I had to get the sequence of steps correct to make them come out the way I wanted. I have to make four that are convex front and two that are concave front. The two that are concave I will work on next. So this is about the convex drawer fronts.
After cutting out the billet at 4" x 8 1/2" x 1 3/4" I made a cut on the table saw 1 1/4" from each end to create the flat face at either end. Then I band sawed the front curve.
Then I cleaned up the saw marks with a spokeshave, so the face was nice and smooth so I could run the router bearing guide over the face to make the 1/4" round over bead.
Here I am using the router table to put the 1/4" round over on the top and bottom of the drawer front. The picture is of a finished drawer front so the top was not cut out when I did the routing.
Then I needed to put a 1/4" round over on the sides. This can not be done with the above router set up because the bearing on the router would follow the 1/4 round over that is already on the top and bottom and ruin the corners.
So I needed a second router step to cut the round over on the sides of the drawer but run the bearing from the side. So I mounted are router from above. It worked pretty good but I still need to put blocks in front and back to keep it from tearing out.
Then I cut out the top 1/4" lip with a router and my box with the curve cut out.
Then dado 5/32" off of the sides to create the drawer lip. Then it is all done. There is still final fitting to be done to get it flush But it looks pretty good. Lots of steps.
Now to fit it into the drawer opening.
Looks like I know the steps to make the four convex fronts! I made a block front desk about 10 years ago and I don't remember it being this complex.
I am going to make the four convex drawer fronts now. But I won't do final fitting until I sand an glue up the case.
Here is today's video:
Practice makes perfect, and those are only the practice ones! You've got the steps down.
ReplyDeleteAmazon doesn't have those drawer fronts on sale yet?
Looking good.
Sometime I wish Amazon carried them ;-)
DeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteGreat Job! I love the over head router mount you built on the radial arm saw. Is there any way to see a photo for I would love to copy it. I have an old stanley router lift that tilts in axis below and a router above. But sometimes you need another over head router. Thanks for sharing all this on your blog.
Cheers,
Freddy Roman
Freddy, Thanks for the comment. You and another person wanted more detail on the router support. So I did a video and will post it here. If you need more let me know.
Delete