How to glue biscuit-jointed miter corners for a tight fit?

[OneWithNot]

That is some fine looking woodworking.

I don't use gorilla glue any more. Tests have shown it is not nearly as strong as regular old wood glue. You need every bit of strength you can get with a miter joint, even with biscuits, plus a thin film of glue makes the strongest joint.

I use plain yellow aliphatic resin glue like Titebond or Titebond II for indoor, and Titebond III where it might be exposed to the elements.

Use plain Titebond, or Titebond Extend (if you can find it) since it has a longer working time than their other products.

Strap clamps are great, but nothing beats f-clamps or pipe clamps for putting the pressure on.

[amplifiednation]

For the valance, I used a sliding miter saw to cut the purpleheart and maple pieces. Then I used #10 biscuits (2 on each side) and glued them up. I had cut them oversized so I could do a final cut on the whole piece at once. I then set my table saw blade at 15 degrees (approx) and cut the angle toward the faceplate side (carefully!) .

It came out like I hoped it would, so I'm happy. The name of this amp is "Victoria" which is why I wanted the "V" affect on the front panel.

Very nice. the cabinet looks awesome, all the wood has gorgeous figure. Did you just use oil for the front? Did you have to use a filler for the purpleheart?

So on the valence do you have it secured on cleats or did you dado in a groove on the inside of the shell? I was trying to figure out how to dado it in, I believe that is how the originals were done...the cleats can be a real pain if you don't have the right transformer clearance.

I was trying to figure out how to do the dado'd valence. It would be more straight forward if not for the beveled edge, which would expose the bottom of the dado groove and be kind of unsightly.

If you did it that way would you cut tenons on each side of the valence and have them go like a tongue and groove??

[LarryLarry]

I have a biscuit on each side of the valance and 2 biscuits on the top of it. Makes for a bit of a jigsaw puzzle putting it together! I had to be really careful about where I punched the biscuit slots in the top and side pieces so the valance sat in the correct location.

There is only 1 coat of the BLO/Mineral Spirits/Poly on it so far, not wet-sanded at all yet - that will start tonight. 320 a couple of times, 400 a couple of times then 600 as many times as I can stand it. Then paste wax with 0000 steel wool a few times and finally paste wax with a rag a few times.

That is how I did my the cherry cabinet for my Rocket, and it came out pretty cool!

[amplifiednation]

Wow! By the look of the maple it looks like you had already put some kind of finish on there.

I've used a flat razor blade to lightly scrape the maple before the final sanding; you can get even more of the grain to pop.

[M Fowler]

You only dado the valance portion to where the bevel starts that angled part would be cut to fit inside the opening the dado portion would be 1/4 longer or so then the opening.

Mark

[dartanion]

She sure is purty Larry! Very nice work.

BTW- I use Tightbond II and III FWIW.

[LarryLarry]

Thank you all for your expertise! I feel like throwing away what's left of my Gorilla wood glue!

Titebond it shall be from here on...

[Reeltarded]

Don't throw it out! It will take up all the space in your trashcan and it won't stop until it displaces... maybe Earth's atmosphere.

On second thought, go ahead. I always wanted to live in a network of tunnels.

[Distortion]

If you want the joints to fit it is hard to beat big clamps.
Here is a picture showing one of my cabs while it is drying.
The cab has between 13 and 15 clamps.
I would rather ober do it than have gaps in the miters.

Another advantage to using these is it allows you to adjust the wood slightly so you can make adjustments in the wood position.

Moving the whole thing once the clamps are applied is rather interesting

[img853]http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g268/ ... C01671.jpg[/img]

[LarryLarry]

Geez, that must weigh 50lbs with all those clamps! I now know what to keep an eye out for at yard sales!

Thanks!

[RevD]

Wow! By the look of the maple it looks like you had already put some kind of finish on there.

I've used a flat razor blade to lightly scrape the maple before the final sanding; you can get even more of the grain to pop.

I agree, cabinet scrappers are awesome for that and in many other situations. They're so much better than sandpaper that I will use them as much as possible. They just leave a better finish IMHO.

Regards,

Don

[LarryLarry]

Finished all the woodburning stuff on the faceplate; put on the 1st coat of finish...

[Gibsonman63]

I have used the gorilla glue with sucess, but only on tolexed cabinets and only with clamps. I always have to trim away the excess with a razor blade. For fine woodworking such as your project, there are probably better glues.

[LarryLarry]

Got it all put back together in the new cab. The PT barely fit, I should have measured it first but I got lucky!

I can definitely tell that the mitered corners are truer where they fell close to the band clamps...

[Reeltarded]

Wow! Just wow! Beautiful.

Congrats. I love it!