Over the weekend, I spent quite a while fabricating this cube out of wood. To strengthen the joints, I even cut out aluminum bars and recessed route them into the edges. I brought the cube to work with me and was somewhat disappointed from the gap in the seems when I pulled it out of the trunk of my car. I brought it with me to work to sand it. I can conclude that the wood warped a little over night.

Constructing this cube out of MDF would alleviate the warping......but I don't believe it would have the same durability in joint connections.

Do you have any thoughts of how and what this cube can be constructed from to alleviate the gap?

Good day,
M

Perhaps a rabbet joint or a dado joint. You also showed all the router bits, perhaps a dovetails

Splines would strengthen the joints adequately.

You'll need to make a jig; this helps in running the pieces through the saw. Without it, your piece might run underneath the fence and wobble or make ruts on it. See the diagram on how to set up your table saw and clamp the jig to the fence.

The grooves can be 1/8", the width of the saw blade. Locate the set up correctly, so that the grooves are closer to the interior of the pieces and set the height so it's not too high. It's basically all trial and error. If you don't want the grooves to show through the ends, then set up stops or eyeball it when running through the saw. I put masking tape on the fence or jig to show where to stop cutting at each end.

The individual splines have to be made so that they are not too tight and not too loose. If they're too tight, you won't be able to get glue into the area, and if they're too loose, then you won't get a firm joint. You should be able to fit a thin piece of paper and the spline to fit tightly as a test.

Click here to view attached image.

Inlver suggests a good idea. This also helps when you clamp the parts together as they cannot shift out of alignment. Miters can be very difficult to get tight.

As you cut this on the table saw, it is possible, and highly likely that you did not cut exactly 45 degrees. Being off even slightly will prevent your joints from being perfect. You used solid wood for this. On one of the two "U" shaped ends the grain is perpendicular to the sides so you have movement in opposite directions and it appears that you used eastern rock maple, a wood that "moves" quite a bit when it has any type of environmental change. Other than that it looks good.

Somewhat correct you are..... I was very close on the 45.... I cut extra and select from the best cuts.
The weather in California in the past couple days have been haywire..... it does greatly affect the wood... I used glued up maple...

I will be building out of MDF today and let you know what happens..

Matthewwwww

A 45 Degree Sled would of been helpful for this project.. though was not well worth my time in building it.

I will use MDF for making jigs, but never to build a project out of. Too many problems with moisture getting on it, strength at joints, not being able to use screws on it, etc. And after all, I consider myself a WOODworker.

You’re limiting yourself as a woodworker if you only use solid wood. Medex is one brand of water resistant mdf. None of them take screws well so loose tenons (or splines or biscuits) are the way to go. According to the safety data sheet it contains 60-100% wood dust.

Medex seems reasonable to work with.... though I am sure it's a pricey material. When I had to rebuild my patio deck floor, I went Plastic Composite for durability as well as moisture resistance. It was a costly renovation when my previous deck tile floor deteriorated after a couple years of construction.