With the end panels and base stretchers done assembly of
the base is almost ready to begin. The
pitch pocket that leaked out in the previous post did not drain out any more so
the repair was to clean the pocket out down to solid wood then fill it with epoxy. With that done the gluing starts on the two
end panel frames. I could have glued up
a whole frame at once but as the tenons in them are so big I was a little
concerned that by the time I got the glue spread on all the joints the glue might get
away from me. If that happens and the
joints seize up halfway put together that’s a problem. To get around that I glued them in two steps;
first the bottom and stiles then later adding the top. Here is what they look like clamped up.
While they were curing, I worked on the infill panel for
the ends. These will be made out of
rough clear cedar. They come from one of
the big box stores as partly air-dried dog-ear fence blanks 5/6” thick and 6’
long. Most of them have knots and the
like but about 1 in 25 are straight grained and clear. I usually keep four or five around drying so
when needed for something they have dried from 25% moisture content down to
less than 5%. After running them through
the thickness sander to smooth the plank gets cut in half and a good square
straight edge is cut, They then get edge glued and clamped. It will set for a while after the glue cures
and the clamps come off to make sure it’s stable as other pieces get roughed
out.
Next come the runners and their guides. The runners get attached to the underneath
side of the swing and are the free-floating blue parts shown in the
drawing. When installed they will rock
between the guides that get installed in the glider frame.
The runners will be made out of oak since they could get
some wear. The top drawing shows the
finished shape. Since they will be
painted, they can be assembled from pieces in my scrap box. The photo is a 3-piece glue-up that will make
up both of the upper sections. It will
get cut to shape later and glued to the lower longer part.
Another glue-up is this 5-piece stack that will make two
of the four guides. The other two will
come from other solid leftovers. I
should mention that the small vertical pieces are there just for alignment
during clamping. Once the main clamps
get tightened down the four small clamps and the vertical pieces get removed.
The next day with the end panels frame's glue cured it’s
time to glue and screw the stretchers in place.
After doing a fit-up complete with clamps as a check the two stretchers
get glued to one end frame and screwed in place. I let the glue cure for about 4 hours before
gluing and screwing the other end panel frame in place. Here is what the completed glue-up looks
like.
Working on the floating end panels is next. This drawing shows the panels and associated
parts that will allow me to remove them if necessary.
Here in more detail the left drawing shows the panel, the
middle drawing is of the top and bottom splines and the right drawing is of
pieces that will capture the splines. In
operation the top of the panel gets pushed up onto the top spline. That’s followed by swinging the bottom across
the bottom spline until the panel rabbit hits the spline at which point the
panel is dropped down onto the bottom locking it in place.
First step is to take the previously glued up cedar panel
and cut it to final length using the chop saw.
Next is to route a rabbit at each end.
The top photo is the setup at the router table and the bottom photo is a
closer look at the finished cut. Since
this is a cross grain route the exit side of the cut has some chipping. In this case that’s not a problem since the
panel is wider than needed so the chipping will get cut off when the panel is
ripped to width.
Making the splines is done by ripping a scrap to width,
length and rough thickness. The final
thickness is achieved using the thickness sander. Once the splines are glued in place in the
end frames the pieces that capture the splines are made. The rabbits in them are made using the same
router setup as the cedar end panel. Two
of them come from the cedar panel cutoffs.
The other two required another glue-up to get the needed cross grain
width. The cross grain is needed to
match the grain direction in the cedar panel so there is not a problem with
differential expansion as the humidity changes when they get glued and screwed
to the cedar panel. The top photo shows
the piece getting counter-sunk pilot holes being drilled. The bottom photo shows the bit and
adjustment collar that drills the pilot hole and counter sink in one pass. The collar has three setting; the screw flush
with the wood surface, slightly countersunk and a deeper countersink.
To provide clearance the bottom capture piece has to be
trimmed for an offset. That setup is shown
below. I could have trimmed it before
routing but it’s easier to use the same router table setup to cut all the
rabbits then use the panel edge for alignment versus changing the router table
setup and then working to get the proper alignment when attaching them.
Last is to sand a slight bevel on the panel’s top and
bottom capture piece to provide a little clearance as the panels are swung into
place. The left photo is the top of the
panel and the right photo is the bottom.
The runner guides get installed next. Here is where they go. Two are solid material and two are from a
block glued up earlier.
When getting ready to cut them to their final size I
noticed a small pitch pocket that needed to be cleaned out and filled. However, what started out as a small task
soon ballooned as the pocket was like an iceberg with the vast majority
hidden. By the time it had been cleaned
out I had a pretty good-sized hole to fill.
The top photo shows that hole and the plug needed to fill it. The bottom photo is the finished repair. 
Once the patch was completed the installation of the
guides went smoothly. They are held in
place with screws and not glued so if they wear out replacement is easy. This photo shows them and the end panels
in-place. Note that the screws are not
the blue coated ones used to attach the arm supports. That’s because these are temporary and during
final construction the blue weather resistant screws will be used.
Next Up – Foot Pads, Hanger Blocks & Starting the Hangers
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