I am trying out my new half blind dovetail jig and have a few questions:

1) when making drawers, my dado shows up as a hole in the outside of my
drawer. How does one avoid this problem? Not a big issue, but I don't see
the same problem with any of my store bought furniture. I assume that if I
make my dado shallower the problem will go away, but that brings up another
question. How deep in 3/4 stock should my dado be to make a strong joint.
I am using 3/4 ply and would like each drawer to hold at least 100 lbs. (in
case you are wondering, I am going for overkill here.)

2) I am having problems making the two pieces line up top to bottom. It is
off by 1/64 - 1/32nd give or take. The part of the jig which takes care of
this offset seems to be lined up properly and the two pieces are cut to the
same width. This offset messes up my precut dados requiring me to go back
and widen my dados ever just slightly. Is there a newbe answer to this
newbe question? Which brings me to my last question. I am using 3/4 inch
ply, should my dado be 3/4 inch wide or should I give it just a bit more
play since it is a draw bottom.

"jbh" wrote in message
...
I am trying out my new half blind dovetail jig and have a few questions:

1) when making drawers, my dado shows up as a hole in the outside of my
drawer. How does one avoid this problem? Not a big issue, but I don't
see the same problem with any of my store bought furniture. I assume that
if I make my dado shallower the problem will go away, but that brings up
another question. How deep in 3/4 stock should my dado be to make a
strong joint. I am using 3/4 ply and would like each drawer to hold at
least 100 lbs. (in case you are wondering, I am going for overkill here.)


Cut the dado last and center it over the tail in the side of the drawer



2) I am having problems making the two pieces line up top to bottom. It
is off by 1/64 - 1/32nd give or take. The part of the jig which takes
care of this offset seems to be lined up properly and the two pieces are
cut to the same width. This offset messes up my precut dados requiring me
to go back and widen my dados ever just slightly. Is there a newbe
answer to this newbe question? Which brings me to my last question. I am
using 3/4 inch ply, should my dado be 3/4 inch wide or should I give it
just a bit more play since it is a draw bottom.

This can happen if your guide bushing is not perfectly centered with the
bit. Make dure the bit is dead centered thfouth the guide bushing and do
not rotate the router as you make the cuts.

Thanks Leon, that helps....I had been rotating my router extensively.

"Leon" wrote in message
...

"jbh" wrote in message
...
I am trying out my new half blind dovetail jig and have a few questions:

1) when making drawers, my dado shows up as a hole in the outside of my
drawer. How does one avoid this problem? Not a big issue, but I don't
see the same problem with any of my store bought furniture. I assume
that if I make my dado shallower the problem will go away, but that
brings up another question. How deep in 3/4 stock should my dado be to
make a strong joint. I am using 3/4 ply and would like each drawer to
hold at least 100 lbs. (in case you are wondering, I am going for
overkill here.)


Cut the dado last and center it over the tail in the side of the drawer



2) I am having problems making the two pieces line up top to bottom. It
is off by 1/64 - 1/32nd give or take. The part of the jig which takes
care of this offset seems to be lined up properly and the two pieces are
cut to the same width. This offset messes up my precut dados requiring
me to go back and widen my dados ever just slightly. Is there a newbe
answer to this newbe question? Which brings me to my last question. I
am using 3/4 inch ply, should my dado be 3/4 inch wide or should I give
it just a bit more play since it is a draw bottom.

This can happen if your guide bushing is not perfectly centered with the
bit. Make dure the bit is dead centered thfouth the guide bushing and do
not rotate the router as you make the cuts.

Cut the dado last and center it over the tail in the side of the drawer

Tough to center a 3/4" dado over a 7/16" tail...
I suppose he could rout off half the thickness and use a 3/8" dado.

"toller" wrote in message
...
Cut the dado last and center it over the tail in the side of the drawer

Tough to center a 3/4" dado over a 7/16" tail...
I suppose he could rout off half the thickness and use a 3/8" dado.

Why have a 3/4" dado? Are you thinking a dado for the back of the drawer to
fit into the sides? I assumed he was talking about a dado to fit the drawer
bottom into.

"Leon" wrote in message
. com...

"toller" wrote in message
...
Cut the dado last and center it over the tail in the side of the drawer

Tough to center a 3/4" dado over a 7/16" tail...
I suppose he could rout off half the thickness and use a 3/8" dado.

Why have a 3/4" dado? Are you thinking a dado for the back of the drawer
to fit into the sides? I assumed he was talking about a dado to fit the
drawer bottom into.
He says the 3/4" dado is for the draw (sic) bottom; beyond that I don't
know.

Correct, the drawer bottom is 3/4" ply, the sides, front and back are all
3/4" stock.

Toller, Thanks for the suggestion of cutting a rabbit 1/2 the thickness of
the drawer bottom. By doing this I could also make the bottom of the drawer
bottom flush with the bottom of the front, back and sides.

"toller" wrote in message
...

"Leon" wrote in message
. com...

"toller" wrote in message
...
Cut the dado last and center it over the tail in the side of the drawer

Tough to center a 3/4" dado over a 7/16" tail...
I suppose he could rout off half the thickness and use a 3/8" dado.

Why have a 3/4" dado? Are you thinking a dado for the back of the drawer
to fit into the sides? I assumed he was talking about a dado to fit the
drawer bottom into.
He says the 3/4" dado is for the draw (sic) bottom; beyond that I don't
know.

"jbh" wrote in message

Which brings me to my last question. I am using 3/4 inch
ply, should my dado be 3/4 inch wide or should I give it just a bit more
play since it is a draw bottom.

With most 3/4" plywood, a 3/4" dado will give you a loose fit, which is
generally what you want in a drawer bottoms.

To be on the safe side, measure the thickness of your plywood before you cut
your dadoes. Plywood, particularly sheets bought at different times, can
vary enough in thickness to make fitting in a dado problematic.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 11/06/04

"jbh" wrote in message
...
Correct, the drawer bottom is 3/4" ply, the sides, front and back are all
3/4" stock.


For future reference, you can use 1/4" plywood for a drawer bottom. It is
quite strong. I built my kitchen drawers 16 years ago with some large 22"x
36" drawers that had 1/4" plywood bottoms set in dados 1/4" deep. I could
stand in the drawers turned upside down. I weighed about 190 lbs. at the
time.

"Leon" wrote in message

I could stand in the drawers turned upside down. I weighed about
190 lbs. at the time

Ahh! The good old days.

I am using 3/4 ply and would like each drawer to hold at least 100 lbs.
(in case you are wondering, I am going for overkill here.)
snip
I am using 3/4 inch ply, should my dado be 3/4 inch wide or should I
give it just a bit more play since it is a draw bottom.

There is a problem with plywood. It chips and tears out too easily when you
use a router. You would get better results cutting dovetails by hand, or
using solid wood.

Steve