Legs 6

I got the rest of the main bodies on the legs glued up today and sanded the curves on the top. Next up, I went to work on the curved ankle details. You will remember the big 1.5" thick blank that I made a few posts ago for this purpose. I've got 4 pieces to cut for the two center legs and 4 pieces for the 4 outer legs. Check the plans. The dimensions are slightly different.

First, after marking the curves on the ends, I used the bandsaw to rough in the curve cut all the way down the blank. This will save me a lot of sanding later.



These cuts take some tricky set up and dangerous maneuvering on the bandsaw:



Then some sanding on the belt sander got me to here:


I'm applying soft, even pressure along the full length of the piece and rolling it constantly back and forth on the belt until I get close to the profile of the curve I'm after.

I moved over to the table saw and cut four of these to 4" and four of them to 4.1" as per the plans, giving me 8 semi circle plugs. Next a diagonal slice needs to be trimmed off of them at 35%. I set the table on my bandsaw to 35%, adjust the fence and play around with the fit a bit, then I can run these through and slice it off:



Once that's set up, it's easy to do all 8:



The pieces that go on the outer ankles have a little recessed rectangular pocket in them. I have a trick for making those. The pocket is .25" tall, and .06" deep. I set up the router table with a .25" groove bit and the router fence 1.3" inches away (per plans):




Then I run all four of the outer pieces across the router to make a groove in them:






Then I cut a little strip of MDF to fit tightly into this slot, but a bit thicker. Next I cut some strips, and glue them back into the sides of the groove leaving the rectangular pocket at the correct dimensions.



I used a paint brush to put just the right amount of glue in there. I want the glue to ooze out just a bit and fill up any gaps between the base and the strip.
Once these dry, I can put them onto the belt sander and bring them down flush with the base piece. They may take a tiny bit of filler, but they'll be ready for paint and I have perfect rectangular pockets now exactly to the blueprints.




Now that all of these are shaped, I can start mounting them onto the legs. First, the center legs:



I use enough glue to ooze out of the sides a bit and fill in any gaps, and I purposely made the curved piece a tiny bit wide. Once these are dry, I can return to the belt sander and bring them down flush with the base. Once I get the ankle pieces glued onto the legs, I'll put the slotted curved pieces on them too.

Legs 5: Under Shoulder Pockets

Now the basic shapes of the legs are all cut and part of the layers are glued:


But before they can be permanently joined, the pockets under the shoulders need to be routed out. The way to do that is to use the Senna style template I made yesterday and rout out the pockets. I'll take the legs apart into two halves and route both sides, then put them together to box in the pocket:





I'm using a 1/4" slot cutting bit on the router and a bronze collar that rides along the template:



So when the two halves are joined, they form this recessed pocket:



These are just held together with a screw for now. I'll clean up the edges, do some sanding and get these ready for paint. Eventually, the little under shoulder hydraulic greeblie will fit in here:



Since the under shoulder detail takes up most of the pocket, there's no need to do too much finishing work on it. I may add a piece of styrene across the back of the pocket at the bottom where it shows to give it a clean look. The router method is definitely the best thing I've tried here. This pocket can be very hard to cut and very hard to finish. Repeat this for the rest of the legs and we'll be ready to glue and move on tomorrow:



One part that's coming up is the compound curved piece that mounts on the outside of the ankles for all three legs:



Some builders bend styrene to form these, or use preformed tubes. I'm going to build up a blank from MDF and then make the two cuts. I'll glue the plies today so it will be ready soon for that step:



This stack is 5 1/8" by 1 1/2", which is big enough for both the outer ankles and the center ankle pieces. 48" long, I think. After this cures, I'll cut two blanks--one for the outer ankles and one for the center ankles because they are different widths. Then I'll rough in the curve with the table saw and bandsaw. I'll cut the wedges and finish on the sander. There is a small recessed slot in these too. I have some trickery planned for that.