CNC Build: The Bed and Breakfast at 4 years and 40,000 miles

[capnTelescope]

but without a CNC router, ...

Hey, Kharn. Good to see you're back. Actually, I haven't done anything on this build that couldn't be done with templates. But there would be a lot of them. The CNC definitely makes stuff like the tambours much more do-able.

Meanwhile...

In this post, I noted that a glitch in my design caught the tambour and made it hard to open. This pic shows the trouble spot as well as part of the solution:

Where the track transitions into the curve, there is a very thin stretch of wood that obviously won't hold up. Knocking the thin part off creates the step that catches the tambour.

I spent a considerable time pondering a fix. Since there's plenty of 1/32 alum left over from the skinning, why not line the track with it? So off to TechShop to shear some 5/16 wide strips. After some careful hand bending and using some alum scraps as clips to hold the lining in place, I PL-ed it together:

The front/top/rear surfaces of the track get the lining. That would be the side of the track nearest you.

With that, I took the first two track pieces to the tear and clamped up to see how it worked.


It works quite well, thank you for asking.

Note that there's only one clamp holding things together. The tracks fit in their places like you would expect precision CNC parts to fit, so one clamp sufficed for testing..


The other issue I'd pondered at length is how to fasten the tracks in place. I also want to be able to take these things apart in case of a jam or other failure, so gluing is not allowed. Pocket hole screwing will interfere with the track grooves, other than the extreme top, front and rear.

A pair of tracks is (close enough) the same thickness as the width of the cabinet face frame stiles. So if I glue a right/left pair together and drive a screw straight in from the back, that should work.

With all the known unknowns figgered out, it was time to cut out the rest of the tracks and go for the gusto.
Six more parts, please:


Glued-up pairs:


A glued pair, drilled.

I drilled the straight holes with the Kreg drill bit, and will use Kreg screws all around. Hopefully, 6 screws will be enough.

Next step: Install! Stay tuned.

Thanks, everyone, for stopping by.

[capnTelescope]

With all that stuff above finished, It's Install Time! Installation involves mounting the tracks, each behind its own stile, and threading the tambour through the track groove.

You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you? Well, of course it wasn't.

The far right one's right track is one of the ones I used to do the mock-up. Completely forgot that I trimmed a quarter inch off the bottom back then. So the darn thing was binding and being a brat. Once I had that figured out, the question was whether to A) shim the one track up higher or B) shorten the other three. Naturally, I chose "A". Then I was reminded why the track was trimmed short in the first place. The slats were hitting the face frame top rail. No bueno. Vigorous application of the wood rasp to the backside of the rail fixed that problem.

The middle tambour is a little too short for the opening. Actually the opening is too big. I'll have to remove the track, remove the stile and move it over a little, reassemble, and repeat for the third opening, as it will be too wide now. Remember how I said I wasn't going to use glue to mount the tracks? That's why.

I didn't mount the far left tambour yet because this electrical mess is in the way:

I'll probably move the breaker box and GFI outlet to the bulkhead, maybe above the cabinets.

Thanks for stopping by!

[pchast]

Coming out very nicely. Less fiddling then I expected.

I've had no luck building those things myself. Repaired
some but never successfully made the tracks new.

[capnTelescope]

Coming out very nicely. Less fiddling then I expected.

Thanks, Pete. Ever the optimist, I thought it all might go together with only a little fuss. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. This isn't too bad. I've had worse struggles on this project. I'm really hoping hard that the tambour for the last section isn't too narrow. Too wide is easy to fix, but it's really hard to saw more material on.

Some graphite and/or wax on the tracks should get things slicker than whale snot.

[Sheddie]

Wow Brad that looks really awesome. I love the wood grain as well. It makes me think about changing my sliders in the galley, they were after all a quick fix on a time restricted build.
All our best wishes for Christmas
Frank.

[capnTelescope]

Thank you, Frank. I'm quite happy with the results here. I think that with a little more tweaking they are going to be super.

You should try it. They are quite a bit of work, but the track is the only part that's picky. Craftsmen were making them long before CNC machines came about. Or even power routers. I think a good template and a well-equipped router would do the job quite nicely.

Maybe I should start a thread over in the Tips and Techniques section?

Wishing all who pass this way a Merry Christmas and/or a happy Hanukkah, Solstice, Festivus, Kwanzaa or what ever else you may be celebrating at this time of the year. Don't overdo!

[KCStudly]

And a very merry Christmas to you!

[capnTelescope]

Thank you KC. The same to you and yours.

I spent a good chunk of the day ,today, cleaning up the to-do's from the last post. Got that center-right tambour to at least stay in the tracks. Moved the electrical mess to make room for the far-left tambour.


and added, um, handles. For lack of a better word, handles. Or pusher-uppers if you'd rather.


As you can see, I got out the Johnson Wax and gave 'em a good lube job. The tambours slide up easily and fall shut from their own weight.


Next steps are a top for the galley cabinets (1/4 ply), the inside tambours and I am getting sick of that 2x4 photobombing every picture of the galley

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

[KCStudly]

Looking good!

Will you need something to hold the tambours up when you want them to be open, or do they stay up by themselves until you give them a tug?

[capnTelescope]

They stay up like good little tambours. They only need a little encouragement to go down.

[KCStudly]

[Breytie]

That looks good! Really really good! I am impressed.
And a blessed Christmas to you and your loved ones too.

[capnTelescope]

Thank you, Breytie. It'll give you something to shoot for on your Ventear.

[capnTelescope]

Good Grief! I haven't posted here since Christmas. Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

It's not like I haven't been working on the build. I've had a number of "homeowner" things to get done, blah blah blah.

So, here's what's new:

I got a top put on the galley cabinets:

This was a simple table saw job, plus cut out the corners on the CNC for the wiring harnesses to go up/down in the corners.

Left:


Right:


That wasn't enough to brag about and post, so I got started on the tambours for the cabin cabinets. Same steps as the galley tambours, just three instead of four:


Here's a view looking in the right door:

I also found a pair of Roman shades for the doors at HD that look like a million bucks, and only cost $11.98.

These tambours went in a lot easier than the first batch, thanks to a lot of "experience" gained in the galley. The only real problem was that the end track pieces were cut some months ago and the track depths were 1/4" and the new ones 3/8". It took a while to figure out why the doors were so hard to track, but it was a simple trim cut to fix the problem.

The doors still need handles/knobs/puller-uppers/whatever-you-want-to-call-them.

Next project is plumbing propane to the stove/oven and taking care of a couple of details on the stove slideout.

[KCStudly]

Your build is really taking shape now!

Soapy water test, for sure on your propane. Just your luck something bad might happen.