Larry, First, 3 inch screws are too long for holding down a plywood deck. even 2 inch is probably a little too long.
The screws won't pull the plywood laterally. If the sheet is down on the joist you can drive the screw at any angle pretty well, it will bridge the interface where the sheet meets the joist but because they are in contact the screw will only hold them together at that point. I sometimes very deliberately run screws or more often nails at opposite angles to each other so they spread in direction to make them a way more difficult to pull apart. No matter how you pull at least one will not be pulling out straight. In general though you will go pretty straight just by holding the screw or the drill bit and judging vertical. Going a little sideways might run the screw out through one side or other of the joist and this would reduce strength a little and isn't so pretty. I don't see that so much with screws but quite often see it where builders drive nails crooked like that. Now one solution I have used in the past where really square alignment matters is to take a piece of timber and cut a slight groove in it perpendicular to the surface I will place against the flat surface. It must be thick enough to guide but thin enough to allow the drill or screw to get well into the surface. Just place the block with the groove ending where you want the hole or screw then line the drill resting just in the groove and drill it in. If there is three inches of drill exposed and the groove is across the edge of a block of 2 by stock you will be in an inch and a half before the chuck contacts the block, just slide the block away and continue on down to the end of your three inches. Hope this is helpful. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: Larry Stansifer To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 7:22 AM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Starting long screws straight Well guys, the subject line pretty much says it all. I need some ideas on how to start all of these screws straight. Working with metal, I can't ever remember having to place fasteners every 16" on center at 1 foot intervals. My guess is if you don't get that screw or pilot hole damn close to straight it will tweak the work out of square. This begs the question, how does a blind guy drill about a bazillion straight pilot holes? When working in metal I can usually take the work over to the drill-press or if I need to mount something to a frame, I can fab a guide up for that special task. None of the drill fixtures or jigs I have built previously would work for a drilling and fastening project of this size. In our next chapter boys&girls we are going to find out how a blind guy who can hardly spell wood goes about choosing material, so stay tuned. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
