Intro & question - Sqauring up "headboard"

[Steve Dewey]

I stumbled upon this forum while researching assembly tables. I've enjoyed lurking, so I decided to register. First a brief introduction - 31 y/o mechanical engineer / handyman / woodworker / toolaholic. Besides working around the house & yard, I enjoy sailing, skiing, & spending time with my daughter (15 months old).

On to the question. I'm currently building a "crib" (actually twin bed size) for my 6 year old neice. She has special needs and requires a safe place to sleep. I'm building the crib so that my brother in law & his family can enjoy my father in law's new vacation home in VT. I patterned my design off of one they had commissioned by a local woodworker (since moved to CT). The larger joints are M&T. The smaller "slats" are faux M&T ala this month's Wood magazine design (grooved top & bottom, fill spaces with blocks). I've cut all the peices for the "headboard". A quick dry fit yeilded an assembly that was not quite square.

Besides needing a larger assembly surface (looks like I'll be building a torsion box in the near future). I'm looking for suggestions on how to square it up. My first inclination is to clamp the post & bottom rail to some kind of fence(s) that are set at 90. Wondering if any of you have better ideas? Surely someone has solved this problem already.

Here's a pic of the design.

[Dan Oliphant]

Steve, welcome to the creek. First let me ask, are all your slats cut square and is the depth of your rail dado the same depth end to end? If the answer is yes, then the issue may be with the assembly process. After dry fiting all the pieces for each side, place two clamps length wise. Measure corner to corner, if still not square, place a clamp on the diagonal, and tweek the assembly.
Hope that helps.

[Scott Loven]

This is what I would do:
1. Make sure that your rails are square on the ends where they fit into the posts, and that they are the exact same length.
2. Assemble the frame with the slats loose in place
3. Install matched pairs of spacers, top and bottom, check the slats for square every few.
It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to look right to the eye.
Scott

[Steve Dewey]

I'll check the rails for square - the look good to the eye, but I haven't checked them yet.

Thanks for the tip on the corner clamp - will I need to rig up a fancy caul so that the clamp "grips" the corner? (I'd be using a K body or pipe clamp).

The slats are cut 1/16 short so that they can be installed after the fact. Attached is a pic of the first stage of the assembly. I also included the sketchup file (It's not perfect, but probably 95%). It's my first effort in SU - I'm used to using real parametric CAD programs so It's been interseting learning SU - managing comonents, groups, & construction lines such that things stay where they should.

[Dan Oliphant]

Steve, no fancy fixtures needed for clamping on the diagonal because there is not much pressure required to make adjustments.