That may be the answer, change grain direction. Strength is not an issue,
the joint I use now is end grain to end grain and is more then ample. Your
joint would be a step up in strength.
"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:07:16 -0600, "sweet sawdust"
wrote:

Very Very Nice!!! No Hinge, top just glued straight to the box. Crack
occurs at one of the end cuts for the tongues. Most of the time the
cracks
occur when I take them to outside shows where the temp/humidity changes
are
severe over a short period of time. Have had the same problem with other
box
type items, but not to the extreme (maybe one out of a hundred). Mine
look
similar to yours, not anywhere near as fancy, but are toys for children,
cost is a strong concern. That's why maple instead of Paduk or other
wood.
For the mallets I use superballs also. I find that the superballs have a
tendency to crumble after being drilled and used a lot so I coat them with
"dip It". Before coating I was having about a 70% failure in the sticks
after a month of use. After coating I am down to a 1% failure after one
year
of use. and that is by kids banging the daylights out of them.

Just a thought, but it seems to me that orienting the ends with the
grain running top to bottom rather than side to side would go a long
way toward addressing the problem you are describing. The ends
wouldn't be as strong that way but I find myself wondering just how
strong they really need to be in this application..

"jtpr" wrote in message
groups.com...

sweet sawdust wrote:
Need some advice on gluing up a box. This is a standard box about 6" x
11"
solid wood with rabbit joints on corners (for appearance). Bottom is
1/4"
ply glued to the box body, no problem yet. The top is 11/16" hard maple
with
tongues cut in it to make a drum head. I need to fasten the top to the
body
in such a way that there is no vibration in the top except in the
tongues.
Gluing all four of the top to the box body works fine except that I
get
wood movement that cracks the top and ruins the drum. Any Ideas on how
to
attach the top in such away as to allow the wood movment but hold the
drum
top to the box. The maple is kiln dried, and seems stable in about
65%
of
the drums the rest get cracks. Finish is poly on the inside of the box
and
drum head (sprayed on) outside is oil. tried poly on outside no
difference
in cracking and liked oil better. Any advice would be helpful.

I made 2 of these for last Christmas:

http://jtpryan.smugmug.com/gallery/1080675/1/50212914

I used Paduk for the top's. How much are you taking off at the hinge?
Is this where the cracks occur? What are you using for mallet's? I
use superballs. Anyway, I just glued mine on with yellow glue and a
ton of clamps. Been over a year without a problem. My sides are miter
joints with horizontal splines, I have no bottom as I liked the sound
better without one.

-Jim