Screw length

[Don Wooldridge]

I just received my new Master Jig set.  Had it up and running in lickety-split time!  Amazingly fast and accurate.  First thing I made, out of scrap fir, as a nice kitchen planter "trivett" for my wife.Took me about 1/2h tops.   I used those little wood plugs, sanded and stained it, and she was imprressed.  Now it's on to workbenches, bookshelves and a complete 1/2 scale but functioning replica of the International Space Station!

 

Well.... maybe not that one quite yet...

 

My question is: I know we adjust the verticle position of the drill guide to allow for the thickness of the material being attached, but what if the recieving piece is quite thick and, for extra strength, I want to sink a longer screw into it?  Let's say I'm attaching a 1X2 to a 4X4 for example.  Do I need to adjust anything other than just using a much longer screw??

And what if I do use, for example, a standard, non-Kreg screw, say a 9 X 3", to accomplish this?  Any problems? I realize I may need to pre-dill the guide hole into the receptacle piece so as to prevent wood splitting.

 

Thx for a great tool!

 

 

[mo khan]

Hi Don- I do this a lot. Especially when joining rails to legs of a table. The rail is usually 3/4" thick and the leg can be 3" thick. Don't adjust the jig because this ensures that the screw exits in the middle of the workpiece. You can use longer screws for more strength but make sure that the longer piece is not too long and does not exit the mating piece.