Adding the foot pads is next. They are made from one of the cedar fence
planks for rot and insect resistance.
The thickness sander is used to remove the rough sawn surface and bring
them down to the required 3/8” thickness.
From there they are ripped to width on the table saw and cut to length
on the chop saw. Routing a roundover on
the edges is next. Here the four pads
are getting their ends routed. Last and
not shown is to route the intersecting points on the edges to round them
over. The original plans were not to do
this set of edges but after doing the face there were still sharp corners that
I wanted to get rid of.
The pads will just get screwed on in case sometime in the
future they need to get replaced. This
is the drill press setup used to drill the pilot and counter sink holes. The fence at the back sets how far the holes
are in and a stop on each side sets the side-to-side location. Depth is controlled with a stop on the drill
press quill.
Once the first two holes are drilled the pad is rotated
180 degrees and the last two holes drilled.
The top photo shows what the rough sawn cedar plank and
the finished pads look like. The bottom
photo shows one of the pads installed.
The next pieces are the hanger blocks shown in the left
drawing that get attached to the base.
The hangers are the pieces that attach to both the swing and glider
allowing the swing to well, swing. The
top right photo is a cutoff left over from making the seat/back brace. It’s a nice clear piece with tight straight
grain long enough to make all four blocks.
It does have a little cup that will get taken out with the thickness
sander after the crack on the left gets cut off. In the bottom right photo, the cup has been
taken care of and the piece trimmed to width.
Cutting the blank in half is next followed by routing the
edges just like the foot pads and last is to cut the blocks to their final
size. Here are the finished blocks with
the waste material in the center.
With the hanger blocks sized I did a test fit and to my
surprise they did not fit because they were too thick. That was unexpected and in checking to find
out why it was because I had not taken into account the needed hanger offset. Good news is that since they were too big all
that’s needed to cut them down to the proper thickness. As the blocks are only 2”x3” they are too
small to for me to stand them on end and be comfortable running them through
the table saw. Next best is to use the
bandsaw. In the top photo the piece is
marked with its final thickness and is held with a clamp to keep my fingers
away from the blade. Since the clamp
keeps me from making a full length cut the piece has to be flipped and cut the
rest of the way though from the other side.
The bottom photo shows that setup.
To keep the blade from being pinched with the clamp when the bandsaw
blade cuts through a little spacer the thickness of the blade kerf is inserted.
Once the waste is cut away the bandsawn edge needs to be
sanded smooth on the large disk sander.
That’s being done in the top photo.
The bottom photo shows, from left to right, the original block, one
after cutting on the bandsaw and a finish sanded one.
Next is to drill countersink holes so they can be attached to the
ends. That’s done on the drill press the
same way as with the foot pads with one small difference. The countersink part of the drill is just a
little small for the screw’s head and needs to be enlarged. The hand countersink shown will easily
enlarge the hole as can be seen on the block where the left hole has been
enlarged.
Here are the blocks screwed but not glued in place. They will get glued in place later after the
hangers are made and a test fit is done. That’s
so if there is problem with the blocks they can be removed and reworked. I don’t anticipate that happening but you
never know.
Making the hangers next.
The drawing below shows some of the seat slats and seat/back brace
removed to make it easier to see what’s going on. The x-ray view of the hangers, hanger blocks
and long swing support shows how the hanger lag bolts are screwed in.
The layout of the hangers is done with them setting in
place then marking the hanger ends and lag bolt location points. The photos below show the hanger along with
my notes at each end.
The hangers will swing on a 5/16” diameter lag bolt 3”
long. Below is the lag bolt and the
different bits used to install them. The
bottom bit is used to drill the pilot hole in the glider so the wood does not
split when screwed in. It is the same
size as the root diameter of the threads which is the diameter of the lag bolt
minus the depth of the threads. In this
case I am using a 7/32” bit. The next
bit is used to bevel the edge of the pilot hole so when the lag bolt’s threads
start, they won’t chip out the hole’s edge.
Next up is the lag bolt itself and at the top is the bit used to drill
the 11/32” hole in the hanger so it swings freely on the bolts.
To make sure the pilot hole is drilled square with the hanger block the guide shown here at the top left is used. Once drilled to the proper depth the hole in the hanger block gets its edge beveled. After the hanger gets its lag bolt clearance hole drilled the bolt with washers on either side of the hanger can be run in. Last the bolt gets a little candle wax put on its threads for lubrication then run in using an impact driver. 
Next Up – Completing the Hangers, Arms & Runners, Painting and Final Installation
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