Mike Dowell
06-08-2018, 4:58 PM
I'm building a split leaf table which is 44" round and has a 10" leaf. I'm using Ash, and the wood was dried very well(solar kiln, then acclimated a couple weeks in my shop). We milled the top to 1.25" thick, created two halves, then cut it to a circle. After that, I set the leaf in, and marked with a square, my pin lines. Drilled and installed using a self centering dowel jig and installed the pins. Drilled the female holes one size bigger and the top with leaf fit together perfectly. I then trimmed up the leaf flush. The next day, I took the leaf out and slid the table together but it was tight. I tapped it together and noticed that the halves were off 3/32, almost 1/8". IMPOSSIBLE!
After a while of pondering, I decided that when I drew my pin lines, despite using a square, the lines were not exactly straight, and so the table fit together perfectly with the leaf, but without it, the two halves were off. This theory made sense even though I used a square, which that part doesn't add up. Anyway, just for the hell of it, today(2 days later) I put the leaf back in and went to push the table top back into one piece - doesn't go. It's crooked and now not only are the halves off, but the leaf is off too. It's a total mess. I was originally going to come on here and as for a recommendation on how to mark and drill so that the pins line up both with and without the leaves, but now I realize, they were fine to begin with. I bet the day I installed the pins(when the table with leaf fit together perfectly), had I removed the leaf, the two halves would also have fit perfectly.
I should note that this table top is just sitting on my tablesaw, it is not attached to a base or anything. I understand the table top will grow and shrink, but along the grain? That much?
What's going on here? Really need a life vest if any of you have one.
Thanks.
Leaf https://i.imgur.com/t7TU3E9.jpg
Overall https://i.imgur.com/E1lpOnU.jpg
After a while of pondering, I decided that when I drew my pin lines, despite using a square, the lines were not exactly straight, and so the table fit together perfectly with the leaf, but without it, the two halves were off. This theory made sense even though I used a square, which that part doesn't add up. Anyway, just for the hell of it, today(2 days later) I put the leaf back in and went to push the table top back into one piece - doesn't go. It's crooked and now not only are the halves off, but the leaf is off too. It's a total mess. I was originally going to come on here and as for a recommendation on how to mark and drill so that the pins line up both with and without the leaves, but now I realize, they were fine to begin with. I bet the day I installed the pins(when the table with leaf fit together perfectly), had I removed the leaf, the two halves would also have fit perfectly.
I should note that this table top is just sitting on my tablesaw, it is not attached to a base or anything. I understand the table top will grow and shrink, but along the grain? That much?
What's going on here? Really need a life vest if any of you have one.
Thanks.
Leaf https://i.imgur.com/t7TU3E9.jpg
Overall https://i.imgur.com/E1lpOnU.jpg