Building a hexagon?

[Mike Schuch]

My daughter asked me to build a hood for her hexagon aquarium. I need a hexagon frame to build the rest of the hood on. The pieces of the frame will be about 1" tall by 1 1/4" wide.

I started by building a jig:

20170810_192708.jpg


The hood and frame will be made out of Ipe (I am just using the fir pieces in the pictures to prototype with). I am pondering how to attach the corners of the frame together. My first thought was a simple butt joint reinforced by a dowel or spline:

20170810_191810.jpg

Note: Ipe is extremely hard so screws or pocket holes aren't really practical.

Then I considered building the frame in two layers and using lap joints:
20170810_191745.jpg

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What do you guys think? Any other ideas?

I am thinking of going with the lap joint and using a urethane glue. I could even reinforce the butt joints on each level with a dowel or spline?

I built the jig so it is slightly bigger than the outside dimensions of the frame for the hood. I am thinking about redoing the jig so it is inside the frame instead of outside the frame. This would allow me to go with the lap joints and leave sloppy overhangs that I can clean up on the RAS after the glue up.

I am open to suggestions????

[Mike Nolan]

I like two layers and lap joints. I usually try for as strong as possible.

[Terry Starch]

What about Kreg Jig

[Wayne Lomman]

Half lap the joints. Do them so that the lap starts from nothing on the outside of the joint and widens out to full width inside. This way you don't see the end grain on the outside. Cheers

[Mike Henderson]

This is a bit off subject but if I recall correctly, the length of each side of a hexagon is the radius of a circle around the outside of the hexagon. Makes it easy to lay out a hexagon. Use a set of dividers and draw a circle the size of the hexagon. Then choose a starting point and use the dividers without change. Step off six steps around the circle. You should return exactly to your starting point.

Mike

[Lee Schierer]

The hood and frame will be made out of Ipe

I would test glue some Ipe to insure that the glue will give you a strong enough joint.

[Mel Fulks]

That stuff shrinks a LOT. And even though several of us mentioned that in a previous thread, OP commented later that he was surprised by the shrinkage. I'd use the PL "premium" polyurethane adhesive.

[Mike Schuch]

I found getting a pretty good hexagon is pretty easy... getting a perfect hexagon is a headache. All my corners are within 1/10 of a degree and still my hexagon jig didn't turn out perfect. The jig will be close enough for my purposes. I decided to go with lap joints for strength. This will leave some expose end grain but with the density of Ipe the end grain isn't as objectionable as many other species of wood.

Here is my new jig with the inside dimensions of the polygon:
20170812_164750.jpg


Here is the glue up.

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I have used Gorilla polyurethane glue with Ipe in the past and it does a great job and holds up very well. I always dampen my pieces a touch when using polyurethane glue like recommended and always get a good joint.. This time I used a 2 part epoxy which I also know will work well with Ipe.



20170812_172127.jpg
Here are the stairs I built out of Ipe 10+ years ago. The poly glue is holding up great. I used two pieces of Ipe glued together at 90 degrees with a lock miter joint for the front bull nose of the stairs. With all the abuse they get I have had no failures. The stupid Ipe will most likely outlast the slate... the Ipe is harder than the slate.

[Mike Schuch]

Second glue up. The Two part epoxy didn't hold as well as I had hoped so I reverted to Gorilla polyurethane glue.

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[Mike Schuch]

The glue up fits just about perfect!

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[Mike Schuch]

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Starting to take shape.

[Bill Dufour]

take a look at the "extreme woodworking" thread

Bill

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...me-woodworking