Summerfeld's Tongue & Groove Cabinetmaking System?

Allen Bookout

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Punta Gorda, Florida
I just watched the Summerfeld's Tongue & groove Cabinetmaking System DVD and it seems like a strong, accurate and fairly fast way to construct cabinets. Anyone using this system that can give an evaluation? I do know that there was a recent problem with the tongue and groove bit set but I think that issue has been resolved.
 
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The dimensional issue was resolved as of November 2006, Allen. If you order from them, they should be OK. There was extensive discussion on this very thing on SMC some time ago.

Here is a shop cabinet I built for Sandy using the Sommerfeld T&G router bit set. It is VERY sturdy - I was unable to get it to rack sideways, even when putting my whole body weight into it:

The finished cabinet:

Fromleftwithdrawersopen.jpg



Some of the internals:

Cornerblocsandslidemounts.jpg



The ONLY thing I changed was adding 2 x 4s on the sides, machined to allow mounting of the drawer slides and then mounted vertically - you can see the tops on the bottom photograph. I glued the wide face of the boards to the side, and used pocket holes to attach them to the cabinet deck.


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I remember reading about this issue. I have the T&G set, purchased a while ago and have yet to use it. Anyone know how I can verify if I have a bad set?
 
Scott, From what I understand the grove was a little deeper than the tongue. I guess that you could measure the distance from the bearing to the edge of the cutter on each one and see if they are the same. Either that or do a test cut and view it from the end to see if the tongue bottoms out in the grove. I understand that they are now shipping replacement bearings to those that have the problem.
 
I remember reading about this issue. I have the T&G set, purchased a while ago and have yet to use it. Anyone know how I can verify if I have a bad set?
Allen is right. Yours should look like this:


Tgjoint-sommerfeld.jpg



If it does not, you may be one of the people who needs a new bearing. This thread at SMC discussed this issue at length some time ago - in this thread I provide some dimensions for the tongue & the groove, which I hope will help you.

A call to Sommerfeld should result in them sending you a new bearing to replace the old one.


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