I'm in the design stages for a cylinder fall desk. I've found some pictures but i have some questions about construction.

The Door does it slide in groove, or is there something else going on? (one pictured did not appear to have a groove.)

the writing surface on some of the desk pulls forward a few inches. Is this done manually or is there a mechanism that connects the door to the writing surface?

Any other general advice about construction?

Edited to add- i just ordered the Sheraton books.

Thanks

maybe this helps a little



the translation is my fault:

Le mot cylindre désigne le panneau contre-plaqué et plaqué dont la Section est obligatoirement en arc de cercle. Pour fonctionner il est guidé dans la partie inférieure par deux goupilles qui coulissent dans les rainures exécutées dans les plaques de laiton découpées et vissées sur les côtés du meuble.

"Cyllinder" means the veneered (and counterveneered) panel whose section
is obligatory an arc of circle. To make it function, it is guided on the
lower part by two pins that glide into grooves cut into brass plaques
that are cut and screwed to the sides of the piece.

D'autre part, la tige de métal fixée dans la partie Supérieure du panneau et sur le centre de rotation, maintient le cylindre équidistant du centre sans qu'il soit
nécessaire de prolonger les rainures à l'intérieur du meuble.

Besides, the metal rod fixed on the upper part of the panel
and on the center of rotation keeps the cyllinder at same distance
from the center so it is not needed to extend the grooves into
the interior of the piece.

A l'extrémité de cette ferrure prolongée au delà du centre de rotation, une Sorte de biellette reliée à la tablette permet d'augmenter sa superficie en ouvrant le cylindre.

At the end of the fixture, extended beyond the rotation center, some sort
of connecting rod allows to increase the surface of the desk when
the cyllinder opens. (tablette means "small table"; in furniture
it usually means some small writting surface that you can pull
from a piece of furniture.)

Collées sur les côtés du meuble, les languettes qui passent dans les rainures exécutées en bout de la tablette assurent sa position et son coulissage. Le centre de rotation et de l'arc de cercle est Situé au-dessous de la tablette pour donner au cylindre une proportion plus harmonieuse.

The grooves on the tablette are guided by tongues (it is quite a literal translation)
glued to the sides of the piece, ensuring it position and sliding.
The center of rotation and the arc are placed below the tablette, to give
more pleasing proportions to the cyllinder.


I think I have other stuff at home, but have to find the time to
scan and translate... PM me if you are interested.

Ronaldo,

Again you serve as our classical woodworking resource librarian. Thank you.

One comment regarding your translation. "obligatoirement & obligatory"

We are woodworkers and never really feel obliged to follow the RULES.....Hmmm. Is that an oblique concept? Perhaps I should not digress so tangently.

Ok, I submit to their rules. It makes sense that if we wish for the barrel top to work, it is necessary to maintain the arc and the radius throughout its rotation.

That is perfect Ronaldo! The diagram is a huge help, the translation is nice bonus.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Meanwhile.... in the 21st century, somewhere in France the riddle is solved with moving pictures. The librarian with have to multi- task and translate.

2:03 minute marker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rz_fhrT ... re=related

That is cool desk.

No argument from me , it is pretty slick. liked it so much I turned into a working drawing, so if you decide to go contemporary there a working drawing. free of course.

he only talks about the legs, that the challenge was to have the same
figure on the veneer on all faces of the legs, and as the internal faces
of the legs are turned, it was far from easy.

BTW, furniture with moving parts seem to have been much more
sophisticated in the XVIIIth century

this is another video with some funky looking furniture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDzG_jyvci0
(they are alumni of Boulle)
the Majorelle desk was gathering dust at the school shop
but later I saw it for sale at an exposition for 100k euro
(they are pushing it maybe a just bit too far... )
and it is a shame to see a german veneer saw in the video...

I noticed that too, especially the seams where the faces meet. I wonder how he did that?

My guess: glue the 4 legs with a sheet of paper in between to gang-turn them.

Then develop the turned surface of a leg (on a flat sheet) so you can make
a template (~1-2 mm margin all around) to cut the veneer sheets.
The template for the flat parts comes directly from the legs (plus the margin)

With the template, you can mark on the consecutive sheets where the
show face is the same. A drawing would be helpful, but I am almost convinced
that the grain would even flow around the leg.

You need a pack of at least consecutive 12 sheets, and distribute the sheets
so the faces are not that different, say sheets 1, 3 and 5 for leg1, then
2, 4 and 6 for leg2, etc.

Hey Dana, what about the cyllinder desk????

I was distracted by cleaning and organizing the pile of crap that was on one side of the garage.

I did some drawings and will be working on a proof of concept out of MDF/plywood of the slider mechanism. right now I'm leaning towards the method in Sheraton's book.

it's going be a couple weeks out, the next 2 weeks are going to be busy.

it is always good to get rid of the PoC lurking in the garage
btw, did you receive the pdf file?
keep us informed on the progresses!

I got the file, thank you.

it is always good to get rid of the PoC lurking in the garage

I agree..... what's the point of keeping useless things around

Great YouTube vidoes. I would have never found those on my own since I don't speak French. Thanks for sharing.

When we are talking about furniture and if you want to be make any furniture than first you have to measure its locations and after getting right measurement you have to prepare it, you have to take awareness about that it will not be gone waste and you can make right furniture and design as per requirements.