Festool this - Strawberry Tower project

[Ken Nagrod]

What's involved in taking it apart?  How did you attach the uprights to each other?

 

[awdriven]

Nah, it's not coming apart - pretty much all joints have glue -and- a mechanical fastener of some kind. (Screws or dominoes)

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Can you lay the whole assembly down on its side and mount the jig to each upright as before?  Then would there be enough room for the MFS setup?

 

[awdriven]

It's feasible for many of the dadoes. It starts getting tighter on space on the top 3 tiers of shelves. A smaller router would also probably help. The jig would need some new way of tapering the depth. Some wedges would probably be affixed to the lower surface of the MFS. Quarter inch thick tapering to zero over the ~3.5 inch distance.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

I'm guessing you'll figure out this new method.  I don't think the MFK700 would work considering what your doing, but you have the option of that router or my Bosch Colt if you want.  Just let me know.

Otherwise, special handplanes cause I don't think you want to chisel all that.  [blink]

 

[tiralie]

Otherwise, special handplanes cause I don't think you want to chisel all that.  [blink]

A nice shoulder plane like the medium Veritas should clean those up nicely. You won't get much extra depth without a lot of elbow grease so I wouldn't suggest it for that.

Tim

 

[tiralie]

Might as well start collecting suggestions on how to deepen the dadoes if it turns out it is needed. I'm not great with neander techniques - would a hand plane work well in the cross-grain scenario like this? It's cedar, relatively soft and pretty dry.

Great stuff. Thanks for posting. Ken is a brutal task master isn't he.  [big grin]
my two cents: I wouldn't try to deepen those dadoes, (clean them up ok) at least not assembled. It'll be a PIA. If you can take it apart without wrecking it then I would deepen them.
Again, thanks for posting. It's starting to take shape.
Tim

 

[awdriven]

Ken's like my Jiminy Cricket on this.  [tongue]

I grabbed the OF1400 and it'll actually reach even the top-most dado if you face the flat side of the machine toward the neighboring upright. The MFS can fit too.

I suppose I could do this by making a quarter inch spacer, putting it under the outboard end of the MFS, lay that over the existing dado, clamp, route, repeat 43x. It's sort of a self-imposed version of having to write on the blackboard after school.  [big grin]

 

[tiralie]

Ken's like my Jiminy Cricket on this.  [tongue]

I grabbed the OF1400 and it'll actually reach even the top-most dado if you face the flat side of the machine toward the neighboring upright. The MFS can fit too.

I suppose I could do this by making a quarter inch spacer, putting it under the outboard end of the MFS, lay that over the existing dado, clamp, route, repeat 43x. It's sort of a self-imposed version of having to write on the blackboard after school.  [big grin]

Jeesh! That's dedication.
Since you don't have the outside supports on the base you could lay it on it's side on a table and work it that way, it would be a damn site easier!
Tim

 

[awdriven]

Definitely was thinking about supporting the piece on its side so I could work in a flat, horizontal orientation.

Would I get an eighth of an inch with not too much work via the hand plane?  The router is fast once you've set it up and clamped everything in place, but the setup and changing locations/re-clamping takes time and you can't really finesse the cutting.

 

[tiralie]

Definitely was thinking about supporting the piece on its side so I could work in a flat, horizontal orientation.

Would I get an eighth of an inch with not too much work via the hand plane?  The router is fast once you've set it up and clamped everything in place, but the setup and changing locations/re-clamping takes time and you can't really finesse the cutting.

Yes, you should - well er,  it depends on what you call "too much work". Try a couple and see how it goes.
If the dadoes are 3/4" wide I would use the smaller (1/2") shoulder plane or chisel plane.
I would cut some small kerfs on each side of the dadoes with a dove tail or back saw to the depth you want to plane to. I would also score the back or deep end of the dado with a knife so you don't get a lot of tear out and splintering on the back side.
Tim

 

[Brice Burrell]

AW, you could have built dozens of these in the time you've talked about them......... [tongue]

 

[awdriven]

Wish I had more shop time to dedicate to it, but I have to work on it as other things permit. Reasoning it out beforehand helps. I am really appreciative of the advice people have been giving.

I'll be happy to share information so others can build one of their own. I'm now pretty convinced that only the dedicated would follow through with this. If you just want a planter and not a project, you'd pay Bruce for one

If you're willing to skip the dadoes and secure the shelves with screws, it would save considerable time.

 

[awdriven]

Still kicking! After a few days hiatus, I spent some time deepening the dadoes after work.

I just scored with a pull saw and used a hand plane. I got through four courses of shelves and also flush cut my dominoes and sander a little. I also marked out the depth of cut for the other shelves, so we'll see how far I can get in the coming day or two.

 

[awdriven]

Time has been pretty limited this week but I think I have just a dozen or so dadoes left to deepen. I should be able to finish that tonight. It just takes a couple strokes of the pull saw and a couple minutes with the hand plane. I'm taking them all down to ~3/8th inch deep.

For some satisfaction, I'll probably then cut and attach the base pieces.

Then it's on to shelves -

I'll make up another test shelf and fine-tune the miter angle so the back-side of the shelf wedges the shelf in place in the dado.

I mapped out my cutlist on sketchup the other night. I needed to slightly nest the shelf pieces so I wouldn't run out of lumber. The most efficient way to do this is probably to set up two miter saws. Otherwise I'd have to re-set the miter and bevel for every shelf.

During all this time, the baby Strawberry plants have been growing in my back garden. It looks like slugs have been nibbling some of the leaves, so I picked up some thin copper ribbon to ring the garden bed. Apparently slugs won't cross it. (Creates an uncomfortable electric charge.)

The copper got me thinking. I picked up some 16 mil copper sheet that I'd like to use to clad the cap piece. If I can waterproof it with the copper, that may open up some options for gluing something up to form the pyramid structure of the cap.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Sounds good, but when was the last time your family's seen you and how are your hands feeling after all that planing?

 

[tiralie]

It just takes a couple strokes of the pull saw and a couple minutes with the hand plane. I'm taking them all down to ~3/8th inch deep.

Can't wait to see it. BTW, what kind of plane are you using for the dadoes?

I mapped out my cutlist on sketchup the other night. I needed to slightly nest the shelf pieces so I wouldn't run out of lumber. The most efficient way to do this is probably to set up two miter saws. Otherwise I'd have to re-set the miter and bevel for every shelf.

...ya, lots of cutting there.
Tim

Sounds good, but when was the last time your family's seen you and how are your hands feeling after all that planing?

...ya and all that plane-ing

 

[awdriven]

The dado cleanup hasn't been bad at all, actually. It just makes you go a little stir crazy because its 88 dadoes and they're all alike.

The key is just finding the most efficient way to do it. It went a lot faster when I just took the pull saw and made all of those cuts for every dado, rather than changing back and forth between cutting and planeing(?) Changing tools and changing position takes time.

I took your advice on the Veritas medium shoulder plane, Tim. It's a very nice piece and I am sure over the years I'll have plenty of uses for it. The hole through the body makes it very easy to hold the plane and move around the assembled workpiece.  It's cedar, so it's very prone to tear-out, but its not a hard wood.

I think making up a new jig and moving around the OF1400 would have taken longer and been more tiring. The results may have looked more uniform and perfect that way, but I suspect as I cut and install shelves, I'll probably need to plane a little here and there anyway for a good fit.

 

[awdriven]

I glued and screwed the base cross-braces yesterday and the dadoes are done, wahoo! I'm planning on cutting shelves and/or working on the cap depending on weather.

 

[awdriven]

Got 75% of the shelves cut and fit today! I'm including a progress shot from earlier in the day. Hopefully I can finish shelves tomorrow and possibly make headway on the cap piece, but I'll have limited to to work on this tomorrow.

After I got the miter saw set up I realized, duh, just flip the stock over and I wouldn't have to be changing miter and bevel angles.