April 27, 2005

The project for tonight was to cut up the 12" wide strips of plywood to make the partitions, ends, and other components of the wall cabinets This required cutting 18 partitions, 2 ends, and 36 shelf and base components. Once cut to length I plowed out the dados and rabbits that aid in assembly. The picture above has the dado and rabbit marked with an arrow. The black dots on the shelf are the shelf pin holes that I got set-up to bore.

I used a jig technique I saw in a tool catalog. Of course the catalog is trying to sell the jig I produced. I drilled evenly spaced holes in a piece of 1/4" plywood that are 3/8" diameter and allow the brass collar installed on the router to fit snugly in place. The router is equipped with a 1/4" carbide router bit that is plunged into the cabinet component. This jig will last a long time since the only wear on the holes is the act of fitting the collar into place. In the past I would make a simple jig that allowed the drill bit to fit in the hole. But this would wear the hole out quickly and the accuracy of the hole pattern was compromised. The picture below shows my new bench top in use with clamps to keep the jig firmly in place. This set-up took more time than I would have liked, but the jig will fit most upper cabinets I would ever build so will be used for many years.

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