Wayne,
I design everything in AutoCAD as well, but I just draw everything as
3/4"stock and haven't had a problem. Can you elaborate on the specifics of
the problems you've had? I'm curious.


"Wayne K" wrote in message
. ..
I just finished drawing up some plans for some file cabs made with "3/4"
plywood. Trying to draw to these dimensions is impossible. I built in a
little extra clearance to compensate for the missing wood. Frustrating.
It's started me thinking why? Why can't they make 3/4" plywood 3/4"?
Because they can get two veneer layers where they used to get one?
Because it is measured in millimeters when everything else is is imperial?
(who came up with that brilliant scheme.) Why can't they anticipate the
thickness before sanding. Slight variance within the sheet is acceptable
and understandable. But dealing with these minute dimensions in the design
stage is very frustrating.
Rant mode off.

"Mike Dembroge" wrote in message
om...
For those of you that use a lot of plywood in your cabinets, casework,
etc, what do you find as an acceptable amount of thickness variance in
your sheet goods?

My last 3 projects all used plywood of various species (A-1 Mahogany, A-2
Maple, C-2 Maple), and all was purchased from the same source: PALS in
Oakland, CA. However, I found with each project that the thickness of
the plywood varied not only between sheets, but within the same sheet as
well. On my last project, I measured .009" difference in about 25" of
length in a sheet. While this doesn't sound like a lot, it was enough to
create a sloppy dado at one end and a too-tight-to-fit one on the other.

Am I being too fussy, or is this normal? I spend a fair amount of time
setting up the stacked dado set to produce a clean-fitting dado that is
not too sloppy and not so tight that it distorts the material. So, when
I make several cuts and some don't fit, it's a PITA.

Mike
Alameda, CA