Legs

Dan Neubecker with Dave Tutelman -- March 19, 2005

The legs are composed of two basic components that you will eventually glue together with wood glue, and when dry, will attach to the backer board with long screws from the bottom.

The first component is the leg member itself.  It is the part that the adjustable glide feet connect to. (For the NF-4.0, the eyebolt connects to it as well -- but not the NF-4.1.)

 The second components are the leg support pieces.  There are two of them per leg and they fit on either side of the leg and act as braces against turning of the backer board.  The leg pieces should have the grain running lengthwise, but the leg supports should have the grain running vertically.  When assembled the grains of these pieces will run in opposite directions.

The first step is to cut all the rectangular parts for both the legs and leg supports into rectangular blocks.  I suggest you set up your table saw once for each type of piece and cut them as a group together to ensure uniformity and reduce saw setup time.

At this point, you are done with the leg member, except for a decorative chamfer and sanding.

Leg supports

Once all the basic block shapes are cut you will next want to cut the notches in the leg supports.  These notches fit over the backer board and should be a light press fit.  Before you make any cuts, you should measure your backer board to determine it’s actual width.  It is common for ¾” plywood to actually be 23/32” and double that width for the backer board gives you about 1-7/16”, rather than the 1-1/2” you might expect.  So, if you cut the notches 1-12” wide, they will be much too big.  You should creep up on the final size you need for the notch width as you cut the notches so you don’t cut them too big.

To cut the notches evenly, consistently and quickly, clamp all four raw rectangular blocks together with quick clamps, placed in a manner so that they can firmly hold the four leg supports, while allowing you to run them through the table saw to cut the notches, as shown in the photo. You will be cutting all four of them at once this way.  You may have to change one of the clamp positions as you make the cuts.
 
To make the notch cut, you can use a regular saw blade and make numerous cuts or a dado blade and make just a few cuts.  The depth of the blade will determine the depth of the notch; so set your blade depth to match the plan dimensions.  It is always a good idea to test this height by cutting a test in a scrap piece and measuring the cuts depth, then adjusting until you get the final depth just right. 

Once the depth is set, start by making the cut on one side of the notch at the dimension shown on the plans.  The dimension to the other side will float, temporarily.  Now make the cut on the other side of the notch at least to allow for a 1-3/8” gap.  Next, cut away all the wood remaining between the two cuts. 

Now, check the notch width against the backer board for fit.  You are shooting for a snug, but easy press on fit.  Ideally is would be just tight enough to stay on the backer board if you let go of it, but not so tight you have to work hard to get on, as this could split the wood.  If your measurements were correct, the notch should still be a little too small.  Now move you rip fence in approximately 1/32” increments and cut a little more each time, checking for fit with the backer board between each cut. After a few cuts, you should get the fit you are looking for.
 
With the support leg notches are complete, you can cut the 45-degree angles on the leg supports.  It is best to unclamp the pieces for the angle cuts.  There is an easy table saw trick to getting them all the same.  Start by setting your miter guide to 45 degrees.  Now clamp a spacer wood piece against your rip fence, but well short of the blade itself.  You use the spacer to set the position of the piece relative to the blade, but as you push it toward the blade, it disconnects from the spacer, yet does not touch the rip fence, therefore it will not bind.  You adjust the overall positions of the rip fence relative to the blade to accomplish different depth angle cuts.  You might want to experiment a bit with a scrap piece until you are sure you are getting the angle depth you want.

When you are done, here is what the stack of leg supports will look like.

Assembly

Once all the angle cuts are complete you need to glue the leg supports and the legs together.
One of the best methods to do this squarely is it to take two scraps of plywood and screw them together to make a simulated backer board. Be sure you use the same kind of plywood that you used for the backer board; not all plywood that is nominally 3/4" is actually the same thickness.   (I used part of an old backer board from a previous prototype for my leg glue setup). You can use this as a template to assemble, glue and clamp the legs and leg brackets together.  Once you get the parts clamped together, you can remove them from the makeshift backer board and wipe off any excess glue and let dry.
After allowing the glue to dry, drill all the holes called for in the plans with a drill press.

Note: Do not drill the eyebolt hole for an NF-4.1. It -- and the eyebolt and fishing scale shown in the photo -- is not part of the 4.1's newer design.

You are ready to install the hardware into the legs and the legs onto the backer board.
 

Last modified 3/30/2008 by Dave Tutelman