I'm a day or two out from assembling the upper half of a New Gloucester rocking chair that has 14 back spindles. Here are a few photos of the upper half dry assembled with the prototype top crest (the back curve isn't cut on the prototype.)
I'm able to insert one spindle at a time in the prototype by pushing the spindle up through the top crest and then dropping back down to the seat blank. All of the holes in the final top crest are stopped tenons. That means I'll need to assemble 14 spindles at the same time. I assembled 7 spindles in a similar top crest for my bar stools last summer and my wife and I were able to handle it.
The trick I used on the bar stools was to insert the spindles in the top crest first and then fit the assembly into the seat. I'm thinking that with three people, we might be able to accomplish the same thing. Here are some other steps I'll take:
1. Drill all of the top crest holes to specific depths and custom cut the mating spindles to the correct length.
2. Predrill some cross dowel holes into the top crest and the seat to hold the assembly together as we finally get things into place.
3. Use Gorilla glue since it allows easy repositioning and give quite a bit of assembly time.
4. Glue spindles into top crest first.
5. Use blue painters tape to minimize Gorilla glue mess. Tape seat blank and cut through spindle holes with Exacto knife. Do same to underside of top crest. Tape spindles outside joint line.
6. Considering drilling a number of the center spindle holes in the top crest deeper so that I can bring them down into the seat after getting more difficult spindles into place. That would leave less spindles to deal with at once. However, it would be a disaster if they stuck high and I couldn't get them back down to contact the seat.
One thing I've discovered is that complex assemblies go together a lot easer with Gorilla glue applied than they do dry assembled. The glue is a great lubricant. Anybody tried a similar assembly? I welcome any thoughts or suggestions on this…
I'm able to insert one spindle at a time in the prototype by pushing the spindle up through the top crest and then dropping back down to the seat blank. All of the holes in the final top crest are stopped tenons. That means I'll need to assemble 14 spindles at the same time. I assembled 7 spindles in a similar top crest for my bar stools last summer and my wife and I were able to handle it.
The trick I used on the bar stools was to insert the spindles in the top crest first and then fit the assembly into the seat. I'm thinking that with three people, we might be able to accomplish the same thing. Here are some other steps I'll take:
1. Drill all of the top crest holes to specific depths and custom cut the mating spindles to the correct length.
2. Predrill some cross dowel holes into the top crest and the seat to hold the assembly together as we finally get things into place.
3. Use Gorilla glue since it allows easy repositioning and give quite a bit of assembly time.
4. Glue spindles into top crest first.
5. Use blue painters tape to minimize Gorilla glue mess. Tape seat blank and cut through spindle holes with Exacto knife. Do same to underside of top crest. Tape spindles outside joint line.
6. Considering drilling a number of the center spindle holes in the top crest deeper so that I can bring them down into the seat after getting more difficult spindles into place. That would leave less spindles to deal with at once. However, it would be a disaster if they stuck high and I couldn't get them back down to contact the seat.
One thing I've discovered is that complex assemblies go together a lot easer with Gorilla glue applied than they do dry assembled. The glue is a great lubricant. Anybody tried a similar assembly? I welcome any thoughts or suggestions on this…