Tiger 17th November 2006, 09:44 AM Hey everyone,
I'll be making a number of small boxes and drawers this weekend. Nothing fancy, just plain butt joints. Anyone have a jig or quick way of aligning the drawer/box sides so that I can glue and nail/screw fast and accurate. It would be good if the jig allowed for different thicknesses of timber too. Usually I just cut and do my best to square the pieces up on my bench before drilling etc but there's always a bit of movement and to retain any integrity in the humble butt joint it needs to be pretty accurate.
Did a search but not much came up.
hcbph 17th November 2006, 01:03 PM Tiger
I've used 2 different things to square up drawers etc while assembling.
First one is simply a pair of L shaped piece of 3/4" ply. You can clamp them in the corners while assembling, held in place by quick grip clamps.
Second is a piece of plywood that I attach 2 cleats to it in the form of an L. Throw down some wax paper first, put your box on and clamp it down. Pulls it right into square.
Hope that helps
Paul
Iain 17th November 2006, 02:30 PM As an alternative you can use a cheap half blind dovetail jig and it will square itself, very fast too.
Sprog 17th November 2006, 06:32 PM If you want to spend some money then these types of framing jigs work well.
http://www.timbecon.com.au/products/mitre-frame-clamps-327_0.aspx
Tiger 18th November 2006, 09:05 AM Thanks, boys. I already have some cheap mitre clamps but was hoping for something really fast and Paul I think I'll try your idea out, would your second method work for larger cabinets as well if you had the right clamps?
Iain 18th November 2006, 10:11 AM Shop notes has just been released, 120+ tips plus another 100 on CD, $26.00 but possibly worth a look.
rrich 18th November 2006, 03:59 PM Usually a drawer has a bottom that is either placed into a rabbet or dado (groove) in the sides of the drawer. If you use 5mm (? Or is the standard metric size 6mm? Us imperial fools just don't know.) plywood or the same thinckness double side melamine as the bottom, the bottom can be the squaring mechanism. Neither sheet material moves with changes in humidity and can be glued into the rabbet or dado. When I do this, I usually finish the drawer sides with shellac even though they are made from plywood.
| |