Floating Cabinet with a Floating Top

[gee-dub]

On 3/23/2022 at 6:32 PM, Coop said:

Your statement, “ I also got the end panels glued up like torsion boxes.” You lost me, even with pics. ( it doesn’t take much). Can you elaborate?

The frame holds two small panels which are veneered plywood.  The back of the frame is machined to accept an 1/8" hardboard panel.  The panel falls short of the top, bottom, and front so that the solid wood frame parts show in these locations.

The 1/8" hardboard fits in the recess and is glued to the vertical and horizontal members of the frame.

This creates a lot of surface lamination like the skin on a torsion box.  I'm using this strength to resist racking like the skins on a hollow door . . . at least that's what I'm telling myself

[Coop]

Thanks. I was thinking torsion box as in hollow. Looking good bud! 

[Chestnut]

9 hours ago, gee-dub said:

I'm using this strength to resist racking like the skins on a hollow door . . . at least that's what I'm telling myself

Your methodology is sound. This is a great technique to increase strength for an orientation like this, a nice side benefit is a smooth interior side.

[gee-dub]

A little woodworking music maestro . . .

A good example of when to use a Grr-Ripper.

The french cleats will show on the rare occasion that the door is opened so they are made of walnut . . .

I was reaching for the Mortise Pal for a longer, narrow mortise when I remembered I can just flip a lever on the Domino

 

This means I had to make up some Domino stock but that only takes about two shakes.

I clamp the parts into position and mark for the mortises.

The cabinet mounted part of the cleats goes like so.

The pieces marked with tape would be attached to the wall.

And the unit will slide down onto them like so.

Time for the decorative arcs on the supports for the floating top. I lay them out on a bit of squared up template material.

Hit the bandsaw.

Rasp to fair out the curves.

I'll pick up where I left off in the morning.

 

[pkinneb]

Nice!!

 

[Coop]

I’m becoming increasing more intrigued by the floating aspect of this as well as the beauty. I have questions but will hold them as I feel they will be answered without being asked. 

[gee-dub]

There are those times in every project where it seems like you do a lot but there is little to show for it. I use the template to mark out the blanks.

I remember someone asking me why I bought a new small bandsaw after I just got rid of one. Same answer now as then; I was dumb.

Rough these out.

Template route them.

I failed to take pics of the template routing setup but, I think many of you have seen it enough(?). Here's my jig.

Knock off the corners in the right places.

A bit of hand work, some holes for the screws that will hold the top on and some mortises to hold these to the carcass are yet to come.

[roughsawn]

Wow, what a ride this is turning out to be. This is so above my head, I need to go build a box...just so I can feel good about myself.

Keep repeating yourself, just in case a newbie (like me) drops in...lol

I'd like to see a pic of that routing jig in use. I do a lot of pattern routing, and would like to see a safer way of doing it. Various size and shape plaques, with different edge profiles.

[gee-dub]

On 3/26/2022 at 8:50 PM, roughsawn said:

I'd like to see a pic of that routing jig in use. I do a lot of pattern routing, and would like to see a safer way of doing it. Various size and shape plaques, with different edge profiles.

This is hardly a tutorial so I will just stick it into this thread.  The next time I use the router template jig I will try to capture a more complete discussion.  Basically the jig is a milled piece of hardwood (oak in this case) attached to a platform (plywood in this case).

I have numerous positions for the clamps to be screwed down and 150 grit abrasive applied to the fence and the base.  Some blanks rest against the fence and platform.  Smaller items frequently just get captured wherever they expose the edges to be milled.

I have a few sizes of template bits with top and bottom bearings.  I can put the template on top or below the blank to allow me to always route downhill.  My recommendations are to use a good stable hardwood for the clamp platform and to use a good quality screw. 

The screws need to handle the torque and to be reliable when removed and replaced many times.  These McFeely's screws have been in use since . . . (had to go check) . . . 2011 so paying a little more for a quality screw is not really "expensive".

The auto adjust clamps are great but, the original jig just used Harbor Freight knockoff De-Sta-Co clamps.  The advantage to the auto adjust is . . . well . . . the fact that they auto adjust when milling a variety of material thicknesses.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

 

[gee-dub]

Limping along . . . I have noticed that I will leave a mill mark or two from a hand tool but immediately target machine marks. Do I have a latent prejudice that is surfacing in my old age? I clean these up with a hand plane or scraper.

Nothing special here. Just layout and mill the mortises.

I use a stop when milling mortises in face surfaces. The base to cutter center-line dimension is known. When a number of similar cuts are to be made I will sometimes double stick tape a piece of scrap to the base to get a different (read imperial) offset. On the piece of scrap I used for testing in the left of the picture, the hole on the left is the base alone. The hole on the right is what I want.

Here's a tip for an easily settable stop along a thin blank. The square aligns with the layout mark and squares the hand screw.


And this is what happens when you pay more attention to taking pictures and not enough attention to turning the vac on.

Domino magic.

Rinse and repeat.

[gee-dub]

The french cleat profile doesn't accept the hand screw approach but a small parallel clamp will do in this case.

Once the balance of the parts are assembled the back locks it all together.

With any luck this will be the final dry assembly.

The small overhang at the rear of the sides is echoed in the front by the over wide front.

[Coop]

I like the idea of using the squared up hand screw as a stop block.

[Chestnut]

Hand screw clamp as a stop block is genius, thanks for that. Things are looking great!

[gee-dub]

File this under things I'm glad I did a mock-up of. Having never used either pieces of this hardware before I thought it would be prudent to NOT make my first attempt on the keeper. Here's my mock-up.

Things I've learned . . .
- Never do things for the first time on the final version of the piece you are working on
- Layout as given in the technical docs is +/- 2mm which is typical for this sort of stuff. There is adequate adjustment in the hardware to fettle things into place.
- The resistance is quite high on the auto-close support. They are designed to be used in pairs and even at the lowest setting they are quite stiff to move. I may need to look at other hardware. Any suggestions would be great.
- The overlay of the door with the selected hinge in the closed position is exactly as expected so that's great.
Any tips on self closing drop front supports?

[Chet]

Will the supports for the floating top be glued or just floating in the mortises?

[gee-dub]

They will be glued in.  The supports will act as front to back stretchers as well as support the top.

[roughsawn]

Thanks for the jig tutorial. I picked up on the always routing down hill. Great idea.

[Chestnut]

20 hours ago, gee-dub said:

I may need to look at other hardware. Any suggestions would be gre

With most soft close hinges they lose strength over time. Is there a way to turn off the feature on one hinge? I've done that before and then swapped the effective hinge when they wear in.

[gee-dub]

Thanks. Good call on the 'wearing in'. It’s actually the friction arm that seemed too tight. The self close part works pretty well at the other articulation point. I decided it was going to work, or not work, so I went at it rather aggressively. After pivoting the arm a dozen times or so it began to ease up considerably. I believe these are going to work out OK.

[gee-dub]

Drill the cup holes for the hinges and clean up the edges.

The top supports get counter-bored and through drilled.

The opposite side of the front hole gets counter-bored as well. This will allow for top movement toward the front while hopefully leaving the rear edge fairly static.

I thought I had a better diagram example but here is what is basically going on:

When I go through the dry-fit prior to doing a glue up I take the clamps off in reverse order and lay them out within easy reach.

This way I just apply the glue and go through the same motions as before.

Here's another view of those bowed cauls in use as a "reach" solution applying pressure along the dado joint at the rear of the carcass.

Time for some chow.

[Coop]

With the top being elevated above the carcass, will there be a dust panel somewhere between the two? Not insinuating that your house is dusty. 

[gee-dub]

Lol . . . No dust panel.but in our quasi-rural area there is plenty of dust. There is a full width gap at the bottom rear to allow cooler air in. The floating top let’s warm air escape.

[gee-dub]

Time marches on . . . I am at the stage where I give the carcass and door the once over. I am looking for any dings I may have added while handling things. An iron takes care of these nicely.

I also run my hands over all surfaces and edges inside and out. This lets me find any bits of glue or rough areas of reversing grain I may have missed. I also ease all edges in preparation for finishing at this stage. Then I vacuum and blow out all the nooks and crannies.

Getting ready to glue up the top. You know where your seams are so you know where the squeeze out is going to occur. I tape my clamp bars at these locations fro easy clean up.

Now they just wait over in the corner for about 30 minutes.

At that time I come back and pare the rubbery glue squeeze out off the top panel, both sides.

[Coop]

From the git go, you mentioned that the top was to be 18” x 46” but I failed to see that until going back. Construction progress made it seem to be much larger. This is going to be a neat deal! 

[Chestnut]

On 3/31/2022 at 12:09 AM, gee-dub said:

Lol . . . No dust panel.but in our quasi-rural area there is plenty of dust. There is a full width gap at the bottom rear to allow cooler air in. The floating top let’s warm air escape.

I really REALLY like the idea of a floating top to allow for cool air to move through to keep equipment running. I need to make a comptuer desk at some point an di'm goign to make a floating top to keep the towers cool.