Decided I should take the last step to screw the base to the box to make sure that worked OK. Good idea as it did not go as planned...sigh...
For my urn, I was having a hard time getting the screws fully in place. Apparently, I needed to drill the pilot holes in the box a bit deeper. Once that was done, the screws nicely moved into place. Having the centering pins (i.e., dowels) was very helpful in getting everything lined up.
For my husband's urn, I hadn't added the dowels for centering the box on the base - I should have! First screw, I was off of the location and ended up cracking the side - thankfully, just a little to the inside of the box so after some work with CA glue, I was back to trying to line things up. I went back and drill the pilot holes in the box a bit deeper, as I did with the first urn. Even so, I am finding that the screws push the box away from the lid. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong - really don't want to have to clamp the two together as I expect I'll mark up the top. Do I need larger pilots in the base? I have said I have to be the worst when it comes to putting in screws - typically I cam out the screw and totally mess up the head. Set it aside for now and hope that I'll be thinking more clearly after some lunch!
You can just drill the holes in the base plate larger so that the threads of the screw slip through. Often times the screw will displace some wood where the pilot hole is drilled. This can cause the surfaces to also not be flush with each other. You can drill a small chamfer like you do for the screw head on the pilot hole, only it just needs to be a small amount.
Splintergroup - that was my "maybe I should try this next" so glad I am on track. Probably a good idea to enlarge the pilot holes on the base to allow for wood movement as well.
I wouldn’t enlarge the pilot holes in the base, but if they’ve puckered up after putting in the screws, you could plane or sand the area around the holes flat again.
Here’s a chart from Machinery’s Handbook for wood screw pilot hole sizes. Part of it’s covered up, but you should be able to figure out the sizes. I think the screw sizes are 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18…
Thanks Dave. I have one of those charts from a magazine and refer to it often - I'll have to do a comparison between the two. Much better than me guessing on pilot hole size.
The wood isn't raising, but instead there is a gap that "appears" between the box and the base. The screws aren't drawing them together but rather seem to push apart. I think I'm using the right type of screws. Will take a look again tomorrow.
