Thursday – Leg Set

I spent the morning making the parts for the leg set and assembling them. This process starts out with my set of templates. Some are just thin pieces of plywood cut to shape with screw hole locations (and other openings) laid out on them. Some, like the template for the legs, are far more complex and I wonder if anyone who has not used them before would be able to make sense of them. They are essentially a list of reminders and all the critical screw hole locations.

Then the shaping begins. We use the band saw, drill press, router table, and stationary belt sander to shape the blanks we milled out yesterday and to drill counter-bored screw holes and pilot holes for the screws that will hold the table together and act as pivot points.

I pre-finish areas that will be difficult to get finish to after the legs are assembled and put it all together with glue and screws.

After lunch I take the table top we made yesterday out of the band clamp and use the router table to round over the edges of the rails and do a construction sanding on it. This uses 100 grit paper and is intended to remove rough spots, ridges and saw marks. We’ll finish sand later.

Now I test fit the leg set and latch block to the under side of the tray table. No glue yet. Does everything fit as it should? Does everything move as it should? Does the latch block snap through the opening in the upper spreader? If not, now is the time to make adjustments.

When I’m satisfied that all is well, I glue the leg mount blocks in place and glue the latch block assembly in place and clamp it all together snugly. Now it has to sit for a while to let the glue bond up good and tight.

It’s a little early to quit, but I do have an order I took by phone to process and some chores in the office to take care of, so this is as good a time to take care of that as any.


See you tomorrow.

Doug-Bob