How or where do you do your bookcase assembly?

[Louis Brandt]

Hello,

This may be a silly question, but when you are building a bookcase (maybe something around 7 foot tall by 3 foot wide), what kind of flat surface do you put it on to make sure that everything is square before you glue/screw it together? I guess that those of you who have large workshops with big assembly tables don‘t have this problem, but what do the rest of you use? Personally, I’ve found that garage floors aren’t very good for this purpose.

How do you make sure that your corners are good and square before you assemble, if you don’t have a truly flat surface?

Thanks,
Louis

[Steve Jenkins]

I have a 4x8 foot torsion box that I set on sawhorses. When I don't need it I can lean it against a wall out of the way. You can make them any size you want or need. I actually have several in different sizes.

[Karl Brogger]

It doesn't matter what you set it on, if the pieces are cut square, or dado'd straight it will not go together square and true.

I assemble everything on low sawhorses, I think mine are 20" high. I like being able to move them out of the way, or to set them up at every partition, and they aren't as limiting as a table for size ,but thats just a matter of preference. When just the box parts are assembled, keeping things square really isn't that important unless you walk away while the glue is still drying. I typically install backs last, and face frames first. If the frame is square, (which unless you're cutting parts out of whack is really hard to do and the problem will present itself pretty early on), you're going to be pulling the box around to get everything aligned the way you like anyway.

Just not a big deal in carcass assembly in my eyes.

[johnny means]

light weight, easy to move,relatively stiff and true. They can also be had for free quite often. hang it out the way when not in use.

[Joe Scharle]

My assembly table is a solid core door laid on an old aquarium base, on casters.

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/970/thumbs/Dani_s_Bookcase.JPG (http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showphoto.php?photo=33261)

[Robert Payne]

You can do your assembly on sawhorses as suggested, but you need to be certain that they are aligned in a plane or you will introduce a "twist" in the bookcase. I usually check with a 4 foot level and winding sticks. Then I always check the interior diagonals to make certain the case is not pulled out of a rectangular shape. Plastic or cast aluminum carpenter's squares can be clamped in the corners to help pull it square. I use an assembly table that doubles as my tablesaw outfeed table.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

My assembly table is a solid core door on a table frame I built. Initial assembly is done with the sides laying on edge. After that I will lay it flat and many times the sides overhang the table edge but it has really never been a problem. I will sometimes check individual shelves with a square but mainly rely on measuring diagonals before attaching a face frame.

[David Keller NC]

Hello,

This may be a silly question, but when you are building a bookcase (maybe something around 7 foot tall by 3 foot wide), what kind of flat surface do you put it on to make sure that everything is square before you glue/screw it together? I guess that those of you who have large workshops with big assembly tables don‘t have this problem, but what do the rest of you use? Personally, I’ve found that garage floors aren’t very good for this purpose.

How do you make sure that your corners are good and square before you assemble, if you don’t have a truly flat surface?

Thanks,
Louis

I use the basement floor (also concrete, poured in 1940, so probably not flat). If I was going to do it every week, I would build a torsion box assembly table out of MDF - David Marks had a pretty good episode on building one of these, so you could check re-runs on the DIY television channel if you're interested in doing it.

But the way to do this as posters noted is to measure the diagonals - on a 7' case, I'd consider it good if the diagonals measure within an 1/8" or so. The case can still be twisted, though, so you will have to sight along the front edge of the shelves to be certain. The edges form their own "winding sticks" surface - you simply move your line of sight so that the nearest shelf occults the other ones - a twist will show as one or the other side of the shelves poking up over the edge of the nearest one.

If you're diagonals don't match, you can put two parallel clamps together to reach the distance, and apply light pressure with the handscrew to bring the shelf assembly square.