Measure THREE times...

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

...then check your math and measure AGAIN before cutting.

I just spent the last 3 1/2 hours milling the parts for 5 MDF doors to go on my new shop cabinets...and made every one of the panels 2" too short. Of course, I didn't realize this until after they were all raised.

I guess I need to change my AutoCad dimension setting to just inches, instead of feet and inches. Obviously I've become mathematically challenged.

KC

[Ted Shrader]

KC -

Dang and other (non-profane) words to that effect. I did that with some under-cabinet braces and shelves not too long ago.

Ted

[Dale Rodabaugh]

Guess I am not the only one who figures wrong now and then.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

On my recent project I milled out all of the parts for the drawers and then during assembly realized that I cut the front wrong! Doh... had to re-set up for all of the cuts on the front.

Sorry to hear about it, 2 inches is a little too much to fudge DAMHIKT

[Nick Mitchell]

sorry about the troubles,


it's just one more reason to go metric

quick: how fast can you work these out?

3200mm-140cm = ? decimetres

10.499feet-55.118inches = ? fractions of an inch

[Jim Becker]

Sounds like an opportunity for a wider apron on the face frame, KC!!

[Keith Christopher]

I don't wanna talk about how many times I've done something similar. I used to forget to add the blade kerf into measurements. UGH.

[Ken Garlock]

Kirk as some (in)famous politician once said "I feel your pain." I have four cabinet doors laying around that need to be shortened about 4" because I didn't account for a drawer at the top of the opening.

Go take a walk, have a Shiner, and things will look better tomorrow.

[John Keane]

I just spent the better part of a morning creating dovetail joints for the drawers on the dresser I am building. Somehow I managed to get 1/8" off on the tails. DS for sure. I find that when my confidence factor reaches self assuredness, then I tend to make errors that had I paid attention to detail I would not have made. This is just to assure you Keith that you are not alone. Fortunately we can go out and buy more wood, which is what I did today.

[Norman Hitt]

I made a drawer the other day and wanted to play with a drawer lock bit I hadn't used and wanted to use it on thinner wood than the instructions said was minimum. Well I figured it out, made the cuts and assembled the drawer and it worked just as I had planned, but when I slid the drawer into the opening, (which fit perfect widthwise in the hole but was 3/8" too large depthwise). Something just didn't look right, and I suddenly realized that I had made the cuts exactly reversed on the sides and front/back pieces in order for them to work to give strength in the right direction, and that had also made them too deep. Needless to say, it was the absolute last bit of 1/2" Baltic Birch I had on hand, and since it was for a shop piece, I just glued and bradded a 7/8" x 7/8" block inside each front corner for strength and unplugged the light, coiled the extension cords, and went in the house to think about it. The next morning, the "Brain Light Bulb" came on, and I Beveled the edges of the Drawer front and it looked even better than the original design. Heck, if it wasn't for my Mistakes, my projects would be devoid of some of their Best Design Features.

Kirk, looks like your Shop Cabinet Doors might have just become "Raised Panel Doors" with maybe wider than normal Rails.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

...Kirk, looks like your Shop Cabinet Doors might have just become "Raised Panel Doors" with maybe wider than normal Rails.

Nah...I'll cut some new panels. I'll save these for the next batch of cabinets and build around them.

KC

[Jack Wood]

Hey you could use duct tape to cover the gap!

[John Lucas]

Arent you glad that the panels were of MDF and not precious exotic. ABout 15 years ago, I did raised panels - some 39 of them for a freinds wall with fireplace surround. They were 500 miles away so we did a lot of work with paper drawings. I took everything pre-cut and dry fitted on the shop floor and installed it up there in about 6 hours. The very last panel was 2 inches too long. We could cut it but how to then make the matching raised panel cut. Finally cut 2 inches out of center and reglued. It looked perfect and since it was low and at the end, we thought no one would ever see it. After careful puttying and painting, the entire wall was flawless.
When they sold the house, the prospective buyer had a survey done on the house and one panel had to be replaced becasue of crack. He autimatically knew which panel and called me to make a replacement...and gave me the dimensions. I said I wouldmake but that those diensensions are t=for the panel we screwed around with. We went over and looked and sure enough engineer had found a totally different panel...not even in the wall we had done. Our shortened panel was still looking good.

[Dale Thompson]

Kirk,

I was born at 7' 8" tall. I am now 3' 4" tall. Every time I cut those blasted doors too short, I call my chainsaw buddy and he comes over and takes an inch or two off of my leg bones. I've always liked to work "smarter, not harder". Wake up and smell the roses!!

Dale T.

[Steve Cox]

The change from feet and inches to just inches was one of the first I made when I started setting up VectorWorks (my CAD program). I definitely feel your pain.