Stuart Ablett
Member
- Messages
- 15,917
- Location
- Tokyo Japan
Almost a year a go a client inquired about me making an entertainment center for his new condo that him and his wife had just moved into. My workshop is not spacious, so I was not very enthusiastic about building it. He has been a good client, I've done a lot of work for his TV studio, and he really likes my work and did not want an Ikea type of entertainment center. I was not very busy at the time, just plain old busy, LOL so I said yes, but I stipulated that it might take a while. Fast forward to last December, after many starts and stops, mine, his, life in general, I was ready to bang this bad boy out, and then he told me that he will be gone from the end of December until March/April sometime. I tried to get it done before he was due to leave, but then his departure date moved up a full ten days and there was just no way I'd be able to get it done, applying a finish is something that is not easy, no room to spray, and we were having a bit of a time getting a color/stain they like and that looked good on the high end shina (basswood) plywood we would be using.
Then in January I got really, really busy, with a bunch of work that just fell in my lap. I'm behind at least a couple of months, and there is no end in sight (yes I've raised my prices again). Yes it does not take much to keep a one man shop like me busy, and with all the other things life throws at you. For example a completely crazy tenant that has brain cancer, is a pathological liar, not Japanese, and has been charged with drug smuggling, the ensuing search, and damage of the apartment she rented from us, the police trying to link me to her somehow, (you know we are both foreigners), etc made for an interesting 2016.
I just glanced at the calendar the other day and, uh-oh it's March, time to get this done.
The plywood, well it comes in sheets that are basically 3' x 6' here, you can get the 4x8 but they are usually not the best quality. I had trouble finding some that would work. Eventually I found a company in Hokkaido (the Northern most island in Japan) that could supply it. I ordered it and it took them three weeks to deliver it, and they ended up putting the orientation of the grain the wrong way on the sheets, so I sent it back, they usually make high end speakers out of this plywood, so they have the grain running the opposite of what you normally have on a 4x8 sheet, because you get more speakers out of a sheet. I specified the other way, I even sent them a hand drawn image of what I wanted, they still screwed it up. They took it back no problem and sent the next batch in 2 weeks. This all happened in late October to early December. The finish was another problem which I did post about >> HERE << I finally got that worked out too.
This is the basic idea of the build.
There are four boxes, two tall ones on each side, and then one each top and bottom.
The bottom box in the middle will most likely get doors, but that has not been decided at yet.
It will all stand on a base that I will level etc in place and then put the boxes onto it.
The tall skinny side boxes will have his high end speaker in them on the bottom and then just shelves above.
The whole thing has to have chimneys for wires and for heat from the audio components that will fill the bottom box.
There sill be a flatscreen wall mount on the wall at the back, with a false front hiding the wires and the chimney for air flow.
The wall outlets for the cable TV, digital antenna and the electrics will be behind the tall box on the right.
The front edge of all the boxes will be covered with a strip of maple hardwood.
It will all be stained with the Breewax water stain in a deep walnut color, I think it looks good. Everything else I tried looked blotchy on the shina plywood.
Finally it will be top coated with a wipe on poly.
All of the parts for the boxes have been cut, and here is a dry fit of the first box, one of the middle boxes.
It is all made from this high quality 18mm (3/4") plywood, all dado joints and the back is 9mm (3/8") plywood that is also dadoed in.
Glue and staples where you cannot see them.
The finish is what I see as the biggest challenge time wise.
I've got to get this done, but I do want to document it, been a while since I've posted a build thread, sorry about that.
Wish me luck!
Then in January I got really, really busy, with a bunch of work that just fell in my lap. I'm behind at least a couple of months, and there is no end in sight (yes I've raised my prices again). Yes it does not take much to keep a one man shop like me busy, and with all the other things life throws at you. For example a completely crazy tenant that has brain cancer, is a pathological liar, not Japanese, and has been charged with drug smuggling, the ensuing search, and damage of the apartment she rented from us, the police trying to link me to her somehow, (you know we are both foreigners), etc made for an interesting 2016.
I just glanced at the calendar the other day and, uh-oh it's March, time to get this done.
The plywood, well it comes in sheets that are basically 3' x 6' here, you can get the 4x8 but they are usually not the best quality. I had trouble finding some that would work. Eventually I found a company in Hokkaido (the Northern most island in Japan) that could supply it. I ordered it and it took them three weeks to deliver it, and they ended up putting the orientation of the grain the wrong way on the sheets, so I sent it back, they usually make high end speakers out of this plywood, so they have the grain running the opposite of what you normally have on a 4x8 sheet, because you get more speakers out of a sheet. I specified the other way, I even sent them a hand drawn image of what I wanted, they still screwed it up. They took it back no problem and sent the next batch in 2 weeks. This all happened in late October to early December. The finish was another problem which I did post about >> HERE << I finally got that worked out too.
This is the basic idea of the build.
There are four boxes, two tall ones on each side, and then one each top and bottom.
The bottom box in the middle will most likely get doors, but that has not been decided at yet.
It will all stand on a base that I will level etc in place and then put the boxes onto it.
The tall skinny side boxes will have his high end speaker in them on the bottom and then just shelves above.
The whole thing has to have chimneys for wires and for heat from the audio components that will fill the bottom box.
There sill be a flatscreen wall mount on the wall at the back, with a false front hiding the wires and the chimney for air flow.
The wall outlets for the cable TV, digital antenna and the electrics will be behind the tall box on the right.
The front edge of all the boxes will be covered with a strip of maple hardwood.
It will all be stained with the Breewax water stain in a deep walnut color, I think it looks good. Everything else I tried looked blotchy on the shina plywood.
Finally it will be top coated with a wipe on poly.
All of the parts for the boxes have been cut, and here is a dry fit of the first box, one of the middle boxes.
It is all made from this high quality 18mm (3/4") plywood, all dado joints and the back is 9mm (3/8") plywood that is also dadoed in.
Glue and staples where you cannot see them.
The finish is what I see as the biggest challenge time wise.
I've got to get this done, but I do want to document it, been a while since I've posted a build thread, sorry about that.
Wish me luck!