Now, to make a dead flat surface, we need to start with a dead flat surface. The method that I use is the one that I learned from the great David Marks. Now, we are going to start by creating a stable work surface using two saw horses, a bunch 2 x 4 and a sheet to half inch MDF.
So, let us start by joining the tops of our saw horses. After removing the top board from each saw horse, I join one edge. This will make sure that I have a flat and true surface to start building my work surface. I only need to join one side. While I am at the joiner, I join one edge of my long 2 x 4 that will serve as a sub base for our work surface. These boards need to be a uniform width so I give them all a few passes through the plainer as well. We do not really need to worry about the flat faces of these boards since they will not really affect our set up. And finally, we trim our boards to roughly 6 feet long.
With the saw horses faced about 4 feet apart, I begin shimming each leg where necessary to get the top board perfectly level. I do this for both saw horses. Next, I place my level across the saw horses to make sure they are in the same plane. Once again, I use shims where needed. I do this on both sides of the saw horses. I then checked to ensure that all four sides are still leveled.
Now, I can add my 2 x 4 sub base. I simply space the previously jointed and plain 2 x 4 evenly across the top of the saw horses. I then check each board individually for level. And finally, I check across the boards at each end. If everything looks good, it is time to add the MDF top.
With my step dad’s help, I place a full sheet of ½ inch MDF on top of the 2 x 4. Now, with our MDF on top of boards, we are 99% there. There is just one more thing that we can do to make sure that this surface is perfectly leveled. We are going to use a set of winding sticks to make sure that there is no twist in the board. The winding sticks are sort of a classic old way of making sure that surfaces are flat and leveled.
Basically, it consists of two identical pieces of material. Now, you can use Kiln Dried Hard Wood for this, you can use plywood, I am actually just using aluminum straight edges that I bought from Home Depot, these are really cheap, it is a full 8 foot straight edge that splits in half into 4 foot each and I have just taken some blue tape and put it on one edge and some wind up tape on the other edge. Now, you can come up with different ways of using markers or whatever to make contrasting surfaces.
The idea is, you place one on each end of the surface and then you bring your sight level down to the level of these straight edges. And, you basically close one eye and look across and you should be able – especially if you have a nice, clean background which mine is not so it makes it harder to see. But if you got a nice white wall behind you, you will be able to see where the board is either high or low. And if you say a perfect color strip all the way across, you are good to go. But, if you see that there is a little bit more blue on end and the other, that is how you can make your adjustments from that point using your shims. Fortunately, ours was right on so we do not have to do anything. We can keep going.
Now, I am going to do one more thing before we start cutting our strips for the top. I am going to go around to each leg and secure the shims using hot glue. It is not going to be permanent, we can knot them out later but it will help just make sure in case I kick it bump into it that is a lot less likely to move out place and ruin our perfectly flat surface.
Now, it is time to cut our grid strips. I use a circular saw and a straight edge to cut a piece of half inch and the end in half making it much easier to handle. Do not worry, the board is elevated on 2 x 4.
Setting my table saw fence to 3”, I begin cutting the strips. I place the cut side against the fence. When handling large sheets by yourself, be sure to use roller stands and L feet tables to your advantage. Cut as many strips as possible for the first half sheet which should be about 15 and then cut two to three extra strips from the second half sheet.
With a little help, I then cut three long 3” strips from a sheet of 3 ¼ inch MDF. This material will be used for the outer frame of our torsion box. Now, if you do not have a helper, be sure to cut the board down to a manageable size first before you start making your cuts.
I then use my sliding compound miter saw to cut all the strip to the appropriate length. This includes the outer frame pieces, our short grid pieces and our long grid pieces. Refer to the plan for exact measurements.
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