[OP]
Contributor
I have a 125x55 Whitehill combi head; Have a few projects coming up that will get shaker style door/drawer fronts. Looking to do basic tongue and groove joinery for the rails/stiles. They offer three profiles which are very similar:
https://www.whitehill-tools.com/prof...les/003H00066/
https://www.whitehill-tools.com/prof...les/003H01117/
https://www.whitehill-tools.com/prof...les/003H01101/
If I use 1/4" material for the doors, both the No. 66 and 1101 appear to work?
Contributor
A panel that is an actual 1/4” will be loose in the groove using those, especially with the 66.Originally Posted by Nick Crivello
if your panels are actually 6mm, (most 1/4” plywood is), then a better choice might be the No. 67. It would be too tight, however, if you’re using panels that are an actual 1/4”, such as MDF or hardboard.
Clint
Last edited by Clint Baxter; 10-01-2023 at 7:23 AM.
You will probably need to choose something slightly smaller than your panel stock and rebate the back to fit in your groove the way you want. If you want a perfect fit you can have knives ground to suit your stock but with variation in flat stock thickness, you MAY find they won't be quite so perfect next time you use them with flat stock from a different source. Hard to say. The ultimate solution is this infinitely adjustable carbide insert set I review in this video, but of course the outlay would demand a lot of kitchen door work going through your shop.
https://youtu.be/Dr_ZjSqk-xQ?si=ASPZ66BcBWj35oev
[OP]
Contributor
Those adjustable inserts are quite the trick... but the budget isn't there.
Sounds like I need to have the raw material in hand to decide which profile is needed, or get two different ones to accommodate mdf vs plywood.
Contributor
My answer is none of those.
I use an adjustable groover for the slot as I can make it the correct thickness for a solid or veneered panel, in addition the adjustable groovers have knives for scoring and hogging so you don’t have any chip out.
For the tenons, and adjustable groover can cot both sides simultaneously or you can use a rebate head, once again the benefit of both sets of cutters…….Regards, Rod.
Plywood may look a little hokey with a profiled reduction at the back because you'd see the layers, but a square shouldered rebate would be ok, and mfd would machine decently.
The adjustable groover option can technically get you through, but the knives and carbide insert approaches will include profiles features that make the painting and assembly easier such as such as rounded corners etc that the AGs won't. The single groover to make the groove won't allow you to width at the same time with an outboard fence whereas the carbide insert set or full profile knives approach would. That's a very nice feature that speeds up the job and helps with consistency.
I would use my groovers if only had a couple to do but larger quantities benefit from more specific tooling
[OP]
Contributor
I purchased a whitehill 4-15mm groover last year but haven’t gotten around to using it primarily as it didn’t come with any paperwork or instructions on usage.
Its clear they make high quality products but lack in any literature on their use. Yes, they’re targeting the industrial/pro audience, but c’mon..
Last edited by Nick Crivello; 10-04-2023 at 1:48 PM.
Member
I have and often use the same whitehill 4-15 mm groover. What are you unsure about? Stacks shims (or no shims) to achieve specific width within the range.
I keep a notebook on my tooling cabinet and record each setup, what material used, how many shims used, what the finished groove measures, etc so that I can easily re create certain grooving setups (ie: drawer bottoms in UV2 prefinished maple ply needs 4mm worth of shims added to the base stack of cutters.
Still waters run deep.
[OP]
Contributor
So I pulled it out and spent a few minutes studying the design. Previously I was looking at it like a dado stack on it's side, but confused by the pins in each plate. With Dado stacks you use individual chippers and shims to get what you want. Once I realized that the two outer plates sandwich together to make 4mm it started to click. You cant use the individual plates out of the groover set, the pins won't let the stack sit on the spindle correctly. The plates have to work together.
two outer plates together = 4mm
add shims to get up to 8mm
Middle plate = 8mm
Use middle plate and outer plates with shims to get from 8 to 15mm
Not terribly complicated, but a simple illustration would work wonders.
Last edited by Nick Crivello; 10-04-2023 at 3:58 PM.
You got it! Pretty simple overall and test pieces with shim count written right on then is handy for future reference.
Not all adjustable groovers are suitable for splitting, inverting and using for tenoning especially those paper thin ones designed to make very narrow grooves. They would only make 4mm shoulders anyway, but I have a couple other adjustable groovers that work well for tenoning. I believe I have a YT video that shows this.
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