unevenness - fixing with limited tools

[angelomcm]

Good day to all of you.

Could somebody give me a bit of feedback towards evening two panels?

My tools are limited:

- Hand saw
- Jig saw
- Sanding paper
- Possibly a belt sander.

Here is the situation:



I have already managed to work away the worst part (5 o' clock part of the pic).

- My sanding paper is grit 240, and looks hopeless to fix the 9 o' clock part.  Took ages on the 5 o' clock part.
- The jig saw is way too inaccurate to fix it.
- The hand saw breaks the 12mm MDF.

Could a belt sander fix this ?
Or other grit sanding paper ?

The reason i screwed this up might be the fact I wanted to learn the art along actually doing it.
By the way, the clamp on MDF, unprotected ? Stupid idea.

Thank you for eventual feedback.

[HaRuMaN]

You need a router with a flush trim bit.  You would be done in 2 minutes.

[angelomcm]

You need a router with a flush trim bit.  You would be done in 2 minutes.

Noted, gave it some thought, sadly, no router is available in the foreseeable future.
Perhaps I might put this on hold until a later date if no doable solution comes up.

Rather do it good than risk breaking the panels :|

[GregD]

You need to get one of them looking perfect with the tools that you have.  You have a jig saw so that should at least get you close.  Then use the good one as a template for the second.  trace it and then cut with the jig saw leaving just the trace line.  Clamp the two together and start sanding.  Get a lower grit sandpaper too.  240 will take forever.  Use the 240 for the final finish.

[kahlid74]

The tools you have make this very tough.  The jig saw is a great tool but with the blade bending and it's reluctance to turn on a dime, you're left with inaccurate and inaccessible cutting areas.  The hand saw is equally if not more unusable than the jig saw.

As was said before, the key to this looking pretty is a router with a flush trim bit.  Routers are super cheap now but if you can't get one I understand.  From a power tool perspective you could go cheaper and look for a dremel type tool or a rotozip.  Both of these tools have drill type blades that can cut wood and since it's the size of a drill bit you've got a lot more control at making curves.  The only note I'll tell you is that when cutting wood with dremels/rotozips just be careful of their pull.  If you're not super careful they can pull themselves into the wood you're cutting and bam, it's ruined.  (rotozips like 65 ish for the spiral saw kit and dremels are like 50-100 but a semi cheap router is also 100 ish)

If you could only work with the tools you have I would do the following:
Use the jig saw to cut a geometrical shape like a hexagon or octagon on the side with both pieces clamped together so that they are as close as possible to each other with the cut.  Then I would get a good pair of work gloves and some sand paper and hand sand it until it's rounded smooth.  The problem with the belt sander is it's just to big to get into those corers to round them out.  This would take LOTS of time but if you question the finished product of hand sanding just look at Ond's Retro-futuristic cabinet.  Mostly all sanding by hand and it's glorious.

So yeah, you need to buy a router, but if you can't, get to pumping irons in your sanding arm, cause you've got a lot of sanding to do.

[jammin0]

yeah, I was going to suggest the same thing, clamp those bad boys together and cut with your jigsaw.  Belt sander might be good for the outside at that point but then hand sand the inside curve.  A really thick blade and non flexible blade in your jigsaw will help you get a straighter.  240 grit sandpaper on MDF is pretty much useless at removing material after a few minutes of use.  I would use 80 or 100 grit and then use 240 at the end to smooth everything out really well.

[jmike]

Router would be the easiest way. Where are you located? Maybe someone in this forum is close to you and can give you a hand        You can also see if you can rent one at home depot.

[eds1275]

I would personally use the belt sander. Clamp the belt sander to a table on it's side, clamp the panels together, and rest them atop a piece of scrap that's fairly large to centre the panels to the sanding paper. Then, with both hands guiding, ease the panels into the belt sander. Depending on the shape of the belt sander you might be able to get the curve in there as well.

Easiest is using a router though. Someone has a router you can borrow. If you live on Vancouver Island I've got one you can use!

[Unstupid]

Do you have a drill?  If you do, look for a drum sander bit and figure out a way to mount your drill straight up or down.  Then you can use the drum sander to even out the rounded surfaces and your belt sander for the flat ones.  Better yet.. get a router... you are going to need one to cut the slot for yout tmolding anyways.

[angelomcm]

I thank you all for your very good and interesting replies.
It seems the router part is mostly suggested.
A router is will have to be. 

I foresee this cabinet to be a rather poor finish, but I will not give up.
It will make my second one even better, and I might appreciate the router.
 

[kahlid74]

I thank you all for your very good and interesting replies.
It seems the router part is mostly suggested.
A router is will have to be. 

I foresee this cabinet to be a rather poor finish, but I will not give up.
It will make my second one even better, and I might appreciate the router.
 

They really aren't that expensive especially for a tool that you'll use on every cabinet you build ever.

[eds1275]

They really aren't that expensive especially for a tool that you'll use on every cabinet you build ever.

Especially since time is money! With a router you save a lot of time when you compare it to manual sanding.

[BobA]

If you are going to add t molding you will need a slot cutting bit.   To trace the good pattern onto the other side you will need a flush cutting pattern bit.   The 2 bits will probably cost as much as a cheap router.  So the spending does not stop with just the router.   It is not cheap but it is the best way to go.  A general purpose assortment of bits from harbor freight can also round out your bit collection.