My panel 1 screwed up the rest of the build. I am convinced that's why everything was off in one form or another. Make sure panel 1 is 100% square. I will build another next summer, I've enjoyed it. But, I will carry all the lessons I learned on this one over to the second and it will be much better.howiez wrote:
Great looking build! Regarding panel 8/9 swap, i feel your pain. I just started, and already cut panel 1 wrong! I had angle backwards and didn't want the "B" side of the wood out, as I intend to stain. So I'm already fuming and dead in water LOL. Anyway my contingency plan is to cut panel 6 about 1/2" longer and shorten 1. Of course that still went south and i'm maybe 1/16 to short. Probably not worth crying about but when you're trying to be careful and measure that many times and still miss, ooof!
My takeaways for this one are
- even with a sled, cutting something the exact right length or height is tough. This was the #1 thing I fought the most.
- a table saw would have made cutting the individual panels so much easier. Not to mention the angles.
- PL isn't all that bad. With a nice $2 pair of gloves that I bought a HF I could deal with PL all day long and not be bothered. The cheap latex ones just rip and they suck. Spend the money on some decent gloves and they will pay dividends.
- most importantly, take your time. Use a couple carpenter squares (I didn't start using mine until panel 4). They're not expensive and they will save you headaches down the road.
- finally, clamps. you will need 30" and 48" clamps. I stupidly bought 24" and 36" not realizing they wouldn't work for the whole job. And honestly, HF has some decent F style clamps. They're on sale now for $6 ea - I've bought 5 of those and 2 of the 48" bar clamps. Also, make at least 4 W jigs (check out Brysons builds if you wanna see what I'm referring to).