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Joinery aggravation (long)
I'm trying to build a laptop writing desk, sometimes called a desktop
writing case. Just a small box with a hinged lid that acts as the writing surface. I've tried learning dovetails by hand and can get close (well I like to think so), but the fit is actually sloppy and rough looking, and I don't have hours on end to practice. I tried doing them on the tablesaw, a la Yeung Chan's "Classic Joints with Power Tools", and can get close, and even decent on the scrap, but when the time comes to do them on the actual stock, I have to use it for firewood because the fit is so sloppy and there are ugly gaps. I can't get them all perfect, some are poor, others, worse. Last night I spent 2 hours just on one 6" set of dovetails that I can't use. And there is no more stock surfaced and ready to go. Another trip to the store. I've tried skipping the dovetails to use a box joint instead. I built a jig a la NYW, and can't even get the jig right! Just getting the key the exact width of a 3/8" dado cutter is not easy. Then getting the spacing over 3/8 seems even more impossible. Norm whips it out in 5 minutes. I spent 2 weekends trying to get one built and working. I gave up on this jig. Tage Frid amusingly writes: "It may be frustrating to get right the first time." Ha! Then another book said to use a crosscut sled instead of the miter gauge for box joints as the miter gauge is too inaccurate. I have the hardest time just getting a crosscut sled perfect. It seems there are too many areas to foul it up on. The back of the sled has to be exactly flat. The runners have to fit the miter slots without any slop. The same runners have to be exactly 90 degrees to the rear fence. The fence has to be perfectly flat. If I can't get the sled and jigs built perfectly, how do I get the actual joinery to work? With the money I've tossed away on the stock I've ruined with ill fitting joints, plywood tossed away on crappy jigs, and even more important, the precious time lost trying over & over to get something to work, I could have bought a Leigh D4 and moved on. Does anyone else ever experience this or is it just me? Arrgh! Please help! |
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