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[burntheland]

So being a rookie to the forum i just stumbled on this thread thanks to the feature. And I now have to say that if I get fired for reading for the last hour and a half and not working I can safely blame you as the cause! This build is absolutely mesmerizing! Your attention to detail reminds me of myself, however, I unfortunately don't have the means or an impatient partner to deal with. Mad props on this build though for sure.....I'm pretty sure I puked in my mouth a few times because this thing is so sick/buck nasty! I love it.....and as much as I can't wait to see the build finished...I hope it takes you at least another five months. (Purely for the stake of aesthetics) It's ALL in the details! Rock on man!

[Xion X2]

So being a rookie to the forum i just stumbled on this thread thanks to the feature. And I now have to say that if I get fired for reading for the last hour and a half and not working I can safely blame you as the cause! This build is absolutely mesmerizing! Your attention to detail reminds me of myself, however, I unfortunately don't have the means or an impatient partner to deal with. Mad props on this build though for sure.....I'm pretty sure I puked in my mouth a few times because this thing is so sick/buck nasty! I love it.....and as much as I can't wait to see the build finished...I hope it takes you at least another five months. (Purely for the stake of aesthetics) It's ALL in the details! Rock on man!

LOL. Don't let me interfere with your job, bud.

Thank you so much for the kind words. They mean a lot. I'm very happy that you're enjoying the project. There are still a lot of surprises ahead, so stay tuned.

In fact, one is to follow here in just a moment...

[Xion X2]

http://vimeo.com/10476537


Enjoy,

Michael

[msmrx57]

Very nice video! +rep for that and an awesome build.

[Xion X2]

Very nice video! +rep for that and an awesome build.

Thanks for the rep.


So now I'm going to share with you what I've been working on for the past two weeks.

Often when modding, you feel as if you've encroached on a new idea, but being able to put it into practice isn't as easy as it often seems it will be. So when you're able to make something work as you've imagined it, it brings a special sense of content.

I present to you a new way of shelving Lexan and Plexi, the Dovetail.

This is an ancient practice, actually, but I have never seen it done on plastics or glass before. It's often used as a method of bonding two pieces of wood together and is used in dressers and desks commonly. But could I get it to work on Lexan.. could I get it to look clean and bond securely without adhesive. That was the question and was my goal. I wanted to discover a way of bonding two or more pieces of Lexan together without using adhesive such as Weld-on or epoxy. That's fine for many, but I just don't like using adhesives on glass because it always leaves a residue behind that's visible to the eye.

For those who aren't familiar, this is what is called a "Dado" or half of a sliding dovetail--

In the most basic terms, it's an angled groove that serves as a keyhole of sorts for an adjacent piece to slide in and bond. Here's how it bonds together--

Notice how, when cut accurately, it bonds nice and clean. A perfect fit--like a key into a keyhole. And it's a snug fit.. no adhesive of any sort needed as long as you cut the key or what is technically called the "Tenon" correctly.

To cut the dovetails, I use dovetail bit at 4mm depth--

But-- you've seen how it looks on wood already, so let's view it on glass.

You can see how I can hold it, and it hangs firmly in place. In fact, chances are you could not force it apart with your bare hands; it would take a rubber mallet to separate these two pieces.

The edges of this Lexan had not been sanded since these were just used as test pieces. To sand out the saw marks, I use my power sander--

--and to get the finer imperfections out I sand by hand with 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 grit and then finally aluminum/metal polish to get to perfect transparency like on the flat side of the glass/Lexan.

More to come in the next update on this. I'll show the actual shelves which will be going into the Zero-G Chamber being fit together by this method.

Thanks for checking in.

[x88x]

8D That...is awesome. I never would have thought to try a dovetail with plexi, +rep I'm definitely looking forward to seeing a sanded fit.

[mDust]

Awesome! I was considering joining acrylic sheets by slotting them (tongue and groove) before welding them. I hadn't really considered a dovetail though. I wonder if it's 'oil tight' without welding? I might add that to my to-do list of experiments.

[Xion X2]

Thanks, guys.

mDust--it's very tight. I had to tap the pieces together with a rubber mallet. I didn't want there to be any wobble whatsoever, yet at the same time I was careful not to make the join tight enough to crack the Lexan.

The only way I can dislodge the pieces is to stand on one with my foot and pull up on the other. And even that takes some force.

Some may view this as a simple discovery, but I'm very excited about it. This will give me the perfect clean look that I'm going for with the transparency effect of the Zero-G Chamber.

[burntheland]

Yeah that's going to turn out nicely. Is there a way to cut a dovetail as shown without a router?

[Xion X2]

Yeah that's going to turn out nicely. Is there a way to cut a dovetail as shown without a router?

No, I think that a router is necessary for this.