wrote in message
...
On Dec 1, 4:01 pm, Swingman wrote:
I'm not arguing. I agree, making things square is important. All
along I've made making things square a goal. For the most part, I did
the things you listed. There was nothing on your list that made me
think, "If only I'd done that my project would be better." But even
if there was...that part of my project is done. It's history.
That's good. It can only be concluded then, that what you need to do is to
perfect what you are already doing. Increase your precision, take your time
before going on in order to make sure each step is complete and ready for
the next step, etc. Generally, those projects that we really don't like
when they are complete fall into two categories. The first is projects that
someone else dreamed up and were clearly bad ideas to start with... And the
second (more seriously), are projects that we just plain old rushed our way
through.
If an experienced cabinet maker would burn my project and start
over....well, that really isn't useful information for me. If that's
the case, then I will end up with a project that doesn't look like it
was made by an experienced cabinet maker. That's OK, because I'm not
an experienced cabinet maker. I consider this my first real furniture
project. I want to know how to make the best of what I have. Being
told "you're screwed" is not helpful. I want to look forward, not
backward.
Ok - then take the input you receive, and try to figure out what you are
doing that is not really in keeping with that advice, rather than getting
defensive. Cabinet making in its most basic form is not all that complex or
complicated. There are a few basic principles to it all. You've had those
explained to you. After that - there's no silver bullet. Put those to work
with an increasing focus on refining them. More accurate measurements.
Finish things before moving on the the next stage. Get all those sanding
scratches out before gluing up, etc.
I tried to measure diagonals last night. Since nobody has yet told me
what the tolerance is I don't know how well I ought to try to
measure. I'll admit that I'm the type to analyze things a great
deal. But this issue of tolerance is fundamental. How square does it
need to be? If I don't know that, how do I know if the experienced
cabinet maker would burn the project or not? I don't even know the
right measurement instruments to use. Calipers? Tape measure? The
experienced cabinet maker knows the appropriate tolerance and doesn't
really think about it.
Why should anyone have to tell you the tolerances? You were told to measure
the diagonals. It only stands to reason that you want them to be the same.
Make them the same. You can indeed over analyze this kind of thing and only
end up with analysis paralysis. If you are making a case against a very
seasoned and accomplished woodworker who offered you good advice, based on
the fact that you take things too far, then you're not going to get a lot of
sympathy here or anywhere else. Your questions above really do nothing more
than show a person who is looking to make the pot stink, more than a guy who
appreciates good advice and tries to act on it.
In any case, taking inside measurements on the cabinet back I
estimated the difference in the diagonals at around 0.02" in 40". (I
did this by using a bar gauge and inserting feelers at the end to
measure the gap.) Seems to me I can hardly ask for better.
Quite impressive. You are right - you could not ask for any better. That
is well beyond the degree of accuracy necessary for a material like wood.
However,
an 8" square on the cabinet front drawer cavities shows deviations of
about 0.015" from square. This might be because I cut the dividers a
bit too long or the joint not quite deep enough. (The case is made
from four panels, dovetailed together with dividers inserted by
sliding dovetails.)
Or your square is out of perfection by that amount.
In the case of the drawers, I found the error in the diagonals to be
nearly 1/8" in the worse case out of a diagonal length of 27". The
other two drawers it was about 1/16" and the third was around 0.02".
I estimated that a 1/8" error could twist the drawer front by about
1/16", so that would seem to explain part of my problem. I can think
of two possible fixes: shim the drawer slides crooked or plane the
drawer front crooked.
That 1/8" error is a lot, for a normal size drawer. Go ahead and shim it.
Next time you'll pay more attention, or slow down, or whatever is necessary,
based on what you discovered on this project. That's the way it goes.
Swingman showed you some pictures of some really nice work. What he didn't
tell you are the aw-****s in the project. Bet on it - while he may not have
the same number of, or the same type of aw-****s in his project, he could
certainly tell you about a couple that are meaningful to him.
--
-Mike-