I keep coming up with repair projects
 

On 11/10/2010 9:55 AM Cheesehead spake thus:

But the front rail section has a problem. It seems someone folded it
up too tightly.
That put some stress on the two rear joints and the glue has given way
so that they are loose.
Not good.
I'm going by Home Depot on the way home to pick up some good
resin (not just carpenter's glue/wood glue) to try and secure it nice
and tight.

Pick up a bottle of Titebond III. It *is* a carpenter's glue, and it's
as strong as you can get for wood.

Will also clamp it down for the night.
But will that be enough?

Maybe. How about some pictures. Hard to know what's being attached to
what where from your description.

I've considered putting a couple of screws through it, from the bottom
side up. But I don't know that type
of wood. Is that an appropriate strengthening?

It can be. But keep in mind that screws need enough good wood to bite
into to make a good connection. Also, screws put into end grain of wood
don't hold well. They need to go into the grain sideways (in other
words, perpendicular to the grain, not parallel with it).

You'll also need to drill pilot holes. I'd use brass wood screws.

I also considered coming in from the side with a couple of small oak
dowels, and resin them in place.
That would relieve lateral stress.
Your thoughts?

Dowels are good too. They can be about as small as toothpicks and still
hold well. (In fact, you can use toothpicks.) No need to use resin; just
use the Titebond.


--
The fashion in killing has an insouciant, flirty style this spring,
with the flaunting of well-defined muscle, wrapped in flags.

- Comment from an article on Antiwar.com (http://antiwar.com)

I keep coming up with repair projects
 

On 11/10/2010 2:32 PM Cheesehead spake thus:

I will look for Titebond.
In the mean time, here are some shots.
Fortunately the wood is not split.
But I am afraid that it will.

From the bottom:
The first pic (bedb) shows that a pice did break from the bed rail
section.
The second pic (beda) shows that the other side did not splinter.
This is where I would put a screw, if I were to take that approach.
But I am backing off that approach.

From the outside:
The final two show that the side rail was not damaged. The stress was
not too great.
And fortunately the rabbit (I think that's what it's called) did not
splinter with the stress.

http://brendemuehl.net/images/bedb.jpg
http://brendemuehl.net/images/beda.jpg

http://brendemuehl.net/images/bed1.jpg
http://brendemuehl.net/images/bed2.jpg

But now for the bad news. I'd not looked at the bed inside.
I see a split in the wood that is about 2 1/2 inches long from the
back toward the center of the bed.

As I look at the construction of the camera, what I suspect happened
was that someone didn't tip the back-top
forward to meet the rail, but instead pushed them together. Bummer.
But at least it is repairable.

Yes, wooden cameras are *very* repairable.

Just skimming your pictures, I'd say that your first step should be to
glue what open joints and breaks that you can. Some tips:

o Where a joint or break is open but can be squeezed closed, you want to
work as much glue into the joint/break as you can. The best tool for
this is a very thin-bladed knife, like an artist's palette knife, which
you can load up with glue and then work in and out of the gap to get as
much glue into it as possible. When you squeeze the joint together, you
should get some glue squeeze-out along the edges; this tells you that
the joint is filled with glue.

o You should clamp joints/breaks where possible. Be sure to use cauls
(pads between the clamp and the camera) so as not to leave indentations
in the nice wood.

o Clean up as much glue as possible before it dries. Glue that doesn't
cover a surface can be chipped or cut off after it sets. Moistened
Q-tips are good for getting glue out of corners.

Try gluing what you can, then see how strong and stable the camera is.
It'll probably be obvious at that point where you have to go to your
second step, putting in dowels, screws, etc. My guess is that the glue
alone may be enough.

Oh, and that thing is called a "rabbet".


--
The fashion in killing has an insouciant, flirty style this spring,
with the flaunting of well-defined muscle, wrapped in flags.

- Comment from an article on Antiwar.com (http://antiwar.com)