Craig D said:
This blog post by Raney Nelson of DAED ToolWorks might be of interest as it describes his methods for fitting overstuffed infills:
Shaping wood
Excellent link Craig thanks! Don't know how I missed that, as I've been reading Raney's blog for quite a while now. The dry erase marker method for finding high spots is worth a shot, but I fear it may not work as well with the rough inside casting as it does on his smooth walls. Also, it looks from this picture like he establish high shoulders on the blank first and then removes material from the bottom to bring the overstuff ledge down to the top of sides. I wonder how he does that reliably on such small pieces?
Anyway, here's the procedure I'm planning on using. Forgive the typos, it's first draft. And if you see a fatal flaw (other than naïve optimism that it might work) let me know!
Fitting overstuffed infills on Work Smoother. WARNING - this procedure is entirely THEORETICAL and UNPROVEN and will serve as a guide for first effort infill fitting. Only once proven will the final infill material be used.
Establishing rear infill dimension bed location
- Machine test block 2"x5"x2" 6-sqare. Block must be longer than distance from rear of casting to throat opening
- Cut tall rabbet at 1/4" above height and exact thickness of rear casting (table saw or router table).
- Set marking guage to height of rear wall from top to inside bottom. Transfer this dimension to rear of block
- Relieve bottom corner and taper as needed to allow it to seat (though it will not yet because of rear throat bedding)
- Set marking guage to height of rear wall from top to inside bottom. Transfer this dimension to rear of blank. Set guage aside retaining measurement.
- Machine spacer equivalent to height of rear throat bedding
- place block in casting on space and read bedding and tight to back. Lightly scribe through mouth against bed angle to establish back of mouth.
- measure width of rear bedding to establish est. starting point for machining rear bedding rabbet measuring back from scribe.
- Cut rabbet into front bottom of block (router table) until fit to determine rabbet dimensions for actual infill
- Re-scribe again through mouth determine back of mouth.
- Cut at bed angle leaving scribe line plus 1/64" to ensure mouth is tight at front (can be filed if necessary to open up the throat) (table saw).
- Determine fit of blade in mouth given bed position. It should just barely make it through or touch at the bottom-most point of the sole. If not, re-cut bed at moderate speed to avoid blade deflection (table saw).
- Check fit of blade until satisfactory such that the mouth is tight when the rear rabbet is tight to the back of the plane. Scribe position of rear wall to test block
Creating rear side patterns
- find a suitable pattern material (should be thick enough to take a knife line (and not compress under pressure like cardboard) but not more than saw 1/16 thick at the most or the transfer will be inaccurate from the concave oriented creation to the convex oriented transfer.
- We begin with the rear pattern
- cut rear end square
- measure forward to just past front of mouth on inside of casting. Note, you'll need more than a straighline's distance because of the flex. Also, we're measuring from the inside of the casting and not the back because we will reference this template off the rabbet on the infill and not off it's absolute back. This is so we don't have to cut a rabbet in the pattern. We will need to relieve the back slightly at the bottom to allow it to seat tightly to the back of the casting.
- cut a rabbet in the front of the pattern to match the rear mouth bedding It doesn't need to be perfect in length or height, just long and high enough to clear while leaving as much unrabbeted reference edge at the bottom as possible.
- use small thin scraps of appropriate length to wedge pattern against side along it's length. Use a knife to scribe the side profile, angling the knife or keeping perfectly perpendicular to ensure the smallest pattern possible. Failure yielding an oversided pattern will produce gaps in the overstuff to bronze transition, while slight angling will allow room for some paring.
-Carefully cut to knife line. Final length is not relevant as this pattern will only mark out up to the bed. Mark for side.
-Repeat for opposite side (do not count on the sides being the same) and mark for side.
Fitting actual rear infill
- Machine 6-square to following dimensions: sole width plus 1/4" x finished infill height x previously established blank length plus 1/4".
- Cut rear-of-mouth rabbet in bottom front of blank to same dimensions as test block (router table)
- Cut bed agle into block leaving sharp edge but no more (table saw)
- Re-check rabbet dimensions from test block and move is back if needed
- Measuring from back of rabbet, mark out distance to back of infill by measruing to the back of the test block past the rabbet. This will require hold a straight-edge or reference block to the back fof the test block and then measurig to the inside face this creates We can't measure to the bottom inside of the rear rabbet because it will have been releived and taperd to fit the casting, preventing an accurate position.
- Cut off rear excess to line (table saw) Note: we will cut the rabbet later
- DS tape casting to 1/4-thick BB ply cut almost to size and trim with flush-trim bit (router table).
- DS tape rear infil blank to sole pattern referencing rear of blank with rear of pattern
- Invert and remove most of waste (bandsaw)
- Flush trim to pattern using multiple passes with patten bit removing patter as needed. Invert and finish with flush-trimming bit (router table).
- Set up straight-cutting bit in router table, set bit height to rear wall height from retained marking guage. Set fence to remove very little material. Ensure fence is zero-clearance, especially at top. Cut establishing rabbet in back only. Re-set fence to full wall thickness (using test cuts in scrap) and complete rear rabbet. Do no change fence setting.
- referencing off of top of rabbet (where not relieved or tapered) and bottom of blank, place side pattern on contoured blank side and transfer overstuff shoulder lines lightly but clearly with knife.
- Shim router table fence with 1/16" shim above bit to cut establishing rabbet on sides
- Remove shim and relieve rest of material for rabbet around plane sides.
- Adjust bit height and carefully remove material as possible to get closer to shoulder lines.
- Using chisels (and gouges for curves), extend rabbet to shoulder lines.
- Test fit
- Remove material from corners and taper as needed using shoulder planes, rasps, floats, etc.
- Shape above shoulder lines as desired.
Front infill side pattern
- cut front end square
- measure back from inside of front to just path mouth
- cut rabbet in bottom to allow relief for rear mouth bed
- relieve bottom corner to allow it to seat tightly to front corner
- wedge into position as before and use knife to scribe profile
- carefully trim to line
- mark for side and repeat
Front infill creation
- using a test block equal in height to the front wall and in length to the distance from the inside front of the casting to halfway into the mouth (it will need to be relieved on it's bottom front edge to allow it to seat), scribe the distance to the front of the mouth from the bottom of the plan through the mouth, angling to ensure the shortest distance. Carry this line around to the side of the block and up. Distance (f) to be used later will be the distance from the unrelieved portion of the front to the scribe line on the side.
- 6 square stock to slightly width just slightly over casting sole width at front of mouth, exact height, and 5 inches long (yes, 5 inches)
- Using a cutting gauge mark out the centerline on the bottom and rear only
- sample front wall height in three places, set marking gauge to shortest of the three sampled heights
- mark front wall shoulder
- cut rabbet for front wall to full depth and height
- transfer centerline up the first 1/2" of front inside rabbet
- Mark out bottom length per test block distance (f), referencing from inside of rabbet at bottom.
- Transfer mark to reference side (just at bottom) and then lay out forward bevel along reference side. Square top of bevel across top of blank.
- DS tape pattern to blank, referencing off of front edge ghosted down from top using square reference block and centered
- Flush blank to sides where needed
- Carry cut line up sides
- reference front side infill pattern off bottom of blank and top (unrelieved) front rabbet and transfer with knife as before to establish shoulder lines, Repeat on other side.
- Rabbet on router table as per rear blank to just below shoulder line. Do not carry rabbet more than slightly past cut line on bottom as we will be laying it on it's side to cut the front infill free.
- Pare to shoulder lines
- if adequate straight reference face on side, turn blank on side and using miter gauge set to desired angle and set up with sacrificial zero-clearance fence pre-cut to show kerf position, cut front infill free
- if there is not adequate straight reference face on side to reference off of table saw surface, mill a piece of wood 6-square, wider than the blank thickness and longer than blank. Using cutting gauge, mark in center line along length, referencing from good edge. Square a knife line across width at approximate position of cut line with blank placed on board. DS tape blank to wood, lining up center marks on blank and wood as well as cut lines. Carry cut line over edge of board using bevel guage set to desired angle. Using board as reference, against table and fence cut front infill free as above
- Test fit
- Remove material from corners and taper as needed using shoulder planes, rasps, floats, etc.
- Wood should come right to edge of mouth. If not, do not file mouth open to meet it except if possible on the top only (leaving the mouth dimension at the bottom the same).
- Shape above shoulder lines as desired.
You don't need a parachute to go skydiving unless you want to do it more than once. . .
<--Me.
