Compesating for wood movenent – front lock on roll top desk
On a roll top desk build, lets assume the back of the upper desk (the part that house the tambour) is fixed to the back of the desk top, and the front as attached to allow the desk to expand/shrink in the front. The lock for the tambour is also in the front, and latches to a strike plate at the front of the desk. How do you install the lock mechanism to allow for the desk top wood movent? I’m calculating around 3/8 inch potential seasonal wood movement on a desk that is 30 inches deep. It looks like the only practical method is to either make sure the strike plate gap is large enough (it doesn’t appear that commercially available lock sets account for this), or the only other option is to make the front of the desk fixed relative to the front of the top casework, and let the back float.
Replies
Option B is your ticket... pin them together relative to the lockset and send the movement elswhere. The groove that the tambour runs in has to land it on the plate.
I agree with _mj_ about pin the front together if the top is solid wood. But hard to keep a 30" solid wood top flat over time - and that tambour could easily seize with a cupping panel.
The other option is to use shop sawn veneer and make a panel that won't move. Could use MDF or Baltic Birch (controversial) as a core or make lumber core plywood for an exceptionally flat/stable panel.
(See some of Phillip Morley's gorgeous pieces with tambour doors using lumber core plywood/shop sawn veneer in which he has inset wood that matches the face material (before adding the veneer) into the areas that will be routed out for the tambour doors. Haven't tried it myself yet but it is on my bucket list!!)