Arched bookcases and Fireplace surround w mantle.

[wdwerker]

Same ply , same manufacturer, just leftover from another job. Sheet was around $41 a few months ago. New stuff was $51.50 . I've been buying there for 44 years so I get bundle prices even if I buy 1 sheet. 

[wdwerker]

Spent a bunch of time going over my drawings and making parts lists. Realized I needed more 4/4 poplar . Another trip to the mill then started setting up to run all the small trim this job will need. Running 9 ft pieces of 5/8 x 3/8 molding on a router table nessitates an infeed and out feed. Over the years I have jury rigged all sorts of tables. I decided to make some support posts that would fit my sawhorses. I found plans for these monstrous sawhorses maybe 30 years ago. Build it robust and you can rely on it the rest of your life !

Parked the drum sander between the outfeed tables so that all the strips of solid wood can be dressed on all 4 sides. I'm cutting a 2 3/16 strip, sanding it to 2 1/8 or so, then routing the molding pattern on 2 edges and ripping the trim off each side. I'm going to make 6 mm Domino sized strips in all 3 widths out of the center piece that's left.  Both tables were leveled to work with its saw. So we clamped some plywood scraps to the tables to make infeed and outfeed smoothly support 10' strips. 

I just tackle big jobs in chunks. Get all the trim done then make all the face frame stock so I can get the arches built. The mantlepiece and bookcases have to fit within the frames so I'm building them afterwards. Yea it's kinda backwards but I'm not tied to convention. Whatever gets the job done. 

 

 

[RichardA]

Where ya been Vinny?

[wdwerker]

Got all the blanks drum sanded 220 on the faces that will show. Keep an eye on cleaning the abrasive with finer grits. Store the crepe rubber in the freezer, it works better and lasts longer, take it out at the last minute. Tweaked the router table & added feather boards. On long moldings I use 3 featherboards to hold down, prevents ripples when hand feeding. One of these days I'm getting a little powerfeeder.

Forgot to take a pic of the actual blanks on the router table so I put a test scrap in to show the pattern.

We ran both edges on the router table then ripped off the moldings. The leftover strip either got sanded & routed again or is being cut into 6 mm Domino strips to fit all 3 width settings. I got that process set up tonight before I calmed it a day.

Crisp clean little 3/8 x 5/8 moldings go on almost every exposed edge this job has. But the arches will have to be routed directly on,  then the ends mitered at some extreme angles. 

[Coop]

220 on the drum sander? That’s some serious s#*t. Looking good bud! 

[wdwerker]

After cleaning up all 4 faces with 120 it's no big deal to go straight to 220 on poplar. I was running 4 strips on edge full speed taking off about 1/128th. No way would I do that with maple or pine . 

[wdwerker]

I got the 3 widths of 6 mm Domino stock ripped and sanded then 4 quick passes over a 1/8" radius router bit and done. I made them about 6.2 mm thick. They fit tighter and align the surfaces better.  I can always make some thinner for better glue coverage. 

The center line and exact width marks help with layout work.  I cut some at 55 mm long so I could use them with the max 28mm plunge depth. 

 

[wdwerker]

I used the widest dominos to assemble the blank for the arches. Wasn't enough room for 2 dominos so a wide one will have to do.

The outer marks are where the bead gets routed on both sides of the arch.

Laying out the angles was no fun. It's basically half of an oval so the geometry isn't consistent. It came down to eyeball it and hope for the best.

[Chestnut]

Now that i have a drum sander i need to batch out some of my own domino stock.

[wdwerker]

You can do it with a planer and a pair of calipers if you adjust carefully. 

[Chestnut]

I have done it with the planer but the minimum length on the 735 is a limiting. I plan to start turning scraps into domino stock.

[wdwerker]

I found 18" to 36" lengths work well. Shorter and you loose too many to snipe, longer and you can get a ripple in the middle when you shift hands routing the edges.

But 12 - 16" work fine on the drum sander. 

[wdwerker]

After several distractions I got back on the arches.  Had to make templates for the top and bottom curves. Getting the blanks glued up was a bit tricky but the came out with tight joints and dead flat for the entire part. 

The orange clamps hold the Blokkx in place. The black & yellow clamps pull the joint closed . The black & red Bessey clamp holds a scrap on either side to keep the joint dead flat.

I don't use the Blokkz very often but they are the solution when you can't find a spot to pull the joint closed.

3/8 bending plywood aka "wiggle wood " cut to fit inside a 3"x 21" sanding belt with a block clamped to keep the whole thing square while in use is what I use to sand template edges.  Bent a strip, marked the curve, jigsawed just barely outside the line, used the bendy sanding jig to cut down to the line and voila a finished template.

 

One side of my original template was slightly better so I used it for half then flipped it to finish making the final template. I marked from the inside curve to layout the outside curve and made a second template. Once I marked, jigsawed and pattern routed both sides of the arch the edges needed sanding to smooth out the slight router ripple & some tearout . 

Out came the Ridgid osselating belt sander. The table didn't support the 4ft arch so I whipped up a larger table. Then I started thinking of how to clamp it to the sander.  Remembered the Matchfit dovetail clamps (from the Microjig & Grrripper people) you can route a dovetailed slot or drill a 1/2" hole.

I used some small wood blocks to work around the ribs under the table. All the legs for the quicky table were screwed on so it could knock down for easier storage.

This hold down is only 2 sheets of paper taller than the arch , so it slides smoothly but can't twist when 3' of arch is hanging over the edge. Routed the bead on both side of the arch then needed to trim the ends. I used one of the scraps from the templates on the crosscut table to keep the arch aligned.

Next I had to miter the bead to fit the trim. But a curved board joining a vertical board = damn weird angles !

Trial and error lead to cobbling up this set up.

By the time it gets primed, painted and installed 10ft high I defy anyone to see anything wrong.  Plus this is just test cuts to figure out the angles. Both ends of the arch will get another 1" trimmed off.  People keep wanting pictures so is this enough or too many ?

 

 

 

 

 

[curlyoak]

Just the right number of pictures Steve...keep them coming.

[JosephThomas]

I't enough pictures, but definitely not "too many". Thx for sharing.

[lewisc]

You’ve got some good creative thinking skills. 

[mat60]

 Great Thread...Keep it coming Steve and thanks. 

[RichardA]

That's Jerry Rigging at it's finest.

[Chestnut]

I learned 2 things the additional top for an OSS is an awesome idea that I'll probably use some time, and Joining a piece of wood vertical to an arch like that doesn't look like fun at all.

[Alan G]

That is a ton of great info! Thanks!

[bushwacked]

that rigid table top seems way better than the crap one that comes with it haha ... I may look into something like that for a permanent solution for me.

 

Those are some crazy angles!! 

[gee-dub]

I am lovin' this thread.  You get some of the coolest builds.

[Coop]

Some really innovative clamping techniques. Looking good Steve. 

[wdwerker]

Finally got back to the big arch. Too many joints to use the Blokkz unless I did it in two runs. So I glued scraps to the outside edges. All of that will get cut off when I bandsaw the blank before template routing.

Vertical clamps keep the joints flat. All the clamps to close the joints had to be oriented to clear each other. This is where doing a dry run before glue up is well worth the time.

[Tom King]

Looks like fun.