quite why Gifkins think it's worth producing an otherwise excellent through-dovetail jig limited to 300mm boards quite escapes me) and god only knows what in the way of high grade hand-tools (Lie-Neilsen prices are SCARY).
I'll happily admit to being very uncertain as to how to proceed... but I'm sure I'm not the first to want to move from carpentry to cabinet-making: all advice will be gratefully received.
ps. Cash is a BIG issue: what I've got took some justifying... and spending thousands more is NOT (at least in the short run) viable!!!
I'm currently kitted out for what initially interested me: I've got all the hopelessly inaccurate and wobbly Triton stuff (great for rough projects: I love it). I appreciate that with enough shimming of every part and re-adjustment after every cut I can do fine cabinet work with this stuff: you can do fine work with any kit if you try hard enough... but I'm starting to aim higher.
Of course.. the obvious retort to any request for advice is "don't start from where you are at"... but the fact remains that I'm starting from a (usable) Triton 2000 Workcentre with (excellent) Triton Saw, (excellent) extension table and (quite appalling) planer attachment and from a (useable) Triton Router Table with (excellent) Triton router and (useful) jigsaw attachment but with (now I'm starting to raise my sights) an ancient but glorious Multico Morticer, a somewhat abused second hand Scheppach HM260 planer/thicknesser and an excellent Scheppach Basato 3 bandsaw (that's the 2360mm blade midsized item not the huge and stunning Basato 5 that any cabinetmaker should dream about on a regular basis).
Anyway... I'm now working out how to progress from where I'm at... and at first glance that seems to me to mean using the saw and router from my Triton system (both excellent tools) in a home-made super-table fitted with the Incra positioning system, ideally with rails (TS-LS) and wonderfence.. but perhaps specialy adapted so that the positioner can be transferred with little fuss to my otherwise excellent bandsaw (which currently resaws far more accurately than the Triton setup with no lead and minimal waste).
Of course... to be very much use... the above also implies building a horizonal routing attachment with vertical movement so that I can dovetail 2' wide, 6' long boards without them wobbling all over the place - the idea of using the Incra fence and jig with a conventional router table when dovetailing anything more than a small box seems rather misconceived (what jig is going to hold everything square? Surely not that tiny aluminium extrusion).
That's where my thinking is at... and I guess my question is... am I thinking straight? Is the above the answer... or should I perhaps just swallow hard and start saving for a decent tablesaw (on which the table doesn't have 1+ mm of vertical travel and need resetting after each cut), a Leigh jig (seems the only one worth having: quite why Gifkins think it's worth producing an otherwise excellent through-dovetail jig limited to 300mm boards quite escapes me) and god only knows what in the way of high grade hand-tools (Lie-Neilsen prices are SCARY).
I'll happily admit to being very uncertain as to how to proceed... but I'm sure I'm not the first to want to move from carpentry to cabinet-making: all advice will be gratefully received.
ps. Cash is a BIG issue: what I've got took some justifying... and spending thousands more is NOT (at least in the short run) viable!!!