Popular Post difalkner Posted July 26, 2020 Popular Post Report Share Posted July 26, 2020 Starting a new project for a serious audiophile with some serious equipment. His McIntosh amp alone weighs 125 lbs.! The dimensions alone make this rack impressive; everything is 8/4 and the shelves are 23" deep, 52" wide, and the unit is 31" high. Each shelf will weigh about 70 lbs. The top shelf is Curly Maple and the middle and bottom shelves are Northern Hard Rock Maple. These will be banded with Curly Maple so from the front you'll see Curly Maple shelves. But since the middle and bottom shelves will be covered with gear there was no need for these to be the much more expensive Curly Maple. The legs are about 2" x 3" and are Purpleheart. I'll finish the piece in Nitrocellulose lacquer. While there's no rush on completing this piece I do want to stay on it as much as possible but as other orders come in I'll put this aside. For instance, we got two separate orders for 18" Longworth chucks today so I'll move all of this out and cut the chucks tomorrow, then move all of this back in to begin planing and jointing shelves. When the shelves are glued I'll take them to my friend's cabinet shop and run them through their wide belt sander. Our SuperMax 19-38 will work but it will be so much easier to do it on their wide belt sander. As you can see, just the lumber alone overwhelms our little shop and when it comes to assembling this I'll have to do it in the house because I don't have room in the shop to put it together. Preliminary design - One shelf, basically, prior to jointing - All the lumber for the project - Curly Maple close up shots - More photos and updates as I work through this project. Enjoy! David 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted July 26, 2020 Report Share Posted July 26, 2020 Nice! That looks great, it's amazing what those amps weigh...and cost 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted July 26, 2020 Report Share Posted July 26, 2020 Touch base with him for his preferences. Audio units I have built either include rollers so that the whole rig can swing away from the wall or flat "pullouts" that allow access to the connections on the equipment. If he already has fans setup to move air around his Mac you may be able to integrate fastening locations for him. Your nice open design will help avoid heat build up. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted July 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 I'll check with him, hadn't really thought about it past this point - thanks! David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted July 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2020 It may not seem like much progress but I have now cut to length and planed all of the Hard Rock Maple, straight lined the edges of all boards on the tablesaw, and run every edge on the jointer. These boards are heavy and I'm worn out!! LOL! Running the Curly Maple on the jointer was a bit iffy since I have straight blades but they are razor sharp and I took very light passes. The edges came out very clean with very minor tear out in a couple of places but they're in the middle of the edge so it's not going to be an issue. I considered getting a Shelix head for the jointer - PM 54A - but since this worked I'll do that upgrade later (maybe). I have another project I need to move to this afternoon and that may prevent me from gluing these boards today to get the 23" width but they're ready for that step. More later! David 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted July 31, 2020 Report Share Posted July 31, 2020 The curl on the edge of the second board down is amazing! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted July 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2020 Isn't it, though! Actually, they're all spectacular but the light wasn't right for the top board and I was tired of moving them around. David 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post difalkner Posted August 5, 2020 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 Minor update on this audio rack; turns out the straight knives on my jointer were not giving me the clean edge I thought I was getting on the Curly Maple. When I moved the boards into different light and looked at them closer I saw the tear out in a few places. I made some changes and ran them again but with the same results. So, today I ordered a Shelix cutterhead for my PM54A jointer. For now this project is waiting on the new cutterhead. I have wanted one for a while and never wanted to spend the money but this project is worthy of an equipment change. Besides, any project that requires the purchase of a new tool is a good project - right!! David 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted August 5, 2020 Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 I have no experience with a helical head, but have read plenty of others'experience. Don't expect a no-tearout result just from switching heads. I've had success reducing tearout by wetting the surface just prior to jointing or planing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted August 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 If I can reduce it (substantially) then that's really going to help. I can work around minor tear out in the finishing process but these are relative craters as it stands now. I'd hate to wet the wood and introduce an opportunity for rust on my jointer. I spent several days removing rust from this jointer when I bought it and don't want to do that again. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post gee-dub Posted August 5, 2020 Popular Post Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 Sharp knives should do better than what you are getting. The other face (your reference surface) has been jointed true, yes? In case it helps, this curly maple is right off the planer and just being laid out for joinery. The small pieces in the upper left have had more attention. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted August 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 The knives are razor sharp, might have seen five linear feet of Walnut face grain. The faces of each board were planed with a segmented cutterhead so they're all good, but I have to joint the edges and if this was just a glue joint they would be fine as is. But this is the front edge and is the 'show' edge top shelf of the audio rack. It has to be as perfect as it can be. When I initially ran these across the jointer I spot checked each board and about 90% of the edge is good, I should've looked closer at each edge. But there are a few areas where I got the tear out and I need that to go away. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted August 5, 2020 Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 You will be very happy with the Shelix head. I have replaced both my jointer and planer heads. While I do get some minor tear out with curly maple, it is greatly reduced. I get no tear out with other figured/squirrely wood. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 12, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2020 Ok, I'm back on the audio rack after installing the Shelix cutterhead in my jointer over the weekend. Today I cleaned up the edges on the three Curly Maple boards, one pass each. Because I bought the cutterhead with bearings installed and 15 extra knives the cost with shipping was $400 and it took about five weeks to arrive (backordered). So that's about $67 per pass but wow do the edges look good! Here are the chipped edges - And the edges I just cut today with the new Shelix cutterhead - David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted October 12, 2020 Report Share Posted October 12, 2020 Not much of a difference huh LOL Wow that's incredible. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted October 12, 2020 Report Share Posted October 12, 2020 I know some folks love their knifed machines. I harbor a secret suspicion that the only person who doesn't prefer an insert head doesn't have one. My jointer head paid for itself in 18 months based on my normal sharpening and replacement schedule for knives. Certainly it is rare for a surface to get out of the shop coming straight off a machine but, the smoother the result off the milling machines, the less work to take me to being finish-ready. I have heard a funny thing a time or two. Something to the effect that knives are okay in your jointer but, use an insert head in your planer since you always plane after you joint and this will take care of any tearout from the jointer. Personally I really don't want to plane away 3/16" to get rid of the tearout from my knifed jointer on tiger maple; makes no sense to me. I haven't done the math but, it has been enough years that I am sure I have paid for both the jointer and planer heads through better yield on expensive figured materials not to mention trips to the sharpener and knife replacements once they have lived their usable life. Glad the head is working for you and I am jealous of you working with that beautiful material. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 14, 2020 Report Share Posted October 14, 2020 That material is beautiful. I still gear tear out from time to time on my HH cutter head jointer on maple but that's generally because i'm running grain the wrong way. My inserts are probably getting dull close to the fence where I do a lot of edge jointing but they still work. I haven't rotated an insert yet and I've had the jointer almost 4 years now. The other oddity i've noticed from helical heads is they tend to direct the material in a direction. Both the planer and jointer want to push the material in the direction of the spiral. For the jointer that's towards the fence. For my planer it's to the left. It's more annoying on the planer as i often have to direct boards to make sure they don't rotate too much. It's still extremely minor though, i don't even notice any more. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2020 I may make a video of the entire build once this is complete, not sure, video production takes a while. Finally got to a point where I could begin joining the boards for the shelves and started with the Hard Rock Maple. I'll save the much more expensive Curly Maple for the last in case I learn something new when I join these boards. Because these are heavy and the edges so crisp they're sharp I decided to do one joint at a time rather than attempt gluing all three boards at once. That turned out to be a good move because doing just one joint is about all the open time I have for TB I, probably could have switched to TB III to get more open time but didn't want to do that. I used biscuits for making certain everything stays aligned, not for strength, and it worked well for this application. David 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post difalkner Posted October 26, 2020 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted October 26, 2020 Loaded the three shelves, two Hard Rock Maple and one Curly Maple, and headed 10 minutes away to my friend’s cabinet shop. They have a 24” spiral head planer and 36” wide belt sander. It still took an hour to plane and sand these heavy boards but it would have taken days per board in my shop. David 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyJack Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 Looks like it's coming along nicely.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyJack Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 Made several of these blanks years ago for a shuffle board table. You got me thinking I might could use them for a floating entertainment center... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2021 It has been ages since I've posted about this project but it is now finished and delivered. There were many delays due to other contracts and jobs with hard deadlines so this got set aside many times (this one had no deadline). Even though it is completed and delivered I'll still post the steps to build and finished photos at the customer's house. And you're not going to believe how high-end his audio system is - amazing! Laying out the Purpleheart legs for cutting on the CNC. I don't have a flat bottom blade for the table saw and since I have the CNC it just made sense to use that to ensure all the cuts were uniform. Here are the toolpath profiles for the cuts I made on the CNC - And the setup on the CNC to prevent blowout when the bit cut through - Here are the five legs after cutting on the CNC and beveling the top and bottom surfaces on the table saw - More later - 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2021 Test fit assembly - Drill press guide stand for drilling adjustable feet pockets - Drilling for adjustable feet - Legs ready for adjustable feet - Curly Maple edge on middle shelf - Testing for best leg location - Flip stands for spraying second side of shelves - you can see these in action here Threaded inserts in place - More later - 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post difalkner Posted October 2, 2021 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted October 2, 2021 Getting the threaded inserts into this really hard Maple proved to be very difficult. I couldn't use the tool they make but had to use a bolt with a couple of jam nuts and drove the inserts in with my air operated Ingersoll Rand 1/2" impact driver. I tried a ratchet, 3/8" impact driver, cordless drill, and none of them worked well at all. I did my tests in end grain Walnut for something similar knowing that the Maple was much harder and figured if I could make it work in the Walnut then I might have a chance in the Maple. Again, if you want to see video of this you can see it here on Instagram. Here are all the tools I tried to use for the threaded inserts - Testing legs bolted to top shelf - Assembling the shelf for the first time (no room in the shop, have to use the kitchen) - I came up with a drying rack for storing the shelves after they were sprayed because I could no longer stand them on end once they had finish on them - Spraying the legs; I made no attempt to fill the pores because I preferred the look with pores showing - Spraying shelves - Spraying second side with flip stands in place - Spraying middle shelf - More to come - 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 2, 2021 Report Share Posted October 2, 2021 I sure like the flip stands and the edge grain on the middle shelf! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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