josie said:
How snug is a tenon supposed to fit in a hole? I am sure some of it has to do with with kind of adhesive. In my case I have a 5/8 tenon with glue relief slots going around the tenon and the length of the tenon and am using West 105/205. What has me wondering is when I pull the tenon out when it is dry it makes a pop sound like a good tight fit. The part that has me worried is when I put the epoxy on the tenon and a little in the hole the tenon wants to suck back into the hole when you try to pull it out. I am guessing this is some sort of vacuum pressure or is that what is called hydraulic lock? Anyway is this good or bad to have the tenon want to suck back into the hole. I can pull it out if I have to but if I let go it sucks back into the hole.
Thanks again for putting up with all of my questions.
This is probably opening a can of worms here but I'll give you a few things to think about.
Assuming you might be talking about the A-Joint here:
First, an answer for the "fit". I make my tenons (or used to) .002-.003 undersized to allow for what I feel to be enough room for the proper amount of glue.
Secondly, I would rather it "pull in " than "push back" out . For example, If you were to bore a hole to a specific diameter and insert a guage pin- in quickly- you would see the pin get pushed out due to the fact that you are trapping air (i.e. back pressure/ building pressure) which could and probalbly more likely WILL cause warping- hence the need for glue "reliefs". But insert that same pin in slowly and in stages- you will see that the pushing back nearly diminishes
Thirdly, you mentioned reliefs "around" and along the length of the tenon. This is good, but it is even better to put a slot or two in the bore running lengthwise, making sure they do NOT line up with the ones on the tenon.
Lastly, it may behoove you to "wet out" the bored hole with the epoxy, then fill it back up with glue and let it set up some- before bringing everything together- I do this tightening in stages. This allows a lot more of the air that may be present and or trapped to get properly "relieved". The amount of glue used is far less important than the proper amount of glue that is present in the blind hole after everything is dry.
Hope this helps... IMO of course-
Chris
