Creating the 30 deg angle for a Fender princton Rev chassis

[rangdipkin]

yes sir you got er. precision measurement and a very flat, straight guide clamped solid. Circular saw works wonders but can be intimidating if you are unfamiliar, its basically a handheld table saw! I use a big 16" blade and its still a bit scary to fire up, but can cut a 6x6 post in a single pass.

[pjd3]

You know rangkipkin,

I can find space for a hand circular saw, and it seems that right there could make the work of cutting that freegan angle much more quick, efficient and accurate than I can with a good hand saw.

I will be looking into that,

Thanks man,

Phil

[lonote]

The only part that I'm slightly baffled by is how that will work for the top/front that is angled 30 degrees back toward the back of the cabinet. Its hard to visualize how the router bit will cut into the angled edge and how it will be guided in doing so. Theres a little more work to do to realize that part of it. Routing the straight edges is something I've done numorous times with no issue so, just the top front is the issue. I'll do some more searching for any approaches that meet that strategy better.

That top panel front edge gets it's own special treatment as the 3/8"radius router bit won't really work anyway.

The bottom edge of that panel is just barely eased, so it is still fairly sharp & the top edge can be done by hand with a block plane & sandpaper, or even just sandpaper, blending it into the top, rounding it over by eye.

I have built many Fender-style cabs, but still look over my real ones (60s & 70s era) just as a refresher & there is even quite a bit of difference between those, so don't sweat it too much. Make it look good to your own eye.

I can post some reference pics if it will help.

[rangdipkin]

You know rangkipkin,

I can find space for a hand circular saw, and it seems that right there could make the work of cutting that freegan angle much more quick, efficient and accurate than I can with a good hand saw.

I will be looking into that,

Thanks man,

Phil

cheers! Take yer time with measurement and setup, use a fine tooth blade if possible, and leave a little meat to clean up with sandpaper. Let the tool do the work, you are just there to guide it in a straight and flat line. She'll cut like butter!

[pjd3]

Back after a little sabbatical.

I took the advice from one of the posters here and bought my first circular saw. This week I'll go out and pick up a nice 7 1/2" 60T blade. After some thought, I believe the 30 degree angles can be pre-cut in the side boards before doing the 3/4" Box finger joints that I kinda like, plus, I have the templates, fixtures, guides and router bits to properly do those.

A fellow here where I work told me how to make a "circular saw guide" that will server to make perfectly neat and square cuts on boards. That was just a matter of gluing a 1/4" thick hardwood board onto a 1/4" thick MDF or 1/8" hardboard. Then, it is just a matter of running your circular saw with blade of choice along the hardwood guide, and that will make a nice straight cut into the hardboard that can now be used as your alignment with the piece to be cut. This way, you don't even have to measure - in my case the alignment edge of the hardboard is exactly 5" from the guide giving a perfect cut ontop of the cut line.

Thanks again for your advice and feedback here, it certainly came in handy for getting to a better place for this.
Best,
PHil D. (pjd3)

[pjd3]

Hello,

I'm not even expecting anyone to even see this post but, we''ll give it a shot.

I'm wondering if there is any issue with "pre-cutting the 30-degree angle on the side boards before the Box finger joints are routed and then of course before the sides and tops are glued and clamped.

I'm thinking that there shouldn't be an issue with this unless the angle cross sectioned a Finger joint in a destructive manner, in a way that could knock it off or leave very little attachment to the board. This could be figured out with a little careful measurement.

I'm thinking about it - I don't think my circular saw would be long enough to cut the entire 30-degree section when the cabinet is already glued.

Thanks,
Phil D (pjd3).

[GAStan]

Personally I'd route first, then cut, then assemble. This leaves more of the board there while routing. It may not even matter depending on how you are routing.

[didit]

Hello -

I fully encourage you to do that, making all major dimensional board cuts before assembling with glue. You can clamp the two side pieces together to trim that angle simultaneously and the same. Measure twice (or thrice), cut once. A straight edge at the correct angle and distance would make achieving a clean precise cut more probable.

..

[pjd3]

Thank you didit and GAstan.

It sounds like I'm going to be alright this this. And yes, no problem placing the two side boards together and cut simultaneously. The circular saw does go deep enough to easily reach two 3/4" boards. That was the problem with cutting the angle with a hand saw and sanding with a long board. One side still comes out different than the other even when you think you are being even with everything.

Just to mention, the box finger joints are 3/4" wide and also 3/4" long. That is the recommended dimensions to make the spaces and fingers by the template company. That worked great on my 12" square trial sample. Supposedly, those 3/4" fingers/spaces make for a very strong edge.

This has me thinking that what I'll do, is some measuring to see where the angle crosses and if or how that intersect with the space/finger a that location. But this looks good.

Thank you for the sanity check, kinda new stuff for me, first circular saw. (But I have been routing for many years).

Best,
PHil D.

[gunsu70]

Hi Phil,

I'm interested in what you chose to do RE the roundover of the front of the top panel? Did you do it by hand as suggested or try a different roundover bit?

Cheers
Chris

[pjd3]

What I did was make the top board just a tad deeper than it would be when finished. (around an extra 1/16" overhang).

The boards were connected/glued using 3/4" box joint fingers, and the front ended up extending about 1/16". Then I used a combination of 80 grit sandpaper tacked to a small piece of MDF board and gradually formed the angle and curve by eye sight. It may seem like a very tricky deal thinking about it but, once you get started it just intuitively makes sense what needs to be done. Then I would use course sanding sponges along with the sanding board to help the top meet smoothly with the sides.

I'm sure there is probably a "better way" to do it, a more sophisticated way that minimizes steps but, I was pretty pleased with the result and the time it took to do it. I'm in no way a professional woodworker so I take a lot of time to not make any fatal mistakes.

My task for the weekend is to set up an online place to store pictures so that I can post them here.

Thanks for stopping by.
Best,
Phil D.

[GAStan]

I don't use any sites like Imagur, I upload directly to the site.

When I post pictures here I go to the bottom, under the "SAVE DRAFT", "PREVIEW" and "SUBMIT" buttons. There are two tabs, "OPTIONS", and "ATTACHMENTS". Select "ATTACHMENTS". Click "ADD FILES", then select the photos you wish to upload. I do this from my phone, tablet and computer-just whatever I'm using. Just took this example picture (and of course it previews upside down )

Living room corner at the moment.