Mother's Day present (3)
Some of the corners on the test frame didn't come out perfectly even, so I knew that I had to take more care on the "real thing". The joints seemed pretty strong, though, so I figured they'd survive a pass over the router able. The acrylic windows were quickly cut on the table saw to fit into the slots of the frame. I peeled back just enough of the protective paper from the acrylic stock so it would fit into the slots, and still protect the acrylic from final assembly. Just before I started the glue-up, I realized it would be difficult not to get any polyurethane on the acrylic if I waited until after assembly to apply it. Conversely, the keys still had to be glued in oversize, cut down, and finished. A compromise was worked out where I wiped on a little water-based poly on the inside and front edges of the frame. The first coat raises the grain, so after 15 minutes of dry time I lightly sanded with 220 grit and reapplied. A light coating of PVA glue was applied on all mating surfaces to make sure there wouldn't be any voids, and the glue-up was repeated for both frames.
Now it's the morning of Mother's Day. I snuck out to the workshop early in the morning to try and finish in time. The key slots were cut with a straight router bit using a 45 degree triangle of MDF face nailed to a tall piece of MDF scrap. I set the fence so that the bit would hit just about right in the middle of the frame near the corner. Not shown, but I also clamped the frame to the MDF fence. The entire setup was pushed over the fence, cutting each key slot. After all four keys were cut, I flipped the frame around and repeated the setup, passing the frame over the router bit again. This cut just a little of one side of the key slot, assuring it to be centered.
A small piece of jatoba scrap was planned down until it was just the right width to slip into the key slots. Individual keys were cut out by hand from the prepared stock. A bit of glue on the key and slot was applied, then slid into place to fill the slots. Now I've got to wait for the glue to cure.
The backs were cut from whiteboard stock, just slight undersized from the rabbeted backs of the frames. A small piece of wood was glued and clamped onto the back of the whiteboard, and a key slot cut right in the middle to hang the frame by. Just 3 hours until the guests arrive for brunch. My wife knows something is up, but her wifely intuition tells her to keep mum and let me be. The in-laws are already here, so the twins are taken care of.
I think about just giving her the gift in it's raw state, and explain that it just needs a little work. But I'm a guy. We don't pull into service stations for directions, and we sure as heck think we can do twice as much work in half the time. I take a chance and start planing down the oversized keys flush to the frame. Luckily, the glue has enough cure time to hold.
