Record Cabinet

[bradpotts]

22 hours ago, Chestnut said:

The technique seems awfully similar to hammer veneering but with the drawbacks of not getting to adjust much. Have you thought about trying hammer veneering in situations like you outlined above? There is also the PVA iron on method that seems interesting and could have some promise in situations where possible edge peeling is limited.

For those that aren't familiar the PVA iron on method is as follows. Coat both the veneer back and substrate with pva glue 2-3 layers and let it dry. Shortly after it dries position the veneer and use a warm-hot iron to reactivate the glue and attach the veneer to the substrate.

Yeah the method is similar to hammer veneering. I was thinking, I think the best method for using contact cement would be if you were working on something vertical. Like working on wall panels or changing the wood type of mission style cabinet door. 

[bradpotts]

Now that I have my backs fully veneered, I knew the thickness to make my dados for the back panels. I used a spiral downcut bit with the Bosch edge guide. The edge guide didn't have long enough rails to run from the front to where I wanted the dado, so I made some new rails. I just bought some 3/8 metal rods and cut them down. Sanded them a little and put bluing on them. 

Then cut the dados making small passes each time and keeping the fence up against the front. 

Then I cut the center partition and put some dominos in there for alignment. 

[bradpotts]

Almost have have everything ready for glue up so I needed to take care of a problem. I dropped the corner of one of the shelves and needed to fix it. Although, it is on the back of the cabinet behind the back, and no one will see it, I felt it needed addressing.

This was a little bit more labor some than the previous touch ups. Because I dropped the shelf, the fibers were smashed in. The first thing I did was add some mdf dust and glue to bring the mdf all the way up to the veneer.  

Then I put the veneer in my router to measure the thickness. 

After that, I was able to route the mdf back down to the thickness of the veneer so it will sit flush with the surrounding veneer.

 

Used a chisel to trim it up. Then cut the new piece of veneer. 

Bingo

Then I started to address the sides. I need them to be square to the sides so they will not have any gaps when attaching the sides. To do this, I made a simple sanding jig that is set at 90 degrees with some sand paper.

I ran it along the edge until all of the pencil marks were gone. 

I sanded everything and am getting ready for glue up. 

[Chestnut]

That veneer fix was expertly done it blends in extremely well.

So moving this into place with a crane or a forklift? Every picture i see shows how stout and beefy this piece is. I'm excited to see it glued together with finish on.

[pkinneb]

Nice fix!! Great place to practice as well.

[Chet]

5 hours ago, bradpotts said:

Bingo

Ya gotta love when a plan comes together.

[bradpotts]

On 5/24/2021 at 8:30 AM, Chestnut said:

That veneer fix was expertly done it blends in extremely well.

So moving this into place with a crane or a forklift? Every picture i see shows how stout and beefy this piece is. I'm excited to see it glued together with finish on.

ha ha it is definitely heavy. A two person move. 

[bradpotts]

Got everything glued up. This was the part that I was dreading. Because the inside of the cabinet was a light wood and the outside a contrasting wood, I only had the thickness of the veneer to be off or the lighter wood would show through. This meant I had a tolerance of 1/64. Unlike solid wood projects where you can just sand the two to blend the wood together, I can't because I would burn through the veneer. I used epoxy to give me some extra time to clamp everything together. This helped a lot with getting everything aligned. I also tried to get as little glue everywhere as possible so I don't have that much touch up sanding to do. 

Here is what she looks like now. 

O

Here is the walnut back. 

On to the top!

[bradpotts]

Now for the top. I started by making the curved piece that will hold the glass. To do this, the first thing I did was to make a template with my cnc. Because my cnc is small, I made it in two parts and glued it together. 

Once I had that made, I was ready to start making the form. I glued some mdf together. I couldn't glue all of it together at once because my flush trim bit wan't tall enough. 

I traced the shape and took it over to the band saw and rough cut the shape. 

Once that was done I took it over to the router and flush trimmed it. 

Once that was done, I glued the two sections together and my jig was done. 

It's important when doing this that you mark the center of your curve and anything that you bend. Once you bend your material, it is hard to figure out exactly where center is. Then I took my 1/4 mdf sheets and glued them down using the form I just made. I found this method to be the easiest when bending. I put the center of the jig on the corner of a work surface. Then with the first clamp, I clamp the material and the jig to the table. Then I continue down the jig. This helps hold the jig in place while you are clamping the rest. I also clamp the material together because it has a tendency to shift away from each other. Once all the clamps are on one side, then I take the center clamp off and reclamp it, not on the table. Then flip it over and add clamps to the other side. 

Took it out of the jig and put it up to see if I should restart or continue. 

I think the proportions will look pretty good so I will keep it. 

Then I made a jig to start cutting the mortis for the legs. I will use a router to route out the inside of the legs. 

[wtnhighlander]

That's some pretty nice work, aligning the two parts to make the template. The form turned out well, and I agree, the proportions look to be in the "Goldilocks" zone.

[bradpotts]

Took a little time off to go camping with the kids. Just what I needed to get out of the city for a while. Got a little hectic trying to get as much done as possible to be able to go and relax and not think about the clients waiting for me to get back to them. So here is the progress. 

First thing was to cut the mortises fort the legs. I used the template that I made earlier and attached them with screws. 

I used the router to cut out the mortis with a guide and a 1/4 upcut bit. The mortis's are 3/4 deep. 

Then I cut a block to fit the mortises. Making sure that they are tight. 

I took it over to the drill press and cut out the hole for the felt pad. Then drilled for the bolt that will go in the threaded insert. I took the blocks drilled for the screws and the threaded insert. 

I was then able to put double sided tape and position the feet where I wanted them. 

This allowed me to drill the holes using the prior holes and position the feet just where I wanted them. 

Then It was as easy as sliding the feet on and bolting them down. 

I veneered the top arc piece and made a jig to figure out the angle to cut the bottoms. 

Once I had the angles, I was able to take them over to the bandsaw and cut the angle. Then I put some 80 grit sand paper down on the cabinet and rubbed the arc over the sandpaper until it sat flat on the cabinet. 

Then I made the front pieces that are going to help hold the glass. Did some touch up sanding and started to put finish on. I ended up using Osmo Top oil to finish this cabinet. The reason is that because it is made from veneer, if there was ever any scratches etc. you could just sand the spot and add some more oil. It also brings out the ebony.