Entertainment Center

Jeb Taylor

Member
Messages
518
Location
Decatur, Alabama
I've finally started working on my entertainment center. I started looking into this project last summer. Since then I've asked a lot of questions, looked at a lot of pictures for design ideas, and changed my own ideas a good bit. Here is the rough sketchup model. The bottom half of the sketchup is complete. The top half will have some type of crown, arched tops of some radius, probably fluted columns, and panels on the ends. I am also gonig to put a dimmer and some lights into the top.

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I'll update the sketchup more later. I'm pretty firm on the height/width of the top sections, but the details are still up in the air. I started veneering the plywood for the bottom boxes a couple weeks ago. I'm not sure I have the perfect amount of glue down pat, but I have definitely learned what to much and to little look like :) It's not the fastest moving project I've ever done, but the veneer is turning out good now. It's going to be one huge chunk of walnut when I'm done, with the end panels and some of the FF from Larry's stash.


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Alright. This will be a great follow along Jeb. Nice proportions. Will the larger "rails" across the tops of the three sections will be for the crown?
 
Alright. This will be a great follow along Jeb. Nice proportions. Will the larger "rails" across the tops of the three sections will be for the crown?

Yeah, the sketchup just isn't final yet. I'm not 100% sure what I want my crown and arches to look like, but it's going to have some form of crown molding at the top and an arched top rail on each of the three sections. Part of it is deciding what cutters I might buy to make the crown. I've looked at just combining a cove cut and some router bit profiles, or the twin router bits from freud for 5.5" crown.

Larry - I'll see what I have. It was a pretty busy time on my first few panels trying to get everything into the vacuum press, then scrambling to fix the one that had the bubble in the center, so no pictures of the repair. I'll take one of the finished repairs when I get back out to the shop.
 
Are you using paper backed veneer? If you are I've found it adheres better if you take a ros with 120grit and scuff the paper. As far as the amount of glue put a pencil line on the substrate and when you can just see it thru the glue you have enough on it. Are putting a platten on top before you put it in the bag or are you just relying on the bag for the pressure?
 
Are you using paper backed veneer? If you are I've found it adheres better if you take a ros with 120grit and scuff the paper. As far as the amount of glue put a pencil line on the substrate and when you can just see it thru the glue you have enough on it. Are putting a platten on top before you put it in the bag or are you just relying on the bag for the pressure?

I'm using breather mesh on both sides that I got from veneersupplies.com, and all raw wood veneer. The area I wasn't getting enough glue on was the edges, some spots just weren't adhering good enough. I didn't notice until I had a piece chip out. IMG_2582.jpg It wasn't to hard to fix where it wasn't chipped, just a razor blade to lift the edges up and spread glue under them. This piece is just the inside of a lower cabinet, so I'm just planning on a little dyed sealer to make it blend in a little better. I've been leaving my panels a little oversized then cutting after I veneer them. Is this the normal way of doing it, or do you normally cut the panel to the exact size then trim the veneer down after the press?



There was a spot on one panel that had a bubble of glue under it when I pulled it out of the press. I ended up slicing it with a knife to get the excess glue out, then cutting a piece shaped about like a toothpick out to get it to flatten back out. This worked really well with the dark tinted veneer glue I am using, just left a dark line after I scraped and sanded the area. Before I cut it, it looked like there was a quarter under the veneer :)
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Today I put the first couple face frames together, sanded, and applied a dye stain. The natural color doesn't really show up well on camera, but there's a very distinct difference between some of the boards. I mixed a walnut transtint dye at about 1/4 strength and I think the boards are close enough now. I wish I could leave it all natural, but there's to much color variation between pieces for our taste.
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Here is what I was thinking on the sides of the upper half. I had planned on raised panels everywhere (not going to draw those in sketchup for now). I'm not exactly sure what to do about the side panel here. I think the top rail should be as high as the arched face frame on the front of the entertainment center. It's drawn at 2" high, but the arched panel is 5" high on the edges.

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Should I make the raised panel on the sides arched at the top, or just make the top rail about 5" x 9" instead of 2" x 9"? Any other ideas on how do deal with this visually?
 
I've always cut my panels and veneer about an inch larger and cut to size after I glue the veneer on. I also always try to use a scrap piece of 3/4" material when ever possible the same size as my panel when ever I put it into the vacum bag. As for the breather mesh I just got some felt from the fabric store that I then put over the top. Here is a pic of my setup.
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In the picture you can see the yellow tub that goes in the left side. That is the line to the vacuum pump. It goes thru the bag and into a 3/8" hole drilled about 3" deep into the edge of the 3/4" platen. The platen has 1/8" x 1/8" grooves cut on the top and bottom in a grid pattern that has one set that intersects where the vacuum tube is insert and a 1/8" hole is drilled thru the groove thru to the 3/8" hole. This allows an even vacuum under the piece without having to use some type of breather mesh underneath. 45 minutes later I pull it out and the next one goes in. I then sticker my panels for a couple of days to allow them to cure and then cut to size.
 
That's about what I've been doing on the panel sizes, 1" oversize. The latest ones I've done came out well. Little more glue on the edges, making sure I don't have enough to completely block the wood grain from view in any spots.

I like the platten setup,that'd be a lot easier than just a loose bag. Might have to make something along those lines sometime.
 
Last week was busy, but I finally got some time this afternoon to get back in the shop. I started cutting up pieces for the raised panels on the ends and doors for the 2 cabinets I'm working on right now. Got to use up a lot of shorts :)

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I got the face frames attached and sprayed sanding sealer on the sides/top/bottom. I wanted to get a good glue joint on the backs due to the weight these would hold, so I put the back on without pre-finishing. It's probably overkill, but it made me feel good.

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I was asked some questions about my dye and finish, which are a little hard for me to give much advice on. I'm a complete beginner at finishing, and I didn't even stay at a holliday inn express. I should have some detailed pics on my finishing steps in the next week. I'm going to finish the doors and end panels for these two cabinets before I start on the next part of the entertainment center. Please point out anything I'm doing wrong or alternate ways of dealing with mixed walnut coloring and sapwood, I'm kind of winging it here to be honest. I read about it in a book and decided to give it a shot.
 
I finally got the first batch of panels sanded, here's my attempt at an "equalizing stain". The second panel in the after dye looks lighter due to the flash, but they are all more or less the same shade now.


Before Dye ______After Dye
Panel A1.jpgPanel A2.jpg
Panel B1.jpgPanel B2.jpg
Panel C1.jpgPanel C2.jpg
Panel D1.jpgPanel D2.jpg
Panel E1.jpgPanel E2.jpg


The dye is 1/4" from a bottle of transtint walnut in a quart of water. I had a little trouble with blotching at first, but I've gotten the hang of blending it back in with clean rags after I apply the dye now.
 
Here's some of the lighter and darker walnut I have with just a coat of BLO on it.

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I wish everything looked like the lighter walnut, but I didn't really know how to accomplish that.
 
The bottom side cabinets are almost done. Got the sides on and sprayed a coat of sanding sealer on it to see how it was all going to look. It's turning out pretty good so far, the side panel ended up 1/16" short somehow :dunno: The top that goes over these will cover that up though.

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I hit a minor snag on the doors, accidentally routed the edge of the rails before the end grain :eek: Had several blow out and lost some time and a couple bd ft of qtr sawn walnut, quite a painful experience to be honest. I did get the new rails done last night and glued up the doors today.

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Hopefully finishing the end cabinets this weekend and starting on the center.
 
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Finally got a little time off work to get back out to the shop this weekend. A major outage at work put a dent in my woodworking :doh: This is the first time I had all the cabinets laid out on the floor at once, it's starting to take over my shop.


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One of the boards in the face frame didnt' take stain like the others, it came out lighter than I would have liked. I tried to take a picture but it just looks the same in the flash. I was thinking about taping off that section and trying to spray a toner on it. Is that likely to work well, taping off a single board in a finished face frame?
 
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