Tenon Master Out of Square

bffulgham · Post by **bffulgham** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:33 pm

I did a quick and dirty frame out of 2x4 stock this weekend to mount casters on for a furniture/equipment moving dolly. I used my Tenon Master to cut half lap joints for the corners. At assembly time, I noticed there was more twist to the joints than I thought there should be....even using construction grade fir 2x4s. So, I grabbed the trusty Starrett combination square (yes, the square is square) and started checking.

The gap at the bottom is somewhere about a strong 1/32". Enough to make a real difference on long tenons (or lap joints in this case):
[ATTACH]17667[/ATTACH]

I checked to make sure the two assemblies were tight to each other. No built-up gunk on either side of the plate with the miter bar:
[ATTACH]17669[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]17670[/ATTACH]

No gunk on the bottom mating surfaces:
[ATTACH]17671[/ATTACH]

The milled contact areas on the bottom of the aluminum top part are not square to the face of the jig:
[ATTACH]17672[/ATTACH]

Can I talk one of you folks that have a Tenon Master to check the square to the table to see if yours is any closer?

Speculation, on my part, for possible reasons as to why mine is out of square:[INDENT]The PO was a klutz, and maybe dropped it or stepped on it. There are a number of pieces/parts in all the stuff I bought from him that are dinged up from carelessness or stupidity.

The aluminum part was milled out of square. The verticle face of the jig is not absolutely flat.....slightly concave from top to bottom....probably < .005".

[/INDENT]

reible · Post by **reible** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:50 pm

Invalid Attachment specified.

Is what I get when I try to look at the images???

Ed

bffulgham · Post by **bffulgham** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:10 pm

Looks like the upload goobered.....Will re-do

Uploaded the images again......

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:37 pm

I will do that momentarily and post back right here.

I dismantled mine to check the face with the mined surfaces on the bottom and at first thought I had the same problem as you describe. But since I use this frequently and have never had this issue with tenons (I do not typically make long tenons), I reassembled it and checked with the table top.

It is dead on. No light shows through.

[ATTACH]17673[/ATTACH]

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:15 pm

Mine is also dead on square. Recommend a call to Shopsmith to see if they will do anything for you.

bffulgham · Post by **bffulgham** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:27 pm

Dusty, Chuck...

Thank you for checking. I'll catch a bit of time and call SS to see what it will take to fix it up....

stephan · Post by **stephan** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 4:52 pm

I checked mine with a machinist square and its dead on

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:03 pm

I think I would be checking the trusty Starrett square.

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:59 pm

[quote="JPG40504"]I think I would be checking the trusty Starrett square.] I was offered a very old Starrett square recently. Upon checking found it out of square. Good advice. Jim

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:39 pm

I don't care for adjustable squares for this very reason. I trust my framing square more.

To each his own.