Replies

1. 
   PlaneWood | Dec 07, 2005 03:04am | #1

   Will the bottom panel be plywood?  Is so, just make sure you cut it square and attach it square.

   PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
   PlaneWood

1. 
   Daleinok | Dec 07, 2005 04:13am | #5

   Every thing is Oak. Solid Oak lumber glued and screwed to make panels and planed to 7/8" thickness.  Base sets up off the ground 11 1/2" then my floor.

   Thanks Doc.

2. 
   highfigh | Dec 07, 2005 03:06am | #2

   What are you using for the back? That needs to be square in order to look square. If the glass is cut square, the only other piece you need to cut accurately is the bottom.

   "I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
3. 
   willy | Dec 07, 2005 03:29am | #3

   Take your tape measure and measure corner to corner i.e. lower left to upper right then lower right to upper left.  They must be the same measurement for the unit to be square.  If they are not the same, the unit is out of square, called racked or racking.  

1. 
   CAGIV | Dec 07, 2005 04:10am | #4

   with that method it is possible to create a perfect trapazoid.

   I'm usually over at BT and not much of a fine woodworker, however when we need to square up walls etc, the best method in my opinion is a 3'4'5' triangle.  If your project is not that large you can use any right triangle and use pythagorean theoren to come up with a suitable size triangle, use the longest legs possible.

    

1. 
   willy | Dec 07, 2005 05:32pm | #6

   I'd appreciate a little further explanation on your method.

   t.y.

2. 
   loykd | Dec 08, 2005 02:33am | #8

   Willy is right. If both diagonal dimensions are equal, it'll be square, not a trapazoid. It's the easiest way to do it.

1. 
   CAGIV | Dec 08, 2005 04:15am | #9

   Not true

   There is a good chance it will be square but not quaranteed.   If the legs of the opposite sides of box are not perfectly equal measuring the diagonal can result in forming a trapazoid.

   I'll post an example at the bottom that someone else has drawn in the past. 

   In any event if your sides are not equal there would be no way to square up the corners, which you would not really find out simply by measuring the diagonal, you would have to use the method I mentioned to determine if you are square.

    

   
1. 
   Segil | Dec 09, 2005 12:23pm | #10

   If the sides are not equal in length, your screwed anyway.  A trapazoid may be the best port in the storm in that scenario.  Squaring in a room which you did not build, diagonals are fairly useless, but in a cabinet where you know the lengths are correct, it is an effective method to determine squareness.

         Most of the dimensional stability of this cabinet is going to come from the wall it is attached too.  This is often unavoidable with display cabs unless you glue in the glass panels, which is undesirable for many reasons.  As you wall mount it, keep checking the door alignment to make sure all is well with the squareness.  The wall can be your friend if you don't try to fight it.

2. 
   ohcomeon | Dec 09, 2005 07:46pm | #11

   Segil beat me to it.  If the pieces are not equal length then the 3-4-5 measurement won't do you any good either, and perhaps be worse since you end up w/ a lopsided polygon.  The corner-to-corner measurement method will yield two things; making it square, and if you can't do that, you'll find out that something was not cut to proper length.

   On a further note, the 3-4-5 method won't give you that assurance that you have cut pieces to the wrong length (as measureing corner to corner will).  While unlikely, you could have opposite corners that are both 90° (I used the Alt function, woo hoo) yet a polygon that does not have a single pair of parallel sides.  And by making two adjacent corners square you could end up w/ an out of square case.  This all adds up to having to do the 3-4-5 measurement at all 4 corners. 

   So we are back to square one.  Measure opposite corners, or better yet use a story stick, or even better yet make one of those adjustable ones (someone help me out on what they are called) that have pointed ends to fit into the inside corners and are not dedicated to a specific piece of furniture.

   Edited 12/9/2005 12:02 pm ET by ohcomeon

3. 
   John_D | Dec 09, 2005 11:22pm | #12

   Pinch sticks...

4. 
   WillGeorge | Dec 08, 2005 01:47am | #7

   Make yourself a 'story stick' of the critical inside dimension..

   Better than a tape.. You won't be sorry spending the time.. It does NOT have to be fancy!