I had mentioned this idea in another thread and thought I would share it. I am building a rolling poker gear storage chest. It will have 5 drawers to store chips (aprox 1000+ each). I am at the point where I need to fabricate the "slots" for the chips. I, like others, was going to mill the slots with a router or shaper but over the weekend I saw a quicker/easier way to make my trays.
I had some extra Cove Molding from a home project and realized it had half the profile needed for holding a chip. I put two pieces together and sure enough it was nearly perfect. When I got home from work today I decided to test the process.
First, if you try this, remember that this molding is not symetrical as far as the edges go. One edge is a bit thicker than the other so you need to make sure you mate the two identical edges or you'll end up with an uneven ridge down the bottom of the trough.
Next, when put together as is, the trough is about 1/8"-1/4" too wide resulting in a loose fit for the chip. This is actuallly a good thing because it allows fine tuning to fit most any chip out there.
To make the fit better required a little trimming of the edge on each side. This also allowed a thight fit between the two pieces when butting them up to one another.
Here are some pics to demonstrate what I'm talking about...
The above pic is the two pieces without trimming. As you can see there is an un-desirable gap around the chip. Also note the bottom edges are "thicker" than the two upper edges. As I mentioned above this is where you need to be sure to match the right edges. Since this molding is made with these edges it allows you to trim either to fit as needed.
In this pic I have trimmed the edge about 1/16-1/8" on each piece. I made a jig to hold the pieces in place for trimming. This will also make it easy and faster when I trim the rest of the pieces for my project (aprox 60-70 to go
). I will also be trimming the edge on the right where the next piece will meet. If I don't the space between the rows will be wider than I want and waste space that will allow an extra row in the drawer.
I plan to line the drawers with cloth (velvet, felt, speed cloth. Haven't decided yet). At the very least I will paint the inside of the drawers. This would also work if making smaller trays. You could "box in" the molding with a nice hardwood (Oak, Walnut, Mahogany etc.). It would be much cheaper than using the same hardwood for the inside that won't really be seen anyway, and could also be stained to match.
I'll post more pics and info as I get the drawer built so you can see how it comes out.
Ranman
--2007
) and make my trays from 2x6 and 2x8 (which I have pleanty of scraps to use).
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