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sliding dovetail assemply strategy

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sliding dovetail assemply strategy

#1

sliding dovetail assemply strategy

bill tindall

>I am near assembling a case with 5 sliding dovetail drawer dividers, both front and back, as well as a through dovetail rail at the top, again front and back. My inclination is to assemble and glue and square up the case with the through dovetail top rails and one front and back sliding dovetail at the case bottom (4 total pieces). Then add the rest after the glue for these first pieces is set and the case is stable and square.

I can think of several alternative stragies. This is my first case glue up with sliding dovetails so I don't have experience to decide what strategy is most successful.

Re: sliding dovetail assemply strategy

#2

Re: sliding dovetail assemply strategy

Jack Guzman

>I just did something similar.My case had a solid top with through dovetails joining it to the solid sides,besides drawer dividers,etc..Once I had all pieces ready I started like you plan, but since dovetails don't really need clamping I just kept gluing and assembling til all pieces were in(checking that the case stayed square as I went).Otherwise,your plan sounds good to me.I'm not all that experienced either though so take it any way you like.---Jack

Re: sliding dovetail assemply strategy

#3

Re: sliding dovetail assemply strategy

les winter

>Hi Bill.

May I suggest that you consider the glue that you will be using? I would recommend white glue. Yellow sets up too fast.

good luck

Les

Re: sliding dovetail assemply strategy

#4

Re: sliding dovetail assemply strategy

Ed Mulligan, Cape Cod

>Bill -

If the intermediate rail joints are already cut, I would either (a) glue everything at once using a slow set glue such as West System 206 or (b) glue only the upper and lower rails using your glue of choice and at the same time put the intermediate rails in place, unglued. Either way, you will avoid any unwanted distortion of the case (by clamp pressure for example) which might cause problems when fitting the intermediate rails.

Ed

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