Aurora Night Stand #2: Unexpected help

I mentioned in my first post how disapointed I was in the plans I purchased for the nightstand. Well, right away I recieved a PM from Darrell Pert, woodworker, author, and creater of the Aurora design. He offered help and sent photos that got me past a sticking point. This is a great community, and you never know who might be reading!

To finish the assembly of the nightstand draw, I needed to make a sliding dovetail to attach the draw back to the draw sides. I really have been happy with my $8 router table, but the bit opening is sized for my largest bit and I was uncomfortable running the short side of the draw back over the opening.

I decided to make a new table with an opening that just gave clearance for the bit. I also reached a new level in frugality in woodworking machines. I give you my $0.44 router table:

It consists of a piece of scrap mdf, the fence from my drill press table, three clamps, and four long screws I purchased to replace the short ones in the router base plate. I guess I should call this the $0.55 router table, as I did purchase a spare screw…

With this smaller opening I felt better about running the back over the bit:

Some trial and error, and the finished joint:

Now it’s time to sand the pillowed draw fingers.
Robb