Woodworking question

[Phillip Ford]

Perhaps an example will answer your question.  I recently laminated a molding piece for an upright piano.  On this piano the transition from side to front was a curve (a portion of a circle).  A molding piece ran around the bottom of the case.  The portion in the curved area was missing.  I measured the thickness of the remaining molding and found it to be 1/2 inch.  I laid a piece of paper on the top edge of the case and traced the circle.  I then took a compass and adjusted its radius until it matched the tracing.  I drew the inner curve with this.  I laid the compass on a ruler and determined the radius.  I added 1/2 inch to this number (the thickness of my desired molding) and adjusted the compass to this figure with the ruler.  I then drew the outer curve with this.  One thing to keep in mind if you are using an inner and outer mold (as opposed to the flexible sacrificial piece suggested by Ron) is that the thickness of the laminate stackup has to be pretty close to the desired figure (in my case 1/2 inch) 
or you won't get good clampup.  So, in my case, if I were using 5 
laminations they would need to be pretty close to 1/10 inch each.  Much more or much less and I wouldn't get good clampup along the whole curve.

Phil F

At 11:01 AM 6/2/03 , you wrote:
>Thank you Phil. I'll ask you the same question as I did Ron. How do you 
>figure the 2 separate radii?
>Greg
>