After the top was glued up, it was time to flatten it (mostly) and add the end caps. While adding the end cap on one end I also worked on the wagon vise. The end cap near the vise is 2 1/2″ thick while the other cap is only 1 1/2″ thick. The thicker cap near the vise is to fully embed the flanged nut. The wagon vise is made of a moving shuttle and a Lee Valley “Shoulder Vise” screw
After I pulled the top from the clamps, and scraped the glue, I laid out some winding sticks to check for twist. I noticed that I had some slight twist. The corner by the wagon vise was high and so was the opposite corner. Time to break out the jack plane.
Cutting the Bench Top
Next I cut the bench top ends to length with a circular saw and edge guide.
I had to flip the bench over to cut all the way through the top. This was not an easy task. I failed a few time because I would get the bench to about 45 degrees and it would slide instead of rotate. in the picture below you can see two little blue stops placed in my current bench to act as sliding stops. They are the Kreg dogs and helped me flip this thing over by myself.
Unfortunately I had some misalignment and had to cut the top with a hand saw and then do a lot of block planing to true up the ends. I spent a good hour with my block plane, off an on, cleaning up the end grain. I also would use the belt sander to break it up a bit.
I was striving for a nice perpendicular end.
End Cap Splines
Once the ends were good, I moved onto cutting the dadoes in the bench and caps for a spline. The spline is made from 1/2 plywood and would is embedded 1/2″ into each piece. First up, were the end caps. I cut these on the router table with a 15/32″ router bit and two passes. First pass at1/4″ deep and the next at 1/2″ deep. Then I turned my attention to the bench top. My router has a very small reference edge when using the guide, so I added a much longer one for stability. It is just a t-track taped (double sided carpet tape) onto the existing edge guide as shown below.
After transferring he location of the spline from the cap to the bench, I slowly routed the material away in two passes. Here is what the joint looks like with the cap sitting on the bench.
End caps were both test fit and a little more cleanup had to be on the end grain. After I was satisfied I turned my attention to the wagon vise.
Wagon Vise Screw
A couple notes:
I wanted the flange of the nut to compress when clamping any work piece, so that meant the square section of the nut is inboard. I also didn’t make the opening in the bench top wide enough for the size of the nut. Therefore I have to fully embed it into the end cap.
I did the spline first because the spline sets the vertical relationship of the cap and the bench which had to done before laying out the vise screw. Holding the cap firmly in place I marked the location of the dadoes (runners) in the top and the width of the opening onto the end cap. I need the screw center point to be centered left and right as well as vertically. So, I found the center point in each direction and marked it for the screw location. I had to carry most points all the way around the cap because I can’t mark a center point where the dado is.
After this, I laid out where the square section of the nut would go since it had to be embedded in the end cap. I went to the drill press and drilled out 1 3/4″ hole all the way through the cap. The hole from the outside of the cap since the dado wouldn’t allow a good surface to mark or start drilling from..I used my trim router and small upspiral bit for removing almost all the waste. I started with the bit pictured below, but later swapped it out for the 1/4 up spiral.
Then chisel out the corners and use a roundover/beading bit to get the right fit due to the slight taper of the nut. Just like the leg vise.
Wagon Vise Shuttle
Next was to cut the shuttle piece
The shuttle started out as 4 laminated pieces 5″ long. I hand planed three adjascent surfaces flat and perpedicular to each other to get started. (Top and two sides).
I measured the overall width of the opening the bench plus the dadoes to get my overall width of the shuttle. Then cut it out on the bandsaw. Next I had to transfer the locations of the dadoes in the bench top to the shuttle. I need to create the protrusions which will ride in the dadoes. Carefully layout and cut on the bandsaw. Then began a fair amount of finessing with the shoulder plane. I did get a little agressive with the hand planing after 3 or 4 failed attempts at fitting. The shuttle has a little more play than I wanted, but its not too bad. Hopefully the picture below shows the design of the shuttle and the bench top. As a note, the spline datdo and dadoes for the wagon vise are not exactly aligned. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning.
Once the shuttle was sized to slide freely back and forth it was time to mount the shuttle to the vise screw via the collar piece that comes with the screw. I marked teh center points on the shuttle and mounted the collar section to the shuttle. I could now thread the screw through the flanged nut and connect it to the shuttle and align the end cap with the spline to make sure it all fit together.
Voila! I marked the overall width for the end cap and cut to size.
Attaching End Caps
Next step was to add the lag bolts that hold the end caps onto the bench. I went back and forth about a dozen times about how many lags to use for each cap. I wanted enough to fully support the cap, but not so many that the top is too constrained from expansion and contraction.
It ended up with a very symmetic pattern of 8 3/8″ X 6″ lage bolts. I started by laying out the locations on each end cap and drilling a 1″ hole to accommodate the 3/4 head of the lag. I wanted it countersunk and allow some movement between head and hole. From there I drilled a 7/16″ hole for the lag to go through, but ended up going to 1/2″ hole after the first fit.
Once all the holes are drilled in the cap, I placed the cap on the bench. Transferred one hole to the bench top with the same 1/2 drill bit and used that for my pilot hole center point. I drilled a pilot hole roughly 9 or 11/32″ I don’t recall. Used a lag to hold the cap in place while marking the rest of the holes. Remove cap, drll remaining pilot holes and attach cap again.
Whew! Lots of words to try and describe this step. The work done in this post took about 6-7 hours to complete on a Saturday. Not quick, but results are pretty good. The only thing I am still contemplating is the clearance hole for the lag bolts. Are they large enough?
Next step is to cut the leg mortises in the top and route the sliding deadman slot