Replies

1. 
   gdavis62 | Mar 14, 2004 04:22pm | #1

   You can carefully cut the one long leg, or split the diff and take the length off two.

1. 
   BG | Mar 14, 2004 06:20pm | #3

   Bob,

   I have left the legs a bit long so I do have some flexibility there...however, cutting the other three legs to the cockeyed one may leave the table top tilted....

2. 
   GHR | Mar 14, 2004 04:30pm | #2

   I glue my tables up - upright on the floor and all at once.

1. 
   BG | Mar 14, 2004 06:34pm | #4

   George,

   My basement floor is not flat....that is why I use the TS..even the TS pitches from right to left and I need to be carefull when setting the height of the saw blade with a combo square.  Usually I check the TS top with a level and then the top of the piece to insure the top is parallel to the TS top...that has helped in the past.  Perhaps I should have done this in one glue up....

1. 
   GHR | Mar 14, 2004 11:22pm | #7

   You should make a flat surface.

1. 
   BG | Mar 15, 2004 12:42am | #8

   GeorgeR,

   A flat surface I've got, a level surface is a luxury I can't create easily in my tiny shop.  I use the cabinet saw top, sometimes with the fense and cross cut sled ...that gives me flat and square.  I need to move the workbench and TS from time to time and releveling those is a real pain.  The space will not hold another table...believe me....lol

3. 
   eddiefromaustralia | Mar 14, 2004 08:57pm | #5

   BG,

   A common fallacy is that you need to leave items under clamps until the glue completely sets.  (UF glue does need 24hrs or 4 x open time, whichever's the shorter, under pressure)

   With standard PVA, depending on temperature, you can remove clamps after about 1-2 hours (when any glue squeezeout is about 3/4 set)

   When things are clamped up, they may look straight and out of wind, but when the clamp pressure's relieved, the change in stress causes the thing to pop back to original (in-wind/crooked) shape.

   If you take the table out of the clamps after 1-2 hours and let it sit on a level surface, there's still enough creep left in the glue to compensate for small amounts of movement required to level up the base.

   Hope that this helps and

   cheers,

   eddie

1. 
   BG | Mar 14, 2004 09:32pm | #6

   Eddie,

   That is a good idea...checking after an hour or two for flatness.  I probably should switch to hide glue or something like that that will allow me to modify gracefully a screw up...thanks

4. 
   4DThinker | Mar 15, 2004 10:30pm | #9

   I have this problem with nearly every student who makes their first 4-legged table of any type.  Sometimes it's due to a little "twist" in the wood that doesn't get engineered out in the design.  Sometimes it's due to heavy bar clamps that warp the structure as it's being glued up.  Sometimes it's a student not knowing how to cut four boards (legs) the exact same length.

   What do I do?  I make every student make every leg 1/4" too long.  Then we level the top with the legs suspended slightly over a flat and level surface.  A small reference block lets us trace a line around each leg at roughly where the bottom of them should be.  The legs then get cut off and finished to that line.  99% of the time the result is a 4-legged table that sits flat and level on a flat and level floor.

   It's a pain to do.  But the student is invariably delighted to see their design standing solid.  And those that don't take this approach have a proportionally opposite reaction when their table tip, teeters or rocks.

   4DThinker

1. 
   BG | Mar 15, 2004 11:57pm | #10

   4Dthinker,

   Great idea....I'm gonna try that. 

   I did leave the legs about 3/4" long....but I did make sure they were/are the same length.  The table is square within 1/32. The more I look at the table the more I suspect the legs just don't sit right....if I move one out slightly...they all sit firmly.  The legs are tapered and double splayed and, I suspect, if any of those angles are off slightly..or a slight bow in the leg...and I get uneven looking table

   I need to cut them anyhow because I screwed up the angle on the foot. I cut a 5 degree bevel (to match the splay) on the leg base on the diagonal.  I'll use your block idea to get the correct angle too.  thanks 

2. 
   Bonka | Mar 16, 2004 10:53pm | #11

   Dear 4D;

   I don't understand " I make every student make every leg 1/4" too long.  Then we level the top with the legs suspended slightly over a flat and level surface.  A small reference block lets us trace a line around each leg at roughly where the bottom of them should be.  The legs then get cut off and finished to that line."  Could you please explain it in a different manner or draw a pic.?

   Thanks

1. 
   BG | Mar 17, 2004 01:30am | #12

   Jerry,

   Let me see if I can say it differently...without really screwing you up...

   He was telling me to suspend the table over a level surface and plane the top (apron and leg tops)..I'll probably use my BD workmate and make sure its level and then level the table top so its parrallel with the workmate. 

   Once I know the top is flat, I'll put the piece on its legs on the TS top...keeping the top of the table parrallel to the surface of the TS...I'll use a block (maybe 1/4-1/2" thick) to mark all the legs....thereby creating a reference line where all the legs hit the floor at the same time and the table top is level.

   Hope that helps?

2. 
   AlanTurner | Mar 17, 2004 03:37pm | #13

   4D does what I do, but I would expalin it a bit differently.  I place the table/stool/whatever on a flat surface.  Bench, TS, etc.  Then I measure from the flat reference surface to the top on all 4 corners, and use wedges under each leg (no more than 3, of course) to make the 4 corners of the table top equidistant from the flat reference.  I then take a pencil aid on a small scrap, with a groove down it so the pencil does not roll, and mark all around the bottom of each leg equidistant from the flat reference.  I then grab a hand saw and cut them.  While there is a drop of tearout sometimes, this is not important since I then relieve each of the 4 bottom edges of each leg with a low angle block plane.  This means that when a table is pushed or slid, there is no chipping at the bottom.  Quick, easy, and low tech.

   AlanAlan

   http://www.alanturnerfurnituremaker.com

1. 
   Bonka | Mar 18, 2004 01:16am | #14

   That cleared that up. Thank you.