Thread: WIP - Groggy's Workbench

D'oh! For a while there I thought I might be catching you!

So, dig a couple of motices and you're away, yes? Looking awesome mate.

That is one very impressive top.
Just a little further.

Still going on the underside. Today I attacked it with the planes to flatten it. There has been some movement since I last took a plane to it. I was very happy with the glue line, about 0.5mm and even. Not so good was an accidental swipe of the card during the glue up. Some of the epoxy was pulled further than it should have been and is now on the face that the wagon vice will slide against so I need to sand it back. It is in an awkward spot so it will be one of those 'fun jobs'.

Although the end cap is only glued at the dovetails the bolts have held it beautifully in place. The end caps are snug and square. Since today's tasks took more time than expected I will do the second vise runner tomorrow.

Put in the second slide rail this morning (pic 1 & 2). Used the rail and guide with the Festool router for the first time and I have to say I am sold on the way it works. The plate is only held at one end by a clamp I modified to fit my bench (pic 3). The soft rubber underneath the guide holds it in place, as you can see by the half mm strip remaining (pic 4) there was no movement in the router as it followed the guide.

A quick bit of chisel work to square the ends and I had a perfect fit to the exact depth required so the rail is flush with the underside and will not foul any clamps. I gave it a test run and it works well (pics 5 &6). I hope it stays that way after I put in the vise block and insert the attachment screws.

Hit a minor snag. Although the rails were of even depth, the handle hole was marginally lower than it should have been so I am going to have to lower the rails about a millimeter or two to relieve a bit of binding near the end cap. Not a big deal, at least I don't have to put timber back, just set up for the same cut again and take a whisker off.

Do you actually mean higher than it should have been? I'm a little confused. :S

higher and lower might depend on whether the top is rightside up or upside down

but you might be right kman, higher when in finished position?

He's talking about the hole for the handle, which he drilled before routing the rails. So the rail depth needs to be sufficient for the drilled hole to line up.

Both, lower and higher The hole is higher from the top and lower from the underside, whatever.

The effect is that the slide tightens as it winds back to the handle, meaning the carriage is climbing slightly for some reason.

EDIT: Mystery solved. I spent a lot of time getting this right so I did not want to start removing timber without knowing for sure what was wrong, so I spent a bit of time checking it out thoroughly this morning. Being a firm believer in Occam's Razor I suspected it was something relatively easy to remedy.

When I first drilled the holes for the rails and did a test fit I used a little trad wax on the screws, Despite countersinking the holes there was a build-up of the wax that came out. I wiped the rebates after the test fit but did not look under the rails.

Sure enough, there was a build-up of about 0.5mm at the cap end, making the rail sit high. There was also a 0.5mm height difference between the base of the rebate in the end cap and the bench. So a quick wipe with a cloth and scrape with the router plane and everything is now working as advertised.

Note: For anyone going through this in future. I suggest you use shorter screws for the test fits so that once you are finally satisfied you can drive home the longer screws and have a good tight fit.

It's a good idea to counter sink the screw hole as well. The screws can lift the wood and give you a slight error in placement. The countersink gives the wood somewhere to go. Just my 2c worth

I like this last part of the conversation we are talking mills or half.

Originally Posted by NCArcher

It's a good idea to counter sink the screw hole as well. The screws can lift the wood and give you a slight error in placement. The countersink gives the wood somewhere to go. Just my 2c worth

Yes, see next quote...

Originally Posted by Groggy

...EDIT:...When I first drilled the holes for the rails and did a test fit I used a little trad wax on the screws, Despite countersinking the holes there was a build-up of the wax that came out. ...

Great minds think alike

Originally Posted by Christos

I like this last part of the conversation we are talking mills or half.

After working on large dimensions I was surprised to suddenly get down to a tiny tolerance - and it was important!

Originally Posted by Groggy

Great minds think alike

And old tired ones miss bits...oops.

Originally Posted by NCArcher

And old tired ones miss bits...oops.

Better to say it twice than not at all