Kreg pocket screw problem

[Matt P]

Hi,
I just got the Kreg pocket screw jig, and screwed together some 3/4" thick oak pieces (2-4" wide). I believe the board edges were cut square, but it seems that when the pieces are screwed together (even with a face clamp holding pieces flat) the joint has a slight gap - it seems the side where the screws are is pulled tighter than the other side. See pic.. any advice? I'm kind of disappointed!
Tx,
Matt

[glenn bradley]

The surfaces may have been flat and at a good 90* but now they are under torque. Have you tried backing off the screws a bit? I would back my clutch off a notch or two on the screwdriver and try again. Once you find the right amount of torque I think you'll get better results. Like with clamping, the desire is to hold the material together, not crush it. I would say your material just compressed a bit. IMHO.

P.s. Were you clamping to a known flat surface or just clamping the pieces? I have my best results when clamping to a surface. The small Kreg clamp generally won't open far enough for this. I use some 11" locking "vise-grip" knock-offs from Harbour Freight. About $6.

[Matt P]

Thanks Glenn - you're right, I might have crushed it. lol. Or maybe the work surface wasn't flat.

[Gary Ratajczak]

Be sure that the piece that was drilled does not have any dimples on the end. Sometime it is possible to drill to far, without going through, but bump out the end grain a bit (seems to happen on hardwoods).

When you assemble, this make a small space between the two pieces of stock, and will not compress when you draw them together.

I have done a number of red oak frames for cabinets. I catch the bumps once in a while, but have great luck otherwise.

[Matt P]

I just realized that my stock is 13/16" thick, and the screw is not appearing at the midpoint of the board - it's noticeably closer to one edge. I guess I have to adjust my Kreg!!!!
Also, I am using the 1 1/4" screws that came with the Kreg R2 kit. Hope they are the right ones.

[keith ouellette]

That same thing happened to me and I found out my miter saw was off by a 1/2 degree or so. Readjustment solved the problem.

[Wade Lippman]

I have done lots of joints and that has never happened; despite cranking the screw as tight as it will go without stripping the threads. The screw will fail before anything is crushed. (well, not the screw, but the threading; you know what I mean...)
If it DID happen I would assume I didn't have a flat surface and/or 90 degree cut.

[Scott Hubl]

Hi Matt,
I just bought the Kreg K3 Master System myself, along with a few extra boxes of screws to have on hand, and a Right Angle Clamp.

I also grabbed one of Kregs DVD's at the same time, the one on Trim Carpentry with Gary Striegler. He stresses how inportant it is to have true square cuts and edges to start with. You state that you "believe" your boards are square, but are you SURE that they are?

If you cut the pieces on your miter saw an easy quick test is to cut a wider board and the turn one cut piece over, then keeping them tight to the fence slide them together and see if there is any gap at all, if so adjust your mitersaw as needed .
Test your Tablesaw too while your at it. Check your Jointer too.

In each section of the DVD he mentions how critical it is to have square edges and your cutting square to your boards, 1 degree off will throw everything off and compound as you build.

Make sure your jig is setup correctly for your stocks thickness as you found out.

The DVD is pretty informative and I think I will purchase a few more of them, for some future projects. Well worth the 10 bucks IMO.

Good luck hope those tips help you out some.

[Randal Stevenson]

When breaking out your drill bit, ALWAYS check the depth stop is tight and hasn't moved. DAMHIK