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Small roll top desk for a Granddaughter

Bryan Cowing

Bryan Cowing

Member
Messages
728
Location
Ridgetown, Ontario, Canada
Our daughter wants a desk for her 10 yr old. I found a free roll top plan, and making a few modifications.
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I added 2" to the leg length so a pencil drawer could be installed. And I want to use a ball and socket tambour so no cloth backing .

I made up a jig to cut the tapered legs on the TS's slider. The jig bolts to the slots in the slider, scrap wood is built up to mount the hold down clamps.
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I made up a template from 1/2" MDF to rout the groove for the tambour .
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The shop made shaper cutter worked great! I had to make a minor adjustment to one area of the cutter on the grinder. Glad I made an extra amount for test strips, took a few passes before I got it producing a suitable shape.

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shop made shaper cutter from Craftsman molding head knives, old test pieces from last desk I made.

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today I milled the socket. Double pass on TS to 1/4", then 1 pass over a steel 1/2" dia. core box 1/4" shank bit. I still have to round over the bottom edges and sand them. I made enough for 21", need approx 18-19" + the 2&3/4" starter strip the handles mount on.

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Routed the groove in the sides. 1st try, router went off the template, glue up more wood. Then found out the template needed adjusting, curves too tight for this style of tambour strip. Trying to re router the groove caused some tear out so had to replace 1/2 a side. Finally got a functioning tambour. Test fit.

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Hauled the "heavy" :eek: Omni-Jig out of the basement. I have to learn how to use it all over again, been awhile since the last time I used it! So I decided to put the DVD in the computer & watch "Norm" demonstrate it again, LOL! I bought it used from a guy that briefly got into building kitchen cabinets, had it outfitted pretty good with accessories. All this for 1 drawer, maybe 2 more little ones for the pigeon holes.

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That's looking real good. Enjoyed seeing the tambour come together :D

One question: Looks like you aren't putting a false back in front of the roll top in the back? I've seen it done both ways so was curious what your thoughts were.
 
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