Media Cabinet - Cherry

glenn bradley said:

While jigsawing close to the line I failed to listen to some of my own advice; trying to squeeze extra life out of your cutters is a false economy when cutting near the line on cherry, maple, and other burn-prone material.
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I have done that one or two times myself

Has it seriously been almost two weeks!?! I altered the design of the rear of the cabinet to have a couple of framed panels. This requires the addition of some stopped dados for them to fit in on the upper and lower rails.



This gives me an opportunity to use this visually confounding edge guide that I got when I picked up the plunge base for the Colt (the barbell weight is just to hold it up for the picture and the plywood gives me a more stable surface to ride on). Despite its overly complex appearance, it is easy to adjust with a setup bar and the built-in micro adjuster.

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I do not have a 5/16" spiral bit in a 1/4" shaft so I will use a two flute odd ball that I picked up on the cheap in Rockler's grab bag that they keep by the register. I will strike the outer edges with a wheel gauge since I fear tearout with this bit.



It may look like a desk lamp out of a steam-punk cartoon but, I have to salute the dust collection. Pretty impressive .



The ends of the cut look odd as the 5/16" wide panel slot intersects the existing 1/4" mortises. I normally wouldn't do this as it weakens the mortise wall but, the dado is only a fat 5/16" deep and the mortises are much deeper.

you sure do have a handle on the uses for a router glenn,, i cant see where this fits together right now your dados and the stiles you showed but i am sure it will soon

larry merlau said:

i cant see where this fits together right now your dados and the stiles you showed but i am sure it will soon

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Sorry about that. I get too close to the project sometimes and forget myself. The stopped dados are in the rear rails and long dados are in the rear legs as shown by my clumsy blue arrows.

As mentioned the stopped dados ran into the mortises. If I would not have modified the design once in progress I might have thought to use an offset the M&T to miss the dado. However, as shown I still have an inch of mortise depth left for the tenon to seat into.


The rear panels are flat but, I mill them a bit thick and then raise the rear (inside face) outer edges for a snug (not tight) fit. I use pencil 'witness' marks to help me see my progress. These don't have to be perfect, just functional as they are out of sight. Then I pre-finish these panels.



I made this jig quite awhile back and it has really earned its keep in my shop. I need to shape the horizontal rear panels shown in the SketchUp drawing in the previous post. The template jig let's me make very predictably identical curves. The top/bottom bearing template bit lets me route downhill on both curves which is helpful on this burn-prone cherry.

ok a coupl3e of observation questions glenn in the picture where you are showing your template jig it looks like there is a red layer between part and jig,, is there? and on the last picture you show two panels with cauls clamped to it are you gluing two panels at once with that set up? and if so how are you keeping glue from getting on the other one in the wrong place?

larry merlau said:

ok a coupl3e of observation questions glenn in the picture where you are showing your template jig it looks like there is a red layer between part and jig,, is there? and on the last picture you show two panels with cauls clamped to it are you gluing two panels at once with that set up? and if so how are you keeping glue from getting on the other one in the wrong place?

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The red "layer" is just a red pencil residue where I trace the shape prior to roughing out on the bandsaw ;-)

The cauls are just keeping things flat as we have had some severe Santa Ana conditions which cause sudden extremely dry periods through out the day. I don't want anything going wonky on me before I can get it assembled.

Here's the back frame and panels dry fit in position.

now that is one point well taken, clamp flat to stay flat.. and your in a normal climate.. and its not just panels that go wonky is it?

Glenn that cabinets looking amazing. Thanks for all the detail u post it sure passes on an incredible amount of know how.
I seebu have the plunge base for the colt but is the edge guide also bosch?
Did u get the base online ? If so can u share where please.

sent from s4

Rob Keeble said:

Did u get the base online ? If so can u share where please.

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Here it is on Amazon and it lists the routers it fits. It also does circles. I would watch the rpice or check another source since I think it was 30-odd bucks when I got mine.

I'm in one of those phases where you work all day, clean up and then look back at the shop area as you are walking out and wonder "is that all I got done today?". At any rate, I need to start breaking down material for the door frames and drawer boxes but, I wanted to get two things done first. The top of the drawer compartment / bottom shelf is glued to the frame rail testing the theory of "too many clamps?". The pre-finished rear panels are set in the frame so the rails and stiles can get glued up.

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Now, where are those boards I marked for the door frame parts???

glenn you have shown us your builds and have them together in stages, now are they glued together or just dry fitted and then you go threw a take all apart and glue up?

Correct. The sides were dry fit, then I took them apart to pre-finish the floating panels, then I glued them up. The back frame was dry fit while I fooled around with the look for the rear horizontal panels. Then all the rear floating panels were pre-finished and the frame and part of the panels get glued up. The large panel parts; top, movable shelf and bottom shelf all get glued up over sized. The bottom shelf is dry fit to the carcass and the rail, then removed and glued to the rail.

The leg posts, front rails and door stiles are all a bit skinny on this build so I am stepping through the build more than I would if I were using more 'normal' dimensions. I am trying to visually push the doors and drawers out at you by thinning the other parts of the structure. This one has been a bit of an experiment visually as well as construction method-wise. We'll see how she turns out

glenn bradley said:

I'm in one of those phases where you work all day, clean up and then look back at the shop area as you are walking out and wonder "is that all I got done today?".

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Some days if it was not for the clean up, I would not have any feeling of accomplishment.

Cant wait to see this one done. Looks good so far and i love the design.

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I know we all deal with panel to trim joints and we all have our favorite way to do so. I use a card scraper and yes I am cutting right through the pre-finish on this panel. The pre-finish is to make things easier during the final finishing stages as much of this panel is deep in the cabinet. The area I am spoiling is right up front so, no problem.



I found the stock I have selected for door frame parts and dug it out. I roughly mark my parts out in chalk. It allows me to keep track of what part of the board I am going to use for what and it wipes off easily if I change my mind.

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Here's the parts dry fit. I will assemble these and then route out rabbets the back. Pieces of black material will get stretched over panels and mount in the openings like pictures. These are to allow the remote controls to work when the doors are closed. When I make things like this for others, I make raised panels that fill the holes that they can leave in or swap out for fabric as their needs require. Each type of panel is held in with picture turns just as you would use in a picture frame.



I don't plan to ever use solid panels and to be honest, If I stored them for a year and then decided to use them, the likelihood of a color match is pretty much non-existent.

I don't know if I have mentioned this item before but, once again it has earned its keep in my shop. I went with this as I wasn't sure a large scraper plane would find a place in my arsenal; guess I was wrong. I used to have it loaded into an old no-name #5 but, enjoyed it so much I picked up this 1940's Miller Falls plane to put it into.



When I have a piece of reversing grain like I often run into on apron pieces (I tend to use the arching pattern to accentuate one direction or the other) I find the scraper plane insert to do a wonderful job without 'catches' or tearout. I have a "real" scraper plane on my wish list but, alas, no one has seen fit to buy me one ;-)

That thing is most excellent

Finally time to start assembling the carcass. I do a lot of things prior to assembly that make my finishing regiment easier on me so I know it sometimes seems like I take forever to get through some of these phases . To give me a helping hand with an awkward step I use some shop made clamping squares as an extra pair of hands:



The top to the drawer compartment is glued to the front middle rail and this rail is M&T to the sides. The panel is somewhat captured so I have left gaps, that won't be seen, to handle movement. Since I have floating parts in this build and it will be in close proximity to my speakers I have used space balls and silicone rubber beads to assure I get no rattles. This "tube wringer" has become my new best friend when it comes to dispensing product out of tubes. It has already saved me enough product to pay for itself.

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Here is the panel clamped up to one side. As described it is glued and tenoned at the front rail and PVA glued for the first couple inches along the side. This keeps the front appearance stable as the panel is only allowed to move to/ from the rear. You can see in the lower left where I have used a small clamp as a stretcher braced between the top rail of the side assembly and the shelf to act as a clamp. A machinist's square assures me that I am properly squared up.

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The small glue blocks you may have noticed are glued to the stile but, not to the floating panels. This is just a belt and suspenders approach to avoid rattles if I get in one of those moods to hear instruments at the sound level they actually produce. While that sets for a spell I will prep the other horizontal parts waiting to glue in.

Oops!

I made a field modification (read design decision outside of the plans) on the back panel. I like the result better but, forgot to take the new dimensions into account BEFORE I glued in the top to the drawer compartment . The internal structure of the back now requires 1/4" more clearance than originally planned. If the panel were not glued in I would just rip it off on the table saw and be done with it. As it is I will have to do the modification in place. I need 1/4" by about so wide taken off the back on each side of the already existing cable access cutout.

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I lay a line with a marking wheel, transfer the measurement to a double square and actually use the corner of the blade on the double square to mark my saw starting position.

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I brace things up for this end as there is little support.



The other end is easier once I rotate the carcass to get some support.



And it fits like so. If I don't think about it too much, I couild almost convince myself I wanted to do it the hard way .

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