Post your woodwork here

[The Ouzo]

Question for those that have a bit more skill and knowledge.

 

We bought my youngest daughter a used bunk bed. The idea is to keep the top bed, and convert the bottom to a desk.

The frame is made out of pine, and the base of the bed is chipboard. The plan is to use the base as top of the desk, but cut it in a L-shape. 

With the tools I have, circular saw and jig saw, the easiest and potentially neatest cuts would be 90deg L shape. But a curved L would be more ergonomical and visually better, I'm just worried about cutting a clean arch with the jigsaw.

 

Any tips ? Or suggestions for a L shape that is not 90deg.

[Hairy]

5 minutes ago, ouzo said:

Question for those that have a bit more skill and knowledge.

 

We bought my youngest daughter a used bunk bed. The idea is to keep the top bed, and convert the bottom to a desk.

The frame is made out of pine, and the base of the bed is chipboard. The plan is to use the base as top of the desk, but cut it in a L-shape. 

With the tools I have, circular saw and jig saw, the easiest and potentially neatest cuts would be 90deg L shape. But a curved L would be more ergonomical and visually better, I'm just worried about cutting a clean arch with the jigsaw.

 

Any tips ? Or suggestions for a L shape that is not 90deg.

two things.

1. I read the "We bought my youngest daughter a used bunk bed" as "We bought my youngest daughter a used drunk bed" ... I may have a problem I need to resolve

2. "I'm just worried about cutting a clean arch with the jigsaw" draw it out on the top, do your best to cut close to the scribed line and follow by finishing off with some old school file and sandpaper action.

[Capricorn]

3 minutes ago, ouzo said:

Question for those that have a bit more skill and knowledge.

 

We bought my youngest daughter a used bunk bed. The idea is to keep the top bed, and convert the bottom to a desk.

The frame is made out of pine, and the base of the bed is chipboard. The plan is to use the base as top of the desk, but cut it in a L-shape. 

With the tools I have, circular saw and jig saw, the easiest and potentially neatest cuts would be 90deg L shape. But a curved L would be more ergonomical and visually better, I'm just worried about cutting a clean arch with the jigsaw.

 

Any tips ? Or suggestions for a L shape that is not 90deg.

Is the chipboard laminated with melamine? if so, note that depending on the jigsaw blade and speed of cut, the melamine will chip leaving an ugly cut edge.

large radius/gentler curves are easy to cut with a jigsaw, with any small errors easily addressed by some sanding. 
smaller radius/tighter curves will just take a bit more time. go slow, choose a good blade.

If the radius is really small, then best drill it out with a spade/forstner/holesaw bit, then use the jigsaw or circular saw for the rest of the cuts

[The Ouzo]

6 minutes ago, Capricorn said:

Is the chipboard laminated with melamine? if so, note that depending on the jigsaw blade and speed of cut, the melamine will chip leaving an ugly cut edge.

yep. I'll tape up the cut area. Do you suggest a finer tooth blade rather than a rougher tooth, or the other way around ?

 

7 minutes ago, Capricorn said:

large radius/gentler curves are easy to cut with a jigsaw, with any small errors easily addressed by some sanding. 
smaller radius/tighter curves will just take a bit more time. go slow, choose a good blade.

It will be a large radius.

 

11 minutes ago, Hairy said:

1. I read the "We bought my youngest daughter a used bunk bed" as "We bought my youngest daughter a used drunk bed" ... I may have a problem I need to resolve

hahahahaha

[Ed-Zulu]

23 minutes ago, ouzo said:

Question for those that have a bit more skill and knowledge.

 

We bought my youngest daughter a used bunk bed. The idea is to keep the top bed, and convert the bottom to a desk.

The frame is made out of pine, and the base of the bed is chipboard. The plan is to use the base as top of the desk, but cut it in a L-shape. 

With the tools I have, circular saw and jig saw, the easiest and potentially neatest cuts would be 90deg L shape. But a curved L would be more ergonomical and visually better, I'm just worried about cutting a clean arch with the jigsaw.

 

Any tips ? Or suggestions for a L shape that is not 90deg.

Hi Ouzo, 

Chipboard is rubbish and once you cut it, it will sag, so you'll need to somehow strengthen it with a batten of some sorts once done, so keep that in mind.

You can cut a nice cleanish arc with a fine tooth blade on the jigsaw and finish by hand with some 80grit paper around a piece of off-cut gutter pipe or a glass jar. Finist the edges and arc in 120grit and you should be good.

[The Ouzo]

33 minutes ago, Ed-Zulu said:

Chipboard is rubbish and once you cut it, it will sag, so you'll need to somehow strengthen it with a batten of some sorts once done, so keep that in mind.

Yes, I will build in support aswell as getting a set of ready made drawers to fit underneath as additional support.

 

34 minutes ago, Ed-Zulu said:

You can cut a nice cleanish arc with a fine tooth blade on the jigsaw and finish by hand with some 80grit paper around a piece of off-cut gutter pipe or a glass jar. Finist the edges and arc in 120grit and you should be good.

Thanks

[patches]

2 hours ago, Steven Knoetze (sk27) said:

Can't see the 2nd and 3rd pic but assuming its a DIY hack of sorts.

Routers are pretty dangerous tools, people underestimate the damage they can cause.

Oh yeah, routers scare the crap outta me. Especially my full size router.

2 hours ago, Hairy said:

Off cut bit of timber and test it.....just do not force it

Oh yeah, definitely going to run it on a scrap first. I don't feel like remaking my the cupboard doors, because of a router slip up, haha

1 hour ago, Jehosefat said:

Looks more like they are suggesting a table or CNC because there is no way to keep it at a consistent depth with a handheld (depth in this case meaning along the A dimension in the pic of the bit). You would need the fence on the table or some fancy MacGyver system for the handheld.

The router has a pretty decent fence for the router so it should be able to maintain a consistent "depth"

Alternately, the aftermarket base can have a make-shift fence attached or some guide pins

36 minutes ago, Capricorn said:

agree with the recommendation to take multiple passes with shallower cuts, if cutting by hand.
If doing a full depth cut, then strongly recommend a table router setup with a strong motor (not necessarily a spindle cutter).

Yeah, I was thinking as the "depth" is in the horizontal plane I could use the fence to adjust for each pass.

The router is question is rated at 2000W so no slouch but I still don't want to push it too hard.

I'll run a test piece this weekend and see how it goes. Hopefully it ends up something like this...

 

 

 

 

[Jehosefat]

4 minutes ago, patches said:

The router has a pretty decent fence for the router so it should be able to maintain a consistent "depth"

Alternately, the aftermarket base can have a make-shift fence attached or some guide pins

Yeah, I was thinking as the "depth" is in the horizontal plane I could use the fence to adjust for each pass.

Didn't say it was impossible, just that it would require some MacGyver'ing. I'm interested to hear how it goes because I can already see potential issues with all 3 of the fence approaches.

Possible issues are:

1. How are you going to immobilise the stock while routing it with the first option since the fence and bit run down opposite sides of the stock and the fence connecting rods will have to run off the edges of the board to complete the cut.
2. Probably the best option but you'd need to cut a recess into the bit of wood you're using as a fence for the bit otherwise you would have to do the full depth cut in one go.
3. Just using the two bolts as a fence will be fine for the middle of the stock but depth control will be very difficult once one of them is off the edge of the stock.

[Ed-Zulu]

1 hour ago, patches said:

Oh yeah, routers scare the crap outta me. Especially my full size router.

Oh yeah, definitely going to run it on a scrap first. I don't feel like remaking my the cupboard doors, because of a router slip up, haha

The router has a pretty decent fence for the router so it should be able to maintain a consistent "depth"

Alternately, the aftermarket base can have a make-shift fence attached or some guide pins

Yeah, I was thinking as the "depth" is in the horizontal plane I could use the fence to adjust for each pass.

The router is question is rated at 2000W so no slouch but I still don't want to push it too hard.

I'll run a test piece this weekend and see how it goes. Hopefully it ends up something like this...

 

 

 

 

When I'm home tonight I'll take pictures of what I'm trying to convey here; i'll do table saw cuts to remove the majority of the waste first, then run the router lines?

So first cut: run the depth needed less 5mm

Second cut: clear the waste out for the handhold

Final cut with router; minor material clear out

Hope that makes some sense 

[Capricorn]

patches: why not just cook up a temp table mounted setup with fences and alles. u have more than enough skills to do it right with what you have. Then u can batch out those pull cuts chop-chop.

 

edit: that circle cutting jig base looks sturdy enough to be be your base plate. Recess a portion of it (even if the narrow end of it hangs off the table, as long as it's fixed to the table it will work), then go bos

Edited August 24, 2022 by Capricorn

[patches]

14 hours ago, Jehosefat said:

Didn't say it was impossible, just that it would require some MacGyver'ing. I'm interested to hear how it goes because I can already see potential issues with all 3 of the fence approaches.

Possible issues are:

1. How are you going to immobilise the stock while routing it with the first option since the fence and bit run down opposite sides of the stock and the fence connecting rods will have to run off the edges of the board to complete the cut.
2. Probably the best option but you'd need to cut a recess into the bit of wood you're using as a fence for the bit otherwise you would have to do the full depth cut in one go.
3. Just using the two bolts as a fence will be fine for the middle of the stock but depth control will be very difficult once one of them is off the edge of the stock.

Yeah, unfortunately none of my at hand options are ideal, so a few things to test.

Option/Issue 1:

That pic I posted was a bad example of the fence position (it was just a random picture I had of my bargain 2nd hand Festool router after I'd given it a clean up).

I'd run the fence on the cut side (similar to pic below), but that will depend if the gap in the fence is wide enough to accommodate the router bit.

 

Option 2:

Like you suggest, probably the best option in this case, and the benefit of a sacrificial fence is I can cut out enough of a relief to accommodate the diameter of the bit

Issue/Option 3:

I probably should have mentioned that I don't plan on cutting the profile across the full width of the door/drawer. Just a short section which I will control with stops to have an effect similar to this

In this case the pins may work, but wont offer as much stability as an entire fence.

So considering all the above, and the fact that i have about 6 of these door/drawer fronts to cut, I may go with something in-between/custom as suggested by Cap below

12 hours ago, Capricorn said:

patches: why not just cook up a temp table mounted setup with fences and alles. u have more than enough skills to do it right with what you have. Then u can batch out those pull cuts chop-chop.

 

edit: that circle cutting jig base looks sturdy enough to be be your base plate. Recess a portion of it (even if the narrow end of it hangs off the table, as long as it's fixed to the table it will work), then go bos

My thought are a giant sacrificial fence mounted to the router base (which is 5mm think alu, so as you estimated, pretty sturdy). Flip it all upside down and table mount it.

The fence will be longer than the door width (approx. 600mm) and have the stops built in. Like a ghetto version of this

 

Or I could just clamp a straight edge down and wing it like this guy

 

[Jehosefat]

If you want quick and easy I think the straight edge option will work best. You could even screw stop-blocks into it to help make the profiles a consistent size.

[Capricorn]

4 hours ago, patches said:

Yeah, unfortunately none of my at hand options are ideal, so a few things to test.

Option/Issue 1:

That pic I posted was a bad example of the fence position (it was just a random picture I had of my bargain 2nd hand Festool router after I'd given it a clean up).

I'd run the fence on the cut side (similar to pic below), but that will depend if the gap in the fence is wide enough to accommodate the router bit.

 

Option 2:

Like you suggest, probably the best option in this case, and the benefit of a sacrificial fence is I can cut out enough of a relief to accommodate the diameter of the bit

Issue/Option 3:

I probably should have mentioned that I don't plan on cutting the profile across the full width of the door/drawer. Just a short section which I will control with stops to have an effect similar to this

In this case the pins may work, but wont offer as much stability as an entire fence.

So considering all the above, and the fact that i have about 6 of these door/drawer fronts to cut, I may go with something in-between/custom as suggested by Cap below

My thought are a giant sacrificial fence mounted to the router base (which is 5mm think alu, so as you estimated, pretty sturdy). Flip it all upside down and table mount it.

The fence will be longer than the door width (approx. 600mm) and have the stops built in. Like a ghetto version of this

 

Or I could just clamp a straight edge down and wing it like this guy

 

for sure u could wing it, but just note, that guy was cutting full depth into what looked like pine, a softwood, which requires less control. But no matter the timber, multiple passes, and you'll be just fine.

But you'll know what works for you when you do a couple of test cuts. how's that meme go: we learn by doing dangerous things carefully

Edited August 25, 2022 by Capricorn

[The Ouzo]

23 hours ago, ouzo said:

Question for those that have a bit more skill and knowledge.

 

We bought my youngest daughter a used bunk bed. The idea is to keep the top bed, and convert the bottom to a desk.

The frame is made out of pine, and the base of the bed is chipboard. The plan is to use the base as top of the desk, but cut it in a L-shape. 

With the tools I have, circular saw and jig saw, the easiest and potentially neatest cuts would be 90deg L shape. But a curved L would be more ergonomical and visually better, I'm just worried about cutting a clean arch with the jigsaw.

 

Any tips ? Or suggestions for a L shape that is not 90deg.

Well this has become a useless post. The wife has found the ideal desk for sale on facebook, so we will be going to collect on the weekend.

In one way I was kind of looking forward to doing the work, on the other hand it does save me a fair bit of time.

[Capricorn]

2 minutes ago, ouzo said:

Well this has become a useless post. The wife has found the ideal desk for sale on facebook, so we will be going to collect on the weekend.

In one way I was kind of looking forward to doing the work, on the other hand it does save me a fair bit of time.

yikes, the confidence shown in your ability 🤣

 

 

[The Ouzo]

9 minutes ago, Capricorn said:

yikes, the confidence shown in your ability 🤣

 

 

hahaha, its not that (I hope  ). I work on saturday mornings, I ride on sunday mornings. So I have limited time, so it was more a case of speeding things up.