Dadoes and 1/4" ply for TT braces?

[matt996]

What is the consensus on cutting dadoes and using thinner plywood for braces? I know it's not necessary for strength, but was thinking maybe it'd make assembly/glue-up easier at the cost of a bit of extra time spent with the router - and I don't have a brad nailer. This would be for a TT....

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

IMO dadoes are a must with 1/4" braces as they're too narrow to fasten easily. If you have a router table it's easy to cut them immediately after cutting the panel to size.

[matt996]

No router table, this'll be handheld but i'll make a sled similar to the circ saw sled as recommended.

Thanks Bill!

[Harley]

What is the consensus on cutting dadoes and using thinner plywood for braces? I know it's not necessary for strength, but was thinking maybe it'd make assembly/glue-up easier at the cost of a bit of extra time spent with the router - and I don't have a brad nailer. This would be for a TT....

Careful to stager the width of the braces on the panels that have a brace on both sides, otherwise you'll do like me and end up trimming the ends off permanently!

[Radian]

Matt,

I had awesome results doing just that. 1/8" deep dadoes sufficed, and I used a stacked dado on the table saw to cut them. Dry fitting is essential when doing this in order to mark the points for how far the braces need to pushed in, but final assembly goes hella-fast.

Enjoy,
Radian

[AntonZ]

+1 to what Radian said about dry fitting.

I did a T18 entirely from 9mm ply (3/8"). I could not have done it without routered dadoes. I did not use a router table, used the parallel guide attachment that came with the router. The woodshop cut my panels into smaller full length strips of equal width for easy transport. Since the machine was setup once for all cuts, they all were identical width.

From the plans I made notes which panels needed dadoes on both sides, which ones needed dadoes one side only. The latter would be the outermost and innermost panels. After cutting each final size panel at home, I proceeded right away routering the dadoes with the parallel attachment. Also set only once, so dadoes were at identical locations in all panels.

[Tom Smit]

+1 to what Radian said about dry fitting.

I did a T18 entirely from 9mm ply (3/8"). I could not have done it without routered dadoes. I did not use a router table, used the parallel guide attachment that came with the router. The woodshop cut my panels into smaller full length strips of equal width for easy transport. Since the machine was setup once for all cuts, they all were identical width.

From the plans I made notes which panels needed dadoes on both sides, which ones needed dadoes one side only. The latter would be the outermost and innermost panels. After cutting each final size panel at home, I proceeded right away routering the dadoes with the parallel attachment. Also set only once, so dadoes were at identical locations in all panels.

+1
I did a TT with 3/8" ply. I cut the panels to width/length and marked each panel by number and dimensions, set up and routed all the dados at once, dry-fit the panel for fit and location, and assembled.

[matt996]

Careful to stager the width of the braces on the panels that have a brace on both sides

If I'm cutting dadoes 1/8" deep on each side of the panel, wouldn't I want to have all the braces aligned in the same plane for more strength?

Thanks for all the tips folks, really appreciate it.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

If I'm cutting dadoes 1/8" deep on each side of the panel, wouldn't I want to have all the braces aligned in the same plane for more strength?

That's how I do it, not for strength but for ease. I cut the dadoes on a router table with a fence, in four passes I cut two dadoes on both sides of the panel in about thirty seconds. An eighth of an inch is deep enough, and only takes one pass even with BB.