Computer Cabinet - #5 Drawer Fronts & Sides Almost Compete

Now that the basic shaping of the hand hold in the drawer fronts are done, I need to soften their hard 90-degree edges.  That’s done by adding a rounded edge using a 3/16” radius router bit mounted in the router table.  Normally that’s an easy thing to do.  Put the bit in the router, set the depth of cut then holding the piece against the ball bearing guide on the bit run the drawer front right to left by the bit for a nice smooth radius on the edge.  However, in this case there is a problem.  Because the end of the drawer fronts have a rabbit cut in them there is nothing for the bearing to ride against hence nothing to control the depth of cut.  Below you can see what I mean.

The fix is to set the router table fence in line with the bearing.  That way the entire edge of the board controls how far the bit cuts into piece and gives a nice clean straight edge.  Here is what that looks like.  The problem this setup creates is the hand hold cutout does not get routed. 

The solution for that is to move the fence back away from the bit so the bearing can ride against the cutout then start routing just before the cutout begins and quitting just after it ends.  This is how that looks.  When routing the inside edge of the drawer front, I can do the whole length in one pass since it does not have the thin rabbited edge.

Because I still had the plywood blade on the table saw from cutting the drawer front template to size, I decided to cut and fit the plywood back of the cabinet next.  The cabinet looked really square when checking it with my 8” hand square.  To add a little more accuracy, I checked the cabinet’s diagonals and they were within 1/16”.  Pretty close and easy enough to correct.  Below shows the how a diagonal clamp across the long dimension allows me to very carefully apply just the correct amount of pressure to pull it into place so everything is square. 

Once the cabinet is squared the back is clamped and screwed in place.  Here it is shown with some of the screws installed.

The back is held in place with flat head screws that require a stepped bit to drill the pilot hole and a small flared area at the surface for the underneath side of the screw to fit into.  The top photo below shows all the parts I need to drill the holes.  There is a spacer, the 2-piece drill/countersink and the stop collar.  The lower left shows how all the pieces work together.  The stop collar controls the total allowable depth the bit can drill but because the countersink would drill too deep the spacer raises the bit assembly up a little so the diameter of the countersink is just slightly larger than the diameter of the head of the screw.  The center right shows the #4 x 5/8” screw and the completed pilot hole.  The lower right photo is of the installed screw and you can see how it sets just a smidge below the face of the back.

With the back in place it’s back to working on the drawers.  First off is to go through the side pieces and mark them as to what side is out, the front, top edge and as they are oversize where to trim.  One thing to keep in mind is the sides have to be made in left and right sets since they are mirrored images of each other.  (That’s the voice of experience speaking.)  Here all that has been done plus this piece has had the left end squared and the right end trimmed to final length plus an inch.

Cutting the dado at the back edge of the drawer side is next.  It’s cut using a stacked dado consisting of the outer two 1/8” blades and two 1/8” chippers. 

Next is to cut the drawer fronts and sides to their final width on the table saw.  To do that the dado set comes off and the rip blade goes on.  First cut is a skim pass opposite the side that’s marked for waste.  This is to remove the small amount of chip out where the dado blade exits its cut.  There is not a lot as you can see below but the skim cut removes it and helps make a nice joint.

Now the rip fence is set for the front and sides final width.  A single pass through the saw cutting off the edge marked as waste gives me identical width sets. 

Cutting a groove with the stacked dado blade in the front and sides for the drawer bottom is next.  I will be using ¼” oak veneered MDF for the drawer bottoms which is not exactly ¼” thick but averages about 1/64” less.  I am not worried about the apparent slight difference between the dado and the bottom panel because when doing a test fit in a scrap the bottom fit into the dado just right probably because of variations in the bottoms actual thickness.   Here is how that setup looks.  The two push blocks allow me to put good downward pressure evenly across the piece and keep it tight to the fence.

Next is to cut the sides to their finish length using a setup similar to the one above when they were rough cut to length.  With that done the front and sides are pretty much done except for finish sanding.  In the photo below you can see how the sides are mirror images of each other.

Making the bottoms is next.  Amongst my leftovers was this long piece of ¼” oak veneered MDF.  Cutting a long narrow piece of material presents its own set of challenges.  If you’re not really careful the piece can rotate while being cut, get pinched between the blade and the fence and come flying back at you.   In doing a couple of dry runs with this setup there was a problem with the drag between the MDF and the outboard support that made me feel like I could not adequately control the cut.  Adding a sheet of 6 mil polyethylene on the support greatly reduced the drag making me comfortable that it would work.  If it hadn’t and I was still uncomfortable with making the cut I would have found another way.  One thing I have learned in over 50 years of working in the shop is to really listen to the little voice in your head when it says, “Are you sure this is safe?”  Once broken down into smaller pieces they are cut to fit which leaves just the drawer backs to make.

Next Up – Completing Drawer Sides & Backs, Sanding plus a Patch