Table not square


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Trying to build a table with shelves. I have 4 pieces of wood cut 2 legs and 2 stretchers middle pieces and they do not make a perfect square. I'll try to add a picture to show. I did this beore and I seen I wasn't cutting a perfect 90 degree with my miter saw. Readjusted and it seems to be 90 degrees. All the pieces are matched on length but when I lay then out pieced together and take a square to the inside I have a pretty good gap on one side but for the life of I cannot understand why.81f9cd75c87553cf6fd80ca45ac94f56.jpg

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Its pretty simple.  Either:

1) one of your pieces is a different length

2) one or more of your cuts are not perfectly 90 degrees in one or more direction.  When you cross cut a board you need to make sure it is 90 degrees in both directions, "down" and "side to side".  More specifically:

  • The end needs to be 90 degrees to the face 
  • The end needs to be 90 degrees to the edge

 

 

 

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Is your saw set up properly? Fence to the blade square? Table to blade square? What type of blade are you using? Is the blade flexing at all during the cut?

What are you using to square the blade??? Is that square???? Is the saw of quality make or an off-shore brand?

-Ace-

I used a square up against the fence of the miter saw itself to get it straight. It's a craftsman miter saw so whatever blade came with the miter saw itself is what's in there. Other than that I'm not sure but when I use a square against the wood to check it it looks good. The wood was from homedepot brand new select pine. I didn't know if maybe from the inside it could possibly be warped or even slightly to were you couldn't notice much and that could be throwing it off.

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Is each board a consistent width?  your joint might be square but if the board itself is tapered then your square won't register across its entire length.  also you square might not be square.  Are all of the joints tight? 

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I never measured the width I'll have to do that. The square itself is from menards so I'm hoping they sold me a straight one I wouldn't know how to go about checking it. As far as the warping goes I don't mean length wise I mean width wise to were you cannot tell if that is possible and would throw it off as would a different width would.

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Are you checking the table up to the blade for square? Are you pulling the blade down into to the wood with straight even pressure? 

My crap saw, if I use my hand hold properly I get great cuts. And if I apply outside downward pressure to the hand hold, my cuts aren't square...just seems to have enough play in the head it can make my cuts just a little bit off. I always engage the wood with even pressure and don't force the cut.

Just go out and buy a table saw. You will be glad you did. :P

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Ok I made some adjustments today. Looking at my miter saw it was cutting at a slight bevel. The saw is new and I never adjusted the bevel so guessing it was off out of the package. It lines up much way better now using a square to the inside. It is though on one side off slightly maybe just under a 1/16 of an inch. Last time I made 2 before I checked and it was terrible so I wanted to know how close do you guys think it needs to be? How terrible will it be off and will it wobble if there off less than 1/16 an inch? Is that the best I can expect with a miter saw? Has anyone gotten a perfect square build with a miter saw?

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To me,  1/16 is too much.

What type of saw is it?

I have a cheap skill brand compound mitre saw that cuts exactly 90° on both axis. The saw is off a bit from the gauges though.  To set it up, put a known flat blade on there, lay a square on the fence and check it against the saw plate.  You should have no light visible anywhere along the plate.

Once you dial that in,  adjust the bevel the same way.  Square on the table, bring the blade plate in contact with the square, there should be no light visible.  

Once you lock them both down,  re check your settings then check via test cuts.  Also ensure you are only putting downward light pressure. Your hand pressure can throw it off intracut.

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53e394bd2d50207697c544b103f03066.jpg

The gap is deffinetly less than 1/16 maybe half. My miter saw is a slidding craftsman. Any tips on how to assemble it more perfect? I'm using kreg screws is there any jig ideas to hold the wood still at a perfect angel while screwing together?

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For me, depending on where/what that part is, 1/32 or less is small enough of a gap that it really wouldn't matter unless it were a highly visible location.  If this is a horizontal frame and a the tabletop is going to sit on top of it, that gap wouldn't matter to me.  If that was a vertical frame that acts as the table leg, and the table is going on carpet and the table doesn't wobble, then that would be good enough for me.  If this were heirloom furniture meant to pass down to the next generation, then I might consider going for "perfect" (though that doesn't exist in woodworking).  I believe there's a Wood Whisperer video and probably a WoodTalk episode talking about if we should shoot for thousandths of an inch perfection.

You said this was big box store select pine which is notorious for warping.  I may have missed it in the posts above, but did you check that the individual boards were nice and square all around (every edge is 90 degrees, there's no cup or bows across any face or length, etc)?  Put each piece on a known flat surface, is there any wobble or rocking?  Place the piece on it's edge, can you see light between the flat surface and the piece?  Even if your cuts off the miter saw are perfectly square, if there's any sort of warp in the wood you'll see gaps like that.

To answer your other thread -  you don't NEED a table saw, but every power tool you add makes certain operations faster and/or easier.  

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Ok thank you, yes I've gotten in near to perfect. What I'm wanting to do is build 4 frames just like I had pictured only with a strechers going through the center of it as well. That way I can set all 4 up 2 feet apart and lay a plywood piece on top of it. I would also lay plywood on the bottom and middle stretcher pieces for shelves. Then I want to use a router to rabbet the outside frames and lay plywood on the outside. It's a work table for reloading bullets. It won't see no hammering or anything to stressful just reloading. The frames are the legs to it and it will lay on carpet. I just don't want it to wobble I'm very new to woodworking and last time I built frames without checking them or any setup of the saw.

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6 hours ago, thunder86 said:

53e394bd2d50207697c544b103f03066.jpg

The gap is deffinetly less than 1/16 maybe half. My miter saw is a slidding craftsman. Any tips on how to assemble it more perfect? I'm using kreg screws is there any jig ideas to hold the wood still at a perfect angel while screwing together?

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Kreg makes a vice grip type clamp that will hold it in place , although it's made more for holding the surfaces flat. Are you using two screws per end as just one could shunt it off square?

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