Shelf standards oops

[Dukester]

I have made an "oops" with my shelf standards dadoes - they are not quite wide enough to hold the 5/8" standards in them flush. There are 4 of them in an entertainment center I'm building. The carcase is already constructed and has the face frame on it, so I can't go back in with a router and enlarge them. They are close, but not enough for the standards to fit in there flush. The sides of the carcase are oak faced ply.

Any ideas for a fix? The only thing I can think of is going in there with a utility knife and carefully slice away the side of the dado by 1/16" or so, but I'm afraid of an errant slip of my hand and a huge scratch across the side....hmmmm.

TIA Duke

P.S. Yes, I know now to have the hardware in hand prior to construction...lesson learned.

[Mike Marlow]

Sandpaper on wrapped around a paint stick? It'll float and not create a wavey contour. Keep it straight up and down and take your time, and you should end up with a nice edge, widened up to what you need, in a pretty short time. I'd probably use something around a 120-150 grit to get that much cut down quickly. Make sure you make each pass run the entire length of the dado so that you keep your dado straight. Touch up the corners with your utility knife which you should be able to do without the worry of a slip as you mentioned. Sand a bit - check the fit. Sand a bit - check the fit. You know the routine.

[Hank Gillette]

Would a router plane work on this?

[Dukester]

Not sure. Do they work well on plywood?>

[Dukester]

Good idea, i'll give it a try. Probably will take a while to do this way as the unit has standards almost 6' long x 4. But, I guess I can shut the heaters off inside the shop for the duration. ;-)

[Battleax]

Run your shelves through the tablesaw with the blade the same height as the dato depth. Trim 1/16 or so from the thickness. This means standing the shelf on end on the table saw.

[Mike Marlow]

D'Oh! Yeah man. Could even do it on his router table.

[Mike in Mystic]

I'm not sure your question is very clear.

Some of the responses are interpreting it as meaning the width of the dado is too narrow for you to even fit the standard into it. I wouldn't use the word "flush" to describe this.

Others are thinking that the dado isn't deep enough, leaving a small amount of the standard sticking out from the surface.

So which is it? If you can't fit the standard in at all, then you obviously have to do something about it. If it simply is that the standard is proud of the surface, then one of the responses for trimming the shelf width slightly to accomodate makes the most sense.

Mike

[Silvan]

I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out what a "shelf standard" is. Unless it's a track for some kind of movable shelf system or something.

???

I R ignerint.

[John]

How about rabbet just a tiny bit off the ends of the shelfs to make then fit into the undersized dado's

John

[Dukester]

It's what Rockler and others call them:

Valley calls them pilasters.

[Dukester]

Sorry for any confusion. It's the former. The dado is too narrow. I'd quickly add that I described them as not fitting flush because I can get the standards into the dado (tightly), but not far enough to make them flush with the carcase sides.

[Battleax]

I didn't know what he ment by "standards", now I do. If the standards remain 1/16 or so out from the surface I'd just go with it.

[Larry Bud]

Why not cut a very shallow rabbit on the end of the shelf with a router? That way you don't have to stand it on end.

[Prometheus]

I know it's not the most glamorous solution, but could you just lay a piece of scrap over the brass, and then hammer the sucker into place? Brass is pretty soft, it should bend a little and fit right in. Standard cautions apply, of course- before trying it on the finished product, test it out in a piece of scrap and make sure the standard will still accept the shelf inserts. Seems like the easiest way to go to me...

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

[mac davis]

dremel with the small drum sander.. been there, done that..

[mac davis]

i have to admit, I had this same problem, however it wasn't on something that I built.. I notched the shelves to fit the supports... called it my "self locking shelf system to prevent shelf sliding"... It actually works really well, drop each end of the shelf in and snug the notch.. good tight fit

[George E. Cawthon]

Well, now that I finally know what a standard is--the metal strip that hold tabs to hold the shelve--here is my suggestion. If you can't get a regular router in there, then get a trim router. I think Harbor Freight often has one on sale for $20. They are small and should fit in the case. Just use a wooden guide to take a bit off one side of the dado. Might be a little slow but a heckofalot faster than sanding.

[Unisaw A100]

Take a portable belt sander and set it on edge. Rig up a table in front of the belt. This is an edge sander.

Take the standard and run it against the belt. This will narrow down the standard.

Rinse and repeat until the pieces are the correct width.

Turn the abraded edge (where the metal finish has been removed) of the standard towards the back of the cabinet so others won't see your boo-boo.

Install in cabinet and stand back to admire.

You could also take a piece of wood, run a kerf down the length and drop the standard into that to use as a holding fixture. With this you could use a hard block wrapped in sand paper (fast), a random orbital (faster) or the belt sander (fastest).

You could also try the above with the standard in a vise and using a file but it might take a wee bit more time.

Some standards are aluminum and can be ripped with a saw blade but I'd be puckering the sphincter on this/that method, i.e., don't be doing this unless you've had some experience with cutting narrow metal strips.

UA100

[Lawrence Wasserman]

Of course, I've never done this myself... Just heard about someone else doing it... But, if you only need 1/16" or so, stand the track stock up on a lone edge and carefully hammer it, bowing it slightly, to bring the width down so it will fit in the track. Again, never done it myself, just heard that it can work sometimes.