# Uneven glue joints?



## RufusTF (Mar 20, 2010)

I'm new here, and an amateur to boot, so hello everyone.

I'm making a wooden enclosure for a musical instrument rotary speaker, and have joined together pieces of maple and red oak with a router table and a glue joint bit. Each side is 12.5" wide and 18" tall, and is made from three pieces of 3/4" stock. (The finished enclosure will be like a rectangular box 18" tall with a top & bottom.)

Problem is, some of my glue joints are a bit uneven, the worst one being between 1/16" and 1/32" off. I glued them together thinking I could sand out the inconsistency, but realize that I'll be sanding for days if I do that.

I poked around a bit here and it seems that I should get a plane and shave down the higher piece. Is this the case? Or is there a better way?

If I'm not making this clear I could take some pics.

Thanks in advance for any tips/suggestions.

RTF


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## IdaCurt (Jan 5, 2010)

you need a wide belt sander.Take it to a local cabinet shop and have them run it through their sander,takes minutes and you will have a nice flat panel OR random orbital sand for a long time.


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## wooddude9 (Sep 6, 2008)

Regular belt sander if you are good with it in a pinch to feather or break it down all the way. Then orbital to clean it up. Or the wide belt sander from your local cabinet guy as mentioned. Or reset your router table to get proper alignment and dryfit the pieces before gluing. (start over?)You must check the thickness of all pieces before milling also. Always practice with scrap pieces of the same wood when ever possible.


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## SeeDBee (Oct 27, 2008)

*Glue Joints and Router*

I've had similiar issues when trying to use a router in a router table, so the cure I found that works best for me are these clamps from Rockler. Pic below.


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## RufusTF (Mar 20, 2010)

Thanks, and I think I'll hit the cabinet shop.

The drag is that I don't want to have to do this every time. I did some tests on 3/4" pine, and they were pretty good after a few adjustments. I'm using the portable MLCS table, and their "base" (attaches to router like base, sits in a cutaway) has a slight curve to it to allow for the weight of the router. I guess it's ideal to have a 3hp + router in your table, but mine is a 1 + 3/4 hp milwaukee. Which I find to be an excellent router, but it very likely weighs less than what's needed for the plastic base.

So, I'm thinking it's a bit wonky because the wood may not be sliding over a true flat surface. Better get the level & check it out.


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## mics_54 (Oct 28, 2008)

Just because you buy "3/4"" wood from the lumber store doesn't mean it's all exactly 3/4" thick. 

simplified steps
#1 size your part lengths +?
#2 rip (straight edges!)+?
#3 plane to uniform thickness (thickness sand?)
#4 resize parts to exact lengths and widths
#5 machine joints with attention to orientation/selection
#6 dry fit and assemble

if you don't have the machinery necessary for the steps above then you'll have to wing it or ante up!.


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## 47_47 (Feb 8, 2010)

The most important and probably most overlooked step is acclimate your wood. Then...



mics_54 said:


> Just because you buy "3/4"" wood from the lumber store doesn't mean it's all exactly 3/4" thick.
> 
> simplified steps
> #1 size your part lengths +?
> ...


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## RufusTF (Mar 20, 2010)

That's true. 

I didn't acclimate the wood because I live 5 min. from the home depot I got it from, and figured it was adjusted to the local climate. 

I did, however, check for consistent thickness and straight edges using a 12" straight edge with one of those sliding 90º/45º/bubble level jobs (again, I don't know what the thing is called). That all checked out as far as I could tell. 

Then I ran some test pieces, and this is the reason I suspect the router table: I got inconsistent results with the same settings.

either way, I gotta hit the cabinet shop & hope they don't want to gouge me or make fun of my glue joints!

Thanks again everyone.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

RufusTF said:


> I'm making a wooden enclosure for a musical instrument rotary speaker, and have joined together pieces of maple and red oak.....and is made from three pieces of 3/4" stock.
> Problem is, some of my glue joints are a bit uneven......it seems that I should get a plane and shave down the higher piece. Is this the case? Or is there a better way? RTF


A 4X24 belt sander is heavy, powerful yet easy to control. You should be able to take the wood down with that in just s few seconds. Two minutes max. 
Question...I am not familiar with speakers or speaker boxes. I thought MDF was best for reverberation. If that be the case, can you make them from MDF and veneer them?


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## RufusTF (Mar 20, 2010)

There are a few schools of thought on that subject (big surprise, no?), and some of them support MDF as the material of choice, some say that pine is best (like old fender guitar amps), and some say that better wood sounds better in a cab. So, for all practical purposes the jury is still out on speaker cabs. 

I believe that the dimensions are more important than the material, although the baffle itself (the piece with the speaker mounted to it) should be a resonant material, and thin. The way a fine archtop or flamenco guitar is designed. My 1.6x1x.6 ratio pine cab with a 1/4" baffle sounds great, as does my archtop & flamenco guitars. So I'm sold on the design concept of a thin resonant soundboard reinforced by a properly dimensioned cab.

What I'm doing with this one is a prototype and I can only discuss certain aspects of it here (sorry!) but not the whole thing (non disclosure agreement). I figured that since this one will be the one I demo and have in my home the exterior ought to look good, so why not maple and red oak? That part is just shape, and the rest is, well, electronics and such. Future units will be either MDF or pine. I like pine.

My local cabinet shop guy wanted $120 to level six pieces: four of them 18"x12.5" and two 12"x12". He also offered $60 to plane them. He said that the belt sander would go through a lot of expensive sand paper belts to do the job.

Is he full of jive-ass baloney or is this reasonable?


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

RufusTF said:


> Is he full of jive-ass baloney or is this reasonable?


I'd say he's planning to make plenty of money off you at that price. But he's a business owner and has considerable money invested in the machine, not to mention that his time is money, so he needs to make money off you. If six pieces the size of small cabinet doors eat up his sandpaper, he needs better sandpaper. A drum sander would have those panels perfectly flat in no time! Not a bad option but you can fix this yourself with some elbow grease or a belt sander.


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