Gluing up a project

[mdurg]

I'm a newbie and have a question about gluing up a project. It a small TV table 45" wide x 20" deep. I'm wondering do I glue up the 1/2" plywood panels to the wood in the body or should I let those "float"? If I glued everything up would expansion/contraction ruin it over time? I was hoping to glue them all together to add to the structural integrity of the table. But after I read something on making panel doors where the inserts are never glued in it made me rethink this.

Is there someplace I can go to read up on gluing techniques for furniture? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Mark


Drawing is attached:

[cabinetman]

Mark

The panels in the doors you are referring to are usually solid wood panels, and depending on their size may be glued up to make one larger panel. Those are not glued into the frames as you found out because there is a movement across the grain, called "tangential movement". But If the panels you are using either in doors or as cabinet members, are plywood, you can glue them in.



"I'M NEVER WRONG - BUT I'M NOT ALWAYS RIGHT"

[mdurg]

OK, so gluing plywood to wood will be OK bcause it's more dimensionally stable?



Thanks,
Mark

[gary]

Plywood is dimensionally stable. So is wood in it's long grain. You can glue, ply to ply, long grain to long grain, and ply to long-grain without problems. Across the short grain wood is NOT dimensionally stable and the joint can break if you glue any dimensionally stable wood to one that's not.

[drumpriest]

Think of a face frame on a cabinet. The stiles are glued to the plywood carcass, and that is fine, as the stiles are small enough with width that there is little movement, and they are attached along 1 line. So as the wood does move along its width, it has room to do so.

You only really get into trouble when you don't allow the wood to expand along the width of the board.

[mdurg]

Ok, got it!

I read the same thing you posted about wood being dimensionally stable in the length and not in the width. But I didn't put together that I was gluing plywood to wood that was running lengthwise (duh!) So looks like everything should work out in the plan I have.

Thanks for your help!


Mark

[kwc]

Solid wood top for a bookcase

Similar concerns here... I made a small bookcase out of cherry plywood and am planning to place a solid glued-up cherry panel on top of it.

What's the best way to mount it? I originally planned to glue it to the entire top surface (approx 16" x 16" square), but if natural expansion/contraction will be problematic, I'm stuck...

Thanks!
kwc

[Ken Massingale]

Similar concerns here... I made a small bookcase out of cherry plywood and am planning to place a solid glued-up cherry panel on top of it.

What's the best way to mount it? I originally planned to glue it to the entire top surface (approx 16" x 16" square), but if natural expansion/contraction will be problematic, I'm stuck...

Thanks!
kwc

The figure 8's work great. Woodcraft, Rockler, etc.