Thread: Tambour tips please

I don't have the article, but here are a few general tips for tambours.

The slats need to be able to glide in the grooves without being loose. You can lubricate them with talc or wax.
The grooves need to be wider on curves to allow the slats to glide easily. The wider the slats, the bigger the difference.
The tambour needs to be square, and the slats need to be straight - not warped. They need to be tight against each other.
If you have a 'concave outward' curve on the tambour, e.g. roll-top desk, the sides of the slats need to be bevelled to allow this.
If you are making a cloth-backed tambour, glue the slats individually with Titebond II and let the glue dry before putting them together. Use a 2-sided frame to hold them in place. Glue the fabric (I use cotton duck) and let it dry for at least an hour before ironing it onto the slats. Then, trim the sides of the duck with a sharp knife and pull them off the ends of the slats.

Hope this makes sense.

Hi,
I have made dozens if not more tambour door cabinets during my 40 yrs in cabinet shop. The method we used constantly over many years was very similar to previous post made the slats usually16mmX10mm thick to 20mm longer than required,all slats are then chamfered on router table the slats are then sanded laid flat on bench over hanging the edge taped together then other side same and down the centre to pull them all into a nice flat panel. The back and one side of the fabric is then sprayed with spray contact when dry the fabric is layed to the slats and rolled/rubbed to the surface. The face of the panel can now be sanded using belt / ROS then the panel is trimmed to width on the table saw score the fabric back 15mm aprox from edge and peel of the off cut leaving just timber to run in the groove which I use an 8mm router bit to cut the track. With the width cut then stand the panel on side edge on saw and trim thickness to suit track using a straight edge to keep the slats to the fence with the blade of the saw set to about 15mm high (difficult to describe simple to do). Hope this makes some sort of sense.
Regards Rod.

Here is a link to the article, http://www.rockler.com/how-to/tambour-topped-box/ thanks for the responses. I need to digest them. I guess my question is what are the critical points for smooth performance? The material seems important as does gluing down the whole slat. How do you size the track. I'm thinking 12mm wide slats about 6 mm thick.

Rod, I like your way of doing the ends of the slats on the TS. Guess it would help to have an extra pair of hands to help. What sort of spray glue do you use? I haven't had much joy with the stuff from art shops.

Just for general interest, here's an old (1930s) Austrian one I repaired last year. Certainly not the best quality.

Tambour chest of drawers.jpg
When closed, the tambour is suspended by the lock at the top - not the strongest design

Labyrinth at bottom.jpg
When open, it went into a labyrinth at the bottom.

Old German tambour.jpg
The slats were backed with hessian - not very wide at that - and had newspaper glued on so that you couldn't see right in between the slats. Over the years the hessian had rotted and part of the tambour had dropped into the labyrinth.

I repaired it by gluing strips of duck to the slats on either side of the hessian.

Hi Sebastiaan,
The design of the Tambour box shown in that article has been around for a number of years and there are a few videos also showing how this box is made.
I have made a few over the years and making the tambour is not too difficult. The article sets out how the author made the tambour and the radiused groove was cut using a 1/4"router bit.
I made my boxes by making the two sides first then fitting and gluing the upper and lower spreaders. At this point you can measure the final length you need to make the tambour slats.
They should be about 1 to 2 mm shorter than the distance between the grooves.
I wanted to achieve some grain feature in the tambour so I made the slats from some 3mm to 3.5 mm thick tassie oak that I machined from some 100 mm wide board. I then veneered the thin oak board with the selected veneer.
These were then cut to the required tambour length so at this stage there was an approx 4mm veneered piece about 100 mm wide x tambour length. Using the table saw these were then cut to 12 mm strips (and numbered in order to keep the grain pattern)
Using the assembly jig shown in the article, lay the slats out in order face down and clamp using the wedges. I cut the canvas about 12 mm smaller than the tambour width and then glue the canvas to the slat assembly using PVA glue. Use a hot iron and quick set the glue. After about 5 minutes I then remove the assembly and fold the tambour to make sure no two slats are glued together. Allow the glue to dry overnight with the tambour upright and standing curved.
The tambour assembly will be a little too thick to go around the first curve in the sides. To reduce the thickness, I clamp the tambour flat to a piece of ply or MDF and let the edge overhang about 11 mm. You can now rout the edges to reduce the thickness where it engages in the groove.When you finally assemble the tambour apply some wax on the edges to achieve a smooth motion. I also found it easier to make the tambour knowingly longer than specified as it always easy to remove a slat or half slat where the total length joins with the rear of the drawer.
Hope this helps.

Tambour1.JPGTambour2.JPGtambour3.JPG

Hi Alex,
I used commercial spray contact that we used to lay laminate(20lt drum),most cabinet shops would sell small amounts to the public I would imagine. Cutting the edge to thickness this way gives you a clean rebated edge to fit the track groove what ever size you make it as I said previously I use a 8mm router bit for the groove. When cutting the edge I raise the blade to the height I want 10-15mm place the roll against the fence push it to the fence with a sacrificial straight edge to keep it firm to the fence and reduce the edge thickness to suit the groove. With a straight edge it is quite easy to manoeuvre and control the cut.
Regards Rod.

Great information.

I'd have never picked up on widening the curve.

Howard