confused

[Bob Mantica]

I am working on a project that has a frame and panel component. The rails have a stub tenon that goes into the groove in the stiles. when I put the frame together without the panel, One side is out of square by about a quarter of an inch. The other side is closer. the dimension between the shoulders of the rails is the same for both of the. The shoulders fit tight and square to the stiles. The corner to corner dimensions are different by about 3/32. If I try to pll it square the rail shoulders don't sit square to the stiles any more. the shoulders are square I have no idea what is wrong.

[Brian Tymchak]

Bob, the only thing I can think of that you haven't mentioned checking is the length of the stiles. If you are assembling the frame such that on all 4 corners the stubbed tenons on the rails are flush to the ends of the stiles, and the stiles were a bit off in length from each other, that would rack the assembly a bit.

[John TenEyck]

What dimension is off by 1/4"? If the corner to corner dimensions are within 3/32" that's not bad, at least for a good size frame it's not. But if you are confident the stiles are the same length, and the rails are the same length, then the corner to corner distance should come out very close when you clamp it up, and all the corners should fit tight. Check your dimensions again, and check to make sure the joints fit squarely. If that's all good, just tweak your clamps a little to pull the corner to corner dimensions equal.

John

[Prashun Patel]

Post a picture of the assembled frame with closeups on the joints. Your decription makes me think the shoulders are not as square as u think. Its easy for that to happen when cutting ends on a router table.

Flip your grooved rails or stiles around and see it the frame butts together square. This will help determine if the problem is in the coping of the profile or the square milling of your parts off the table or miter saw.

Cpe and stick is not forgiving of even tiny errors in calibration.

[Bob Mantica]

As it turns out the shoulders weren't as square as I thought. Went back and checked my miter gauge and it was a little off. Fixed it remade the parts and thpanel was just about perfectly square.

[Justin Ludwig]

If you're making those cuts on a table saw I'd recommend building yourself a sled. A quick YouTube search for "crosscut sled" will get you going. William Ng or the Wood Whisperer are great videos. You won't have anymore squaring issues on your cuts if build properly.