Slots to See Here!

It's about freaking time. I FINALLY routed the slot around the side panels to accept the t-molding. For a while there I thought I'd never get a chance to do some more work on this thing. The hardest part was adjusting the depth of the blade on the router bit to cut the slot so it is exactly centered on the edge of the panel.

First, I installed a 1/16" slot cutting bit into my router which I purchased from MLCS. They have pretty cheap prices and they sell just about every bit imaginable - I've ordered from them a few times so I can recommend them. Next, I eyeballed the depth of the bit with the edge of a scrap piece of the same plywood panel I used for the sides and made a test cut. Then I flipped the scrap piece over to see if the slot cutting bit fit into the slot I had just cut. It wasn't exact so I made a small adjustment and tried again. The idea here is that when you flip the scrap piece over the slot cutting bit should slide into the groove you just cut - this is how you know it is exactly centered. I actually had to make about 5 test cuts before I got it perfect.

Once I knew the slot cutting bit was at the right depth I just ran the router around the edge of the side panels where the t-molding is going to go - the ball bearing on the router bit runs along the edge of the panel so you get a nice consistent depth all the way around. Once everything was set up the cutting took all of 10 minutes. You can see the start of the slot I cut in the picture below. Pretty simple!

Next up - cutting the interior panels and the glue-up!