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This is a reprint of a blog that was originally published on Fine Woodworking Network in February and March of 2006. This is some of the best inside information on how and why I build the way I do. SC 12-7-2009
4 February 2006 The Cobbler's New ShoesYou know the old saying about the cobbler’s son not having any shoes? Well the same thing goes for the guy who builds furniture for home theater systems. For 28 years I’ve been building high-end furniture and built-ins for clients to house state-of-the-art televisions and movie screens, yet my family watches TV on a 27-in. tube television that sits inside a small old cabinet in our new living room.
Well, right now I’ve got a little more than ten minutes and ten bucks so I am on the fast track to get this unit built. I was also spurred on by my recent article featured in Fine Woodworking magazine about designing home theater furniture and built-ins. When my editor asked me to document the process on the web of building a similar piece of furniture, it was a great opportunity to make my own high-definition dreams come true. Above is a drawing of the unit. I'm itching to get started. So stay tuned...
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8 February 2006 The TV Comes Before The Lumber
My new TV. The 62-in. Mitsubishi digital projection television. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that a home-theater furniture design has to be based on the TV. After all it’s the most crucial part of the equation, the center of the entertainment center universe. I’ve been telling my clients this since before people ever used “big” and “screen” in the same sentence, and I know it’s true. No story stick is made and no wood is cut until that TV is committed. The trouble is, this time I’m the client, and it’s my money at stake. Choosing the TV is turning out to be one of the hardest parts of the project. For years I have seen the best home theater systems money could buy at my clients’ homes. Once you see and hear fine systems you are forever jaded. I also know my limits, so I have decided I am going to put together a great system for my families needs. So day one doesn’t involve choosing lumber, rather it’s a trip to the electronics store. My son Bryce has been on my case for years to get a decent system together. So he came along with me to the local Big Box electronics store. I have my eye on Mitsubishi’s 62-in. digital projection TV, which is on display in their high-end salon. It’s groovy and big and bright and all the things the new TVs can be. The image is stunning, but most of all Bryce runs down the specs and gives it the thumbs up. Comparing modern TVs at a box store is kind of a joke, though. Who knows how they set them up or calibrate them (if they even calibrated them) or which one they tuned to sell and the one they made look bad because they don’t have any in stock. It’s nuts. And besides most of them are so much better than what you are replacing, it’s hard to go wrong. You can, however, spend a lot of money on technology that will be out of date and/ or cost way less next year. Of course you never want to buy last year’s model when you see it next to the brand new hot ticket with all its bells and whistles. So we go to see my friend and colleague Alon who owns Shelley's Stereo & Video for an expert opinion. He recommends the 62" Mits TV with no reservations. Now that we have that settled I can get going on my layout.
12 February 2006 Design and Laying Out Measurements
With the TV nailed down I can start making the story stick. I'll use it to mark all of the dimensions full size for the design. Sure enough, the full size layout brought to life a few issues. For one, I realize that my initial design would push this monster TV's centerline way too high. I don't want to be one of those people who is looking up at the TV like I was in the front row at the movie theater. No matter how many times interior design "professionals" put a big plasma over a fireplace in home design magazines it's just plain wrong. The original concept had the center channel below the display. Real life measurements from the story stick tell me it pushes the TV centerline too high. I decide to move the center channel space to the shelf above the TV, exposed, just like the speakers will be on the sides. After a bit of noodling the full size layout is done. Now I can move on. Like any furniture project, function is probably the most important component of a design. I want this unit to look super clean and simple but it also has to accommodate my real-world needs. It also needs to be PERFECT since it’s in my own house and on display and will be on computer screens throughout the known universe. I want it to be easy to get to the equipment and get cables from side to side. I want it to BREATH so that the heat generated by all the equipment can vent. I want it to match the built-ins I made last year in the same room. (No problem with that since I designed that unit with this in mind). I want it to be flexible so that in the future I can replace this new hot-ticket TV with the next hot-ticket technology. I want to look at this unit next year and the year after and still like it. And on and on? Now you know why experienced furniture makers have a hard time making pieces for themselves. We are our own worst enemies. I'm satisfied that the design I've come up with meets this criteria. My story stick verifies to me that all my dimensions are correct and will work. With this process complete I can move on to making parts. California's winter is turning out to be more like summer so this weekend I decided to goof around with my boys and take a break from the shop. Monday I'll jump in the truck with the materials list and pick up the mahogany. Finally!! If I'm lucky I'll be cutting wood by 10 a.m.
13 February 2006 Picking and Matching MahoganyI get to the lumberyard early and start by looking at the solid stock. The worn out sign on the bin still says "Honduras Mahogany" even though I haven’t seen the real deal in years. It’s really Genuine Mahogany or some broadleaf species from Peru, or a similar species called Kaya, which comes from Africa. I don’t like what I see in the rack so I go in the back.
I have been buying here at Far West Plywood for more than 30 years and know that it pays to be loyal to a good supplier. They know I am particular and let me look at anything they have in the warehouse, even if they have to take down four lifts to get to it. I find a small minimally molested lift of short 4/4 mahogany that looks usable for the trim. I grab what I need and set it aside. Next, I flag down a warehouse guy and we go in the back to look at the lift of mahogany (Kaya) plywood they have. I luck out with six matching sheets but they look light in color to me so we go deeper into the pile and find some stock with the deep red color I love. I luck out again and find six sheets that are made from the same wide flitch with this beautiful color. Score!! I know I can get the match I want with this stock so I take them and feel lucky I got what I need as we load them up. Back at the shop I unload and stand them all up so I can see what I have and how I will need to dice the sheets to get the panels I need for the back of the unit. I want the grain and patterns to match all the way across the 12-ft. long backboard. Matching can be an elusive process but this particular wood just tells me what to do. I read and worshiped at the altar of Krenov when I started out and have been matching grain ever since. I do not, however, have the luxury of "contemplating the wood" for years like James. I need to move and get things done. Like sharks we drown in the custom woodworking business if we stay still. I carefully lay them out then cut and reassemble the parts to size. This is hairball stuff cause one wrong cut on one of the sheets will blow the whole sequence match and therefore all the sheets. I go slow. Slice here. Glue there. Finally, I complete the three main panels that make the backboard structure of the unit.
16 February 2006 Measure Twice, Cut Once
When I designed and built the room this unit will occupy I put all the hook-ups I thought I would ever need inside the wall. I spaced everything in a flexible generic way with the idea that the TV would be centered with the equipment to the right of it. I have two dedicated 20 amp circuits, three quad boxes, antenna cables, speaker wires, telephone and a chase to the master bedroom. I need and want good access to all of these and this design provides it. I am taking a similar approach in the design of this unit. It will float off the ground and off the wall, which will allow me to access all the connections easily behind the drawer boxes without any of it being visible. I’ll do this by mounting the back panel to the wall, and then attach all of the shelving and drawer boxes to the back panel. I laid out the wall plates onto the backboard from site measurements using the story stick. Just to be sure I got everything right, I went back to the site (quick trip to the house) and checked my measurements before I started making cuts. Good thing I checked. It turned out that I indexed everything off the wrong mark and would have cut everything about 10-in. left of what I wanted. I caught it ….this time.
Careful as you go. Here I am cutting the vent in the back panel. First I drilled holes, then I cut straight lines on my tablesaw. Custom work by its nature is a disaster waiting to happen with every process and procedure. I have learned to check myself over and over and to try and think ten steps out. Even then that’s no guarantee that I won’t screw up. Good custom guys are not ones who don’t make mistakes; I’ve never met one of those. Really good custom guys are the ones who can create a workable solution when they do screw up. Sometimes the solution is better than the original idea. I will be documenting all my screw-ups and mistakes while building this piece to demonstrate that it is an inherent part of the process. I am hoping not to embarrass myself too badly. But I am just starting to cut my material so there is plenty of opportunity for glory…… or disaster. I lay the cutouts out again and cut them all. I am committed now. I think its right but I won’t know for sure until we install. You may think that is strange, but it’s true. All the planning and measuring in the world does not prove out until you are on site and things actually fit. Luckily this site is close (and it’s my house) so I can check as much as I want and feel pretty good about it. Comments (8)
20 February 2006 Building the Drawer Boxes
This box will house media storage drawers at the bottom of the unit. The next step is to make the bottom drawer boxes and the cabinets that will be positioned on each side of the TV. The two cabinets are mirror images of each other and look the same when done but they are very different internally. The external dimensions are not different so I can simply make the parts list for the exterior cases the same, just right and left. I go back to the story stick and get my height, width, and depth for the drawer boxes, which run along the bottom of the unit, below the TV and side cabinets. I start there because when I get that built I will start taking measurements from the box instead of the story stick. I find it easier and safer to get real-life dimensions rather than measurements of the stick once I get this far along in the process. Also I may screw up a cut, and have to alter the box dimensions. I could cut all the parts for everything on the theory that I am perfect and won’t mess up anything. But I know better. One section at a time then build on it, that gets me through every project. It also minimizes disasters to a small percentage of the work. Rough working sketches serve as reference for dimensions and construction methods. I drew a small three-dimensional visualization for the drawer box on some paper. I assign the height, width, and depth from the story stick. Now I have to figure out the best way to construct the thing. I decide construction based on the load it will carry, the joinery I am using, and the grain exposure I want. That decided I list all the pieces that make up the box. I write them on the side of the drawing. I am using maple ply as a secondary wood and will cut those pieces after the mahogany parts are done. I go back to the mahogany ply I have remaining from the backboard assembly. I have to think ahead and make sure I don’t waste good matched grain on parts that don’t matter so much. I see that I can get what I need and still leave plenty for good grain matches on the cabinet sides and doors. I grab the wood and dice it up. A word of caution about ply products and cutting parts is in order here. NEVER assume that the factory edge is square. I check and correct every cut and part to assure that things are square. This task may look simple but imprecise alignment and fit will mean that it won’t go together properly. I am nuts for square parts and you will see why down the line. Also do not expect the ends of the ply panels to have full thickness veneer. Because of how ply is manufactured it can be micro thin on the ends. It’s good practice to just add 1/2 in. to 1 in. more to your parts and cut the factory edges off to get your final dimension. I lay the top and side of each box out and assign left and right. From this point on they will be cut the same but on opposite sides. I want the grain continuous as it rolls from top to sides. I cut the parts and leave the drawer box sides long. That’s insurance if I screw up the miter cut. The miter process goes well and I size everything to final dimension. Comments (3)
20 February 2006 A word about plywood...and other composite materials. Neil’s comment on the drawer box post has presented me with an opportunity to get on my soapbox. Solid wood construction has its merits but is in no way appropriate for large-scale casework. If you are of the school that composites such as plywood or mdf (medium density fiberboard) are inferior materials you are going to limit yourself forever. If you think only quality work can be produced from solid wood …you are mistaken. In two hundred years when they are looking at pieces from our period on the future version of the Antiques Road Show they will not get very excited about a copy of a period piece built in 2006 no mater how much solid wood you used. They will get excited about pieces that were built by the craftsmen of the day using current techniques, materials and hardware which will be forever in the work for all to see. The future version of the ARS furniture expert will be telling the viewers that he can tell what period the piece was built because he knows that biscuits, drywall screws, Accuride guides and waterproof Tightbond 3 came into wide use during the late 1900’s and early 2000s. There is no way you could make a living doing the work I do and not use composite materials, modern joinery (screws and biscuits) and mechanical hardware. The piece I am building for this weblog would not be possible to build at all if I limited myself to solid wood construction. I would bet you a good sum of money that if craftsmen of 200 years ago could see and use the materials, power tools, computer design and control, nail guns, finishes, adhesives, hardware, and everything else we have today, they would jump all over it.
Solid case and drawer construction circa 1982 I just got back a desk and chest of drawers that I built for my sister in 1982. It was built with solid 5/4 maple case construction with a rosewood and padouk inlay stripe. The drawers were solid ½ red oak with solid 4/4 padouk drawer faces and rosewood handles. They were wood on wood hand planed to fit to their own space. I did use plywood on the backs, interior dividers and the drawer bottoms. I remember that every time the weather changed I had to go to my folks house and plane the drawers because they would get stuck. Eventually I hit all the seasons and they opened and closed in every weather condition. The pieces are in excellent shape and have been well maintained. But the carcasses have cracked and shrunk and are far from the perfect pieces they were when built. It was the pieces above built in 1982 that made me understand that if I was to make a living as a custom woodworker I needed to find a better way to build fine large scale work. I wanted make pieces that would last and not take forever to build so people could actually afford them and I could make a living. The logical step was and is to use modern materials and hardware. Keep in mind on your next project that there are no “bad” materials. There are only bad choices of use for those materials. If you think that the ways of old are stronger and better check back and you will see that the modern way has its benefits.
Ok I'm stepping off the soapbox now, back to your regular scheduled program.
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21 February 2006 My Strategic Gluing Policy
Clamp on a roll. Masking tape holds the corner together while the glue in the miter dries. The miter is glued and then all the parts are attached to the mahogany top and side. From the face side I tape the joint together with masking tape, turn it over and apply glue evenly to the joint surfaces then simply fold it over. I tape it in place to hold it square then move on to assemble the maple parts. (Not to confuse anyone, this photo is out of sequence with the last post. Gluing the mitered corners came first and then the box was assembled.) I use biscuits and drywall type grabber screws to get the job done. I use this joinery system for almost everything I build. I have two biscuit cutters, one set up for regular size and one dedicated to #9’s. I use #0’s for replacement dado type applications and the 9’s for most everything else. It’s quick, accurate, super-strong and works particularly well with composite case construction. Most times now I don’t even use glue. Since the fasteners are mechanical, there is no need in many cases. In fact on most stuff it is just an unnecessary mess that limits fixing all that bad planning I mentioned. I myself did not believe that until about a year ago. I used to glue the crap out of everything I made. As woodworkers it is our sworn duty to do that so things we make will survive into the next millennia. I know the notion may be sacrilegious but I have saved myself some serious grief in recent history because I didn’t use glue. I did a job last year, that because of the clients propensity to change things, I never wanted to permanently commit his job. I did need to get it done though and figured that if I just assembled everything without the glue I could get it apart if I needed to. That turned out to be a good decision because the piece got changed and although I was charging him to make the change it was substantially less than rebuilding a piece that I could not get apart. I also realized that for its function that piece was as strong without glue as it was with it. After that experience I started building with a “strategic” gluing policy. On this one I think I need the strength as everything is hanging so I will glue, screw and tattoo every joint on the support boxes. I am using the new Tightbond 3. It is stronger than anything else I ever used and a bear and a half to clean up. I assemble the maple to the mahogany and then add the solid nailer across the back. I can now start taking dimensions off the newly built boxes as well as the story stick for my next assemblies. Comments (3)
24 February 2006 Building Drawers
Ready for assembly. Drawer parts made from 1/2 in. apple ply. I have the drawer cases built so I can now make the drawers. I never make drawers unless the cases they go in are done. In my 28-year career I have made so many drawers the wrong size with the case right in front of me, I sure as heck am not building any to a theoretical cabinet that has yet to be built. I make almost all my drawers the same all the time. I developed them over time after realizing building beautiful solid-construction drawers could be way bad for my financial future. After one job early in my career where I ended up at the clients house with my hand plane every time the weather changed I knew I needed an alternative. I now build all my drawers from 1/2 in. thick prefinished Apple ply with a two sided 1/4 in. black melamine bottom hung on black Accuride 3832 or 3834 guides. The joints are rabbeted, glued and pinned with 3/4 in. pin nails from the side, face and back. They are strong as can be, clean as a whistle and easy to make. Or so I always tell myself. I start by ripping 5 in. pieces, usually one per drawer. I dado in a 1/4 in. wide by 1/4 in. deep groove, located 1/2 in. from the bottom on the side of the part that bows into the drawer. On media center drawers and anything that needs a divider I rabbet in a 1/8 in. wide by 1/8 in. deep groove for my plastic divider holder. This allows me to set up the drawer for any kind of media or none at all. Once the blanks are complete I crosscut the sides to size then put a 1/2 in. wide by 1/4 in. deep rabbet on each end for the front and back. I subtract the 1 in. clearance from the case interior for the guides then calculate the side-to-side dimension. I cut the front and back and then move on to the bottoms. I calculate the bottoms and in this case need two pair that are different sizes in width but all the same length. I have my #1 man Alex go through all our small stuff to see what we can cut down to size so I don’t have to start in on a brand new sheet. He finds plenty and I cut it up. Unfortunately, I cut two of them wrong. No biggy…. and it’s my first real screw up so far. I go ahead and recut the wrong sized parts out of the remaining found material. And I cut them WRONG AGAIN!!! You would think after making thousands of drawers the same way that I would have this process down. Apparently I don’t. After lots of swearing, whining and cursing, I bite the bullet and cut the full sheet to get the two small parts. DANG IT !!!…I hate when I do that. I assemble them as usual and have more than a couple of the pins go on mysterious paths that only they understand, mysterious paths that always seem to bump or chip the face veneer. More cursing …lots more actually. Woodworkers, especially this woodworker, don’t have mistakes that show in their own homes, don’t you know? I get through the assembly and then square the bottoms and to hold it, staple them at an angle with 1/2 in. upholstery staples. I set them aside for Alex to sand and then finish the tops. He will be the one to mount the guides in the case and on the drawers themselves. They will be done at that point until we make and mount the faces. Comments (2)
27 February 2006 Pocket Door: To be, Or Not To Be
Gaining momentum. Right side upper case, with pocket door hardware in place.
Ok, I have overcome inertia on this project and am now chugging along. This is the work part and will take a while. I get some measurements off the drawer boxes and a height off the story stick and start making the parts for the top cases. Left is just closed case storage with some small cutouts in back for future use. Just in case the rack in the right side case doesn’t hold all we need later down the line I can move pieces of equipment into the left side. That’s probably never going to happen in my lifetime but …you never know. It’s easy now to do the cutouts to provide this side some airflow. The right side as mentioned will have the roll out rack that holds all the equipment. The right side also has a…. (cue scary music) pocket door. I have spent a lot of energy talking clients out of this feature and so I am using one reluctantly. I had a project over 25 years ago that, long story short, cost me serious grief and money to put a pair of big pocket doors on a unit. The clients insisted that they had to have them in spite of the size (2 @ 1 1/2 in. thick by 24 in. wide by 92 in. high), added expense and my reluctance to install them. I did manage to get them done... after a two and a half day fight. They worked beautifully and looked quite fab when opened or closed. Time marches on and I forget about this particular nightmare. The client calls me about a year and a half later on a new project. I make a site visit and make a point to go look at the unit and see how it’s aging. The doors are open and pocketed. I ask the client: “So do you just have them open when you watch TV?” “ Oh no” she says, “ We haven’t closed them since about a week after you put the piece in.” D'oh!!! So back to my decision to use one on my unit. The piece is so simple and so symmetrical that I just have to match the left and right cases. This demands that I run the equipment side in a closed case to match it’s mate. An open rack, though much more practical, will make the unit unbalanced, so I’m going with the pocket door. This decision has serious consequences in work time and expense but I decide to do it anyway. I have no choice. Above is a picture of the hardware installed in the case, but I need to catch my breath before I explain how it went installing the Accuride Pro Pocket 1321. Comments (2)
1 March 2006 Pocket Door Complete!
Hanging the door.
First use a piece of scrap to test the fit of the
Accuride has a fairly new pocket door hardware system, the Pro Pocket 1321, that I really like. It allows for a full 3/4 in. overlay on the hinge side, a feature that wasn’t available in pocket door hardware as far as I know until this system came along. It can also be used for a full inset application, has integral tabs for a divider, and (sound the kings horns) has sag adjustment from the front with the door on. I followed the directions and got the hardware installed inside the box painlessly. Next, I made the door with one of the two matched pieces of plywood that I set aside earlier. On matched doors if I screw up on one door, not only do I have to replace that piece but I also loose the mating matched piece of material. That might mean a trip to the lumberyard for another sheet of plywood, so I take my time and use a scrap as a test template. I marked and drill the holes in my scrap piece as instructed by the tear sheet that comes with the hardware, and tried it out. It sat a little low so when I made my marks on the actual door I moved the line up to make the door hang higher. Then I drilled into the door and checked the fit. WHAAAAT!!!! It was twice as low as the template. Crap!!!...Turns out I marked the adjustment on the wrong side of my original line! I couldn’t redrill the door or cut it and add to it, altering the case hardware was out and I wasn’t ready to go back to the lumberyard. Instead, I stared at it for a while and came up with a simple yet elegant solution. I will simply redrill the hinge base holes on the steel hardware. Piece o’ cake on the lower one, I feel like I am a brilliant person and master of problem solving. Next comes fixing the top assembly. It is different than the bottom and the metal is bent in a way as to preclude my brilliant instant solution. I can make it work but I have to remove some metal from the hinge hardware with a hacksaw. Fifteen minutes later the installation is done. A major disaster is averted so I feel lucky I’m not in the truck cursing my way to the yard for more ply. Comments (8)
3 March 2006Design for Easy Access to Cables
The roll-out rack fits inside the cabinet with the pocket door and holds the components I had a client once that bought his home because the space where he wanted to put his entertainment center shared a wall with an extra bedroom closet. Before we installed the unit, he removed most of the connecting wall, which gave him full access to the back of TV and all of the components from inside the closet. Plugging and unplugging cables was easy. This type of set up doesn’t happen often though. A front loading rack is not the most ideal way to put your equipment in but it is the most economical and uses a minimum of space. The best solution if there is no rear access is to have the equipment roll out on a rack so you can get to the back of things while the equipment is connected. Because I am mounting this to the wall, I am forced to use a front loading rack. I am going to make it easy on myself to install and service equipment by making that rack roll out and swivel. There are several commercial hardware solutions available for a roll-out rack. Middle Atlantic and Accuride have ready-made systems available just for this application. They are expensive and you must work around their dimensions if you want to use them. In my project the stock unit dimensions of both producers are not going to work. Also, both systems eat up a chunk of the dedicated rack height for the pull out and swivel mechanics. If you anti up for commercial systems make sure you have the space you need for width, depth and the height of all your equipment plus a bit of space for future expansion. And be prepared to spend some money. Comments (2)
4 March 2006 Building the Roll Out Rack
The rolling base (left) supports the component rack (right) and allows easy access to cables in the back.
If you are frugal (some say cheap) and want everything your own way like me, you can build your very own roll-out rack with off-the-shelf hardware. My design uses standard 2 in. fixed caster wheels mounted to the base (the dimensions for my roll out rack are 19-1/8 in. wide (inside width) by 18 in. deep). The height of the rack is calculated from the box the rack will live in. I just make it to inside height less 1/4 in. so it can go in and out easily. A depth of 18 in. is minimum for this project. However, it is 2 in. shorter than what I typically make them. The inside width is the standard professional rack rail systems use in case I ever wanted to convert this to a pro rail system. I am going to make this one with solid wood frame sides with a plywood top and bottom, and 1/4 in. thick plywood back. It will be strong and light. I want to save as much weight as I can so I don’t have any unnecessary extra pounds hanging off my wall. Also having an open frame will make it easier to access the equipment from the side. For simple service or cable changes I can just roll out the rack without having to swivel it. The back of the rack assembly is cut out for cable access and airflow. I may even enlarge the back cutout again after I stick all the equipment in it. On the frame sides I drill a 32mm hole pattern for the shelves with my Blum machine. Then I go back and drill the pattern again between the original holes. This gives me an adjustment every 5/8 in. for my shelves. If weight weren’t an issue, I would build this whole thing out of black melamine. It would save all the finishing and is superior when it comes to dragging equipment on the shelves. It also looks great with electronic gear and is inexpensive. But it is heavy and so I go with the wood frame and ply shelves. I biscuit and glue the frames then I pin the biscuits with 5/8 in. micro pins for insurance. Like the rest of the unit, the glued up frames are biscuited and screwed to the top and bottom. I am not using glue here as it is quite rigid and I may need to disassemble the thing. The back gets predrilled for screws and is installed with 3/4 in. grabbers. After it’s assembled I fit it in place then mate it to the removable skirt. I make some trims that will capture the shelves and narrow the front opening visually so the equipment doesn’t have so much empty space on the sides. Screws go through the top and bottom of the left trim and penetrate through the rack and catch the case. This locks the rack in until it needs to roll out again. With that done I can move on to making all the shelves for the rack and the unit itself. Comments (1)
6 March 2006 Where Does the Rack Roll, You Ask?
Service stand components. Holes in top work as detents to capture the wheels and front edge keeps the rack from rolling off To access the cables on the back of the components, the roll-out rack needs to roll out onto something. I developed a simple support platform, known in the industry as a “service stand,” which I can use to support the rack when rolled out. It saves space over commercial systems, which typically have the service stand integrated in the unit. I thought initially that I would make a long platform to roll the rack onto so I could get to the back of things easily. Unfortunately, if I did that it would have to be really long and all the connection cables would have to go out that far then get handled when the rack goes back in. I decided that the stand should allow the rack to turn 90 degrees to ease access and shorten cable runs. I already made the skirt under the rack removable with biscuits and will use those same biscuits to locate and mate the front of the service stand. I have a great ball bearing lazy susan I took out of a job many years ago, I can use to rotate things. The hardware will make it work easily and a fold-down or screw on leg system will act as a support to the floor. It doesn’t have to look pretty and weight is not an issue, as I will keep this part in a closet until it is needed. I don’t have any plans drawn up for this stand so I just winged it. I figured the radius to turn things and cut the top platform to size. Everything came from that first cut. I got all the other parts sorted then model it all out. I did a bit of testing and fitting and it all worked. Oh yeah... I love when that happens. I assembled it all after pre sanding the parts and it’s done. Last night when I was telling my wife about my wonderful service stand solution I thought of something. The service stand drops 1-1/2 in. from the base platform, which is exactly the same height as the drawer box opening. That means I could use the drawers as the service stand support by just pulling them out! They are rated for 100 pounds each and I will catch one and a half drawers so I will essentially have 150+ lbs. of support. I am a genius. Today I got to the shop and test my theory. The drawers open to about dead center of where the rack rotates and I figure that’ll do it. I put everything back and take off the service stand and put it aside. A few minutes later my son Bryce comes in and I decide to demonstrate my clever solution for him. I pull the skirt, pull out the drawers, attach the stand, roll out the rack rotate it and lock it in place. He takes one look at it and says, “Those drawers don’t look strong enough to hold it, especially if the rack and drawers were full.” Whahhhhtt!!! What the hell does he know, he’s just a stinkin’ kid. But he is right. It was a nice clever solution, almost like I had planned it, but it’s weak. I’ll stick with the original leg idea.
8 March 2006 Assembling the unit
Assembly begins. This is the first time the side cabinets and drawers are assembled with the back panels. It’s time to start putting the whole thing together. The first thing I did was attach each of the side assemblies to their back boards (see picture above) To do this, I laid each back panel over two saw horses, and placed the cabinet and drawer assembly in place. I marked everything, predrilled the backboard then drove the screws from the back side of the panel into the cases. I put the side assemblies on carts so I can move things around easily
Next, I will assemble the two side units to the center back panel. To do this, I will use tight-joint fasteners, which will join the three panels so they can be assembled and disassembled. Once those three sections are together, I can make the top and bottom shelf for the TV, which will fit between the two side assemblies.
Everything goes together like it should. Keeping things square from the very first cut allows this to happen. When assembling a design like this where everything fits to hold everything else together it’s critical that things be square. They are and I don’t have to fight with it. Whoo Hooo!!! Comments (13)
10 March 2006 More on Tight-Joint Fasteners
Assemble and re-assemble. The tight-joint fasteners are mortised into the panels and allow me to break down the unit. Tight-joint fasteners area great way to create sturdy and tight break-down joints in large panels. They are inexpensive and commonly used in the laminate and countertop industry to hold long lengths, seams and big mitered corners together. You can buy them from any cabinet wholesale supply or even at the Home Depot as Neil mentioned. I have been using them since I started woodworking for joining big panels and long lengths together permanently or for breakdown construction. I have a simple template that I lay centered over the two panels I want to join and then trace the mortise slots. If you have well fit joints you will not need many. I only used three on these 69” high panels. I use a ½” straight carbide bit and go 9/16” deep. You want to be extra careful about tightening the bit properly. It’s a real bummer when it loosens and goes though the face of that impossible to replace panel. With the panels separated I just freehand the cut from the edge inward using the tracing as the guide. It doesn’t need to be fancy you just need the flat parts that catch the wings to be straight. Play with some scraps if you haven’t done this before and get your legs before you go honkin into that expensive material. If you recall I have the joint lines on the face aligned with the veneer flitch. There are biscuits (not glued) in the joints every 12” or so to help control the physical alignment of the face as well. When I tightened up these fasteners the joints become virtually invisible and yet I can take it apart and put it back together as many times as I like.
Here’s how it looks from the back with the unit assembled with the tight-joint fasteners. Comments (2)
Thanks Steve....By the way....nice communication with the template(lined up), fastener, fastener example....and lets not leave out the wrench....you're an AD man in disguise..NICE
12 March 2006 Dealing with Heat and Ventilation Closed case equipment racks pose a few issues that should be dealt with in the design process. Remote control signals can be blocked if a component is put behind a wood door. And getting to the equipment to adjust things and load media can also be a pain. However, the biggest issue to overcome with equipment run in a closed case is HEAT. I am concerned about ventilation in the display space as well since these new DLP TV’s can generate some serious heat. To counteract that heat I have about 50 percent of the backboard removed from the TV section. There will be a problem with my convection airflow here though as later I will be adding the main mounting cleat across the back on top of that opening. In order to regain good convection flow I decided to put some sort of vent in the top shelf. I was thinking I could just cut a slot in the top at the back but realized it would be unattractive from the raised entry to the room. I settled on a simple solid wood construction vent to do the job because it will work well and look good doing it. I will also put some large holes in the floor that the TV sits on. It’s important to have cool air intake as well as hot air release in order to take advantage of convection. One of the main reasons I wanted this unit to float off the floor was that it creates an ideal convection draw. Gluing up the vent To handle the heat generated by the other equipment I designed in a number of vents in the back panel. These allow heat to exit the case and rise up out through the gap between the case and the wall it hangs on. I removed the whole backboard where it aligns with the rack case and pocket door. There is a 1-1/4 in. gap the full width of the rack inside along the bottom front door when it’s closed for cool air entry. There are also release vents in the top of the rack. The 2-1/4 in. space behind the backboard ( I'll show how that is defined later) is there specifically to facilitate air movement and makes it easy to run and connect all the cables and equipment. It’s a chimney and a cable chase all in one.
The TV space vent incorporated in the top shelf You can see in the pictures on the last post all of the ventilation cutouts on the backboard to handle heat.
15 March 2006 Mounting System
Mounting cleat from the back view. I have a piece of 3/4" hard birch on the face side to sandwich the back for extra strength.
From the beginning of the design
process when I decided that I wanted to have this unit float off the floor
I was creating a problem for myself. How do you hang a twelve-foot wide
unit with all the equipment in it on the wall? Good question. I have hung
a few heavy things on walls before but nothing on this scale. I am taking
a risk here that I will be able to engineer a workable solution. In my
mind I have the weight handled but real life may not cooperate with me.
Comments (7)
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3/16/06 - sailho —
Hi Steve: Looks good!!!!, but hurry-up,
you've got us on the edge of our seats...."Is it gonna work or not?" · 3/16/06 - DougF — Steve, great looking concept. I agree with your concern about the outboard strength, particularly for the right-hand side with the rollout equipment shelf. When the shelf is extended, the weight is transferred away from the wall shifting the force otuward rather than as straight sheer force. Over time that may distort the unit's clean top line. I also like the bracket idea since you live in an area known to shake and the unit could jump upward and over the cleats. If the bracket can be positioned to both prevent outward and upward movement you can solve two probelms at the asame time. - Doug · 3/16/06 - Steve Casey — Yeah Doug, I take it for granted that all the stuff I build will get a good shake or two during it's lifetime. I bolt everything I build to the wall in some way so things don't fall down when the shakin starts. This unit when done will become the wall if things work out like I want. Big ol lag bolts and lots of them with the monster L and eyebolts should do it....I hope. · 3/16/06 - DarrellN — Steve, I have a couple ideas that may not be too late to implement...To increase the top side cleat area what about doing this. Create a chase for heat and the wires. This will actually do a few different things. By running a chase that narrows at the top up from the holes on the back you will create a chimmney effect which should increase air flow. It also allows you to place more cleats near the top. By creating a chase near the bottom or side you will make it easier to run wires where they need to go, It's always annoying to no their is a hole in their somewhere if I could only find the silly thing.Lastly, It seems to me it would be a lot easier to hang each section up on it's own so it would be easier to put up and take down. I understand you couldn't use the connectors that you are using now, but! I was watching Ask This Old House the other day and saw them use a hidden fastner system that you cluod use and then tighten from the front without needing access to the bolt or screw! Here is the website, it is very cool tech. http://www.swissinvis.com/
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3/16/06 - Steve Casey —
Darrell thanks for the suggestion but I
think the eyebolt thing is gonna be the hot ticket. I don't want to
complicate things back there and having it all open makes it more
flexible. · 3/16/06 - sailho — Hey Darrell......thanks for the website, interesting tool. Steve....sounds like you got Darrell hooked. New Table Saw, tool recommendation, complete with website, some critical thinking, GREAT!!......Thanks again Darrell
17 March 2006 Finishing & Reassembling
Alex oils up the panel We get everything except the frame for the TV done. At this point I am still in the air on the display model I am going to use. I am trying to work a promo deal with the manufacturer but am still waiting to hear back from them. It’s expensive and they have to figure if it’s worth it. If it’s not I will have to buy the dang thing. I’ll get a good deal from my buddy Alon at Shelly’s but it will still cost some real money. I made my inner box flexible enough to accommodate a 70” screen if I want to go to a bigger format in the future. With this design a new TV will only require that the trim frame be changed or remade. I’m thinking that the 62” is big enough since we are going from a 27”…but you never know. The piece is broken back down into components. I weigh all the parts to see how much it weighs, as I am still concerned about it being too heavy. All the parts less the frame come to 435 pounds. Not bad, with the TV at 150# and the equipment at another 50 we are only hanging about 635# plus media in the drawers and cabinet. That works out to about 55#s a lineal foot. That doesn’t scare me so much cause I think when we bolt this up to the wall the backboard essentially becomes the wall and only the weight hanging on that is what I need to worry about. Component parts are way easier to finish than a big piece. We oil everything up with Minwax clear oil to bring out the color of the mahogany. I use mahogany for the color it will become not what we are seeing now. In time it will be way darker and richer than the “green “ finish that we will see as we work it. After it cures Alex sands it and topcoats it with clear precatalyzed lacquer.
Reassembling after the finish is complete The next day we reassemble the boxes and all the rest of the parts to make sure everything is aligned and working. It looks good. I’ll leave the backs off for now as I think that I will initially mount them on the wall by themselves. It will be a lot easier to handle the ¾” back to get the position and mounting right. When I do then I can attach them to the boxes, bring each side in separately and then assemble the whole unit in the house. All we have to do now is the TV frame and we can get this unit installed
March 20 2006Making the TV Frame
The raw TV frame It looks like the TV manufacturer is NOT going to give me a TV for this project. Bummer, it was close but no cigar. I decide to go with their best 62” even though I will have to pay for it. I'm still smarting from the hot ticket 386 computer setup I bought in 1986 that cost $8000.00 (that’s like $16K today) and was shot dead and absolutely worthless with the Y2K thing. As much as I hate to buy electronics that cost a fortune and are out of date before you get them out of the box, I write the check. It will serve us for many years to come and it should get the kids off my back about our old weak setup. It’s also an incredible value these days considering that a 62” screen with lower resolution cost $25k just a couple of years ago. I go to Shelly’s where Alon cuts me a great deal and then drive over to the warehouse to pick it up. The box is HUGE! Maybe I overdid this!!?? Nahhh…anyway it’s to late now, the unit is committed. Bryce gets home from school and sees the giant TV box in the truck. He is a very happy camper. I tell him to break down the old system and clear the space so we can set the new TV up to get the measurements I need to build the frame. We have it out of the box and temporarily in place and it is… HUGE. But it looks good and from where the couch sits it turns out to be the perfect size for the space. I get the dimensions I need and off to the shop I go to build the frame. In the beginning of this affair I purchased what I thought was enough solid wood to do the entire job. That is important when you use wood that varies in color as much as mahogany does. Unfortunately on close inspection one of the boards I was counting has grain that is not up to grade. I need to get a replacement. That’s not too big a problem but it is a big hassle nonetheless. I figure I’ll go to my local supplier Conejo Hardwoods to save me the long drive to Far West Plywood. They always have nice stuff and do again on this trip. I grab what looks like the right color and grain then head back. I am mitering the frame together to have it look like a picture frame. I have the new Delta 12” 36-412 dual compound miter saw that will cut the 5” parts pretty close. I will hand fit each joint afterwards by trimming them in on my 20” disk sander. I get that all done then look closely at the piece that I just bought… and the color is way off! Mahogany varies as mentioned but the main stock is red and this piece is gold. I put water on it to see if the thing will fly and it’s not doing it. Not good. I go back to the original stock I first rejected and fit that in hoping that it will look better. I hassle with the fit then get it done. The color is good but the grain is way inconsistent with the rest of the job. Of course that is why I first rejected it but I was learning to love it especially after all that work and expense. My wife happens in and takes a looks at it. She tells me what I already know but was justifying in my mind. “How come that piece doesn’t match?” Much swearing, cursing (not at my wife, at the wood) and a dreaded trip to the original supplier Far West and back ensue. An hour and change later I was cutting the third piece in for that part! It wasn’t as perfect a color match as I would like for all that trouble but it’ll do just fine dagnabit! The good news about mahogany is in six months all this wood will look close to the same color and a lot darker to boot. I glue it up and call it a day. Time to get out of the shop and go for a ride. The next day I fit the inner trim. It’s a little tricky and I have to model the frame to the TV. It’s a short walk to the house but I have done it a million times. One of the worst things about having a shop seventy-five feet from your house is that it’s not that hard to double check things or take parts back and forth to make them fit perfect. And so I do. I think I have walked a couple of thousand miles seventy-five feet at a time working on our house. I find a nice piece of figured maple in my rack that will do the trick for the inner trim. I mill it all out and then do the final fit before I break it down for finish. Everything is complete and we can now install the unit. Next up is Dday, the big install, where the rubber hits the road. We will know for sure after that if I’m a hero or an idiot.
22 March 2006 D-Day / The Install
Installing the wall mount cleat It’s D-Day and we will know for sure if things will go as planned. I built this space specifically to have an entertainment center on this wall but did not know at the time that I would be hanging the thing. If so, I would have put in some blocking to hold the lag bolts. I had Bryce take pictures of all the walls in the framing stage right before we closed them so I could see what we had in the future. He found the pics, printed them out and we hung them up on the wall. Now we know what size the studs and posts are and where everything is. I laid out the cleat and bolted that in. I have ½” x 5’ long lags through the cleat and into the studs to hang the bottom mount on the wall. I check level with the mating cleat mounted to the center backboard to make sure things are correct. Once that is done I put the 5/8” threaded L hooks to catch the eyebolts on the outer edges. It takes a while to get everything done and predrilled so we can just hang it up and through lag the unit when it goes in place.
Mounting system preassembled to backboard Everything looks good so we go back to the shop and assemble the backs to the boxes. While we are at it I knock together some spacer boxes out of scrap to put on top of a couple of carts. The carts and spacer boxes will allow us to assemble the entire unit then just roll it back and drop it on the cleats and hooks.
Assembling the unit on carts Alex and I drag the preassembled sides over to the house. They are heavy and awkward and make us realize we are not spring chickens anymore. Once set up on the carts we assemble the center back to the left side and then connect the right to that. It goes easy and as planned. Everything comes together and fits tight. Yeah! I love when that happens. I put in the eyebolts and then install the rope backlight. By now it’s pushing 4:30, normal quitting time. We can’t quit now so I ask Alex to stay and we keep going. 24 is on tonight and we got three hours to finish up so we can watch. We were going to take video of the hang up for your viewing pleasure or (America’s Funniest Home Videos if it fell down) but I didn’t want to stop everything to set up the camera. Bryce used the video feature in the digital camera and took a few seconds of the hang. It was pretty anticlimactic though. We pushed it back to the wall, located the eyebolts on the hooks, and then pulled the spacer box off the left cart. It dropped right into place. Now to the right and pull that spacer. Miracle of miracles the hook lines up and with a little push the unit drops home. Nice! Alex takes a seat where the TV goes and I was going to join him to test the weight. I thought better of that and figured I should through bolt the piece to the studs before trying that stunt. Four more ½”X 6” lags through the unit into the studs secure everything. It is the Rock of Gibraltar and I save the embarrassment and all the extra work if it failed.
I am not an idiot Comments (3)
24 March 2006 Finishing the Install I set up the service stand and quickly make some simple square legs to support it. The removable front skirt makes a good support for them on the carpet to spread the weight. I roll it in to position and then rotate it for access. We decide on where the equipment belongs and then set up the shelving to fit. Each piece goes in place then we can hook everything up. We put the TV in it’s space and it doesn’t seem to stress anything. I sight the front edge of the platform and there is no visible sag. Good deal. Roll out rack and stand Bryce gets going on the hook up and we work right up till 8:00 getting things connected. Between commercials watching 24 we finish the initial install and fit the face frame. Whoo Hooo !! that fits too. I am on a roll I tell ya. 10:00 and we are beat and it’s time to quit. I’ll have to pick up the details tomorrow when I am fresh. And I do. I fit all the door and drawer fronts, adjust them and then lock them in place. Bryce programs the TV and all the equipment to work together later in the day. WOW! It’s amazing in full resolution 1080p. And the new sound system, Yamaha’s new YSP1000!!! That deserves a post all it’s own. HD programming is coming in on the old antenna and we get a whole bunch of digital and analog stations I never knew were there. It’s a major upgrade and it seems weird cause after all this time of just having the below average setup, my living room is like ….something my clients would have. The best part of the deal though is my boys should be off my back for a good long while. Yeah right…
Before After
Comments (5)
27 March 2006 Yamahas Amazing YSP1000
5.1channel sound from one source Every once in a while something comes along where you just know things are going to be very different from here on out when you see it . Or in this case hear it. Yamaha has some new technology that does for sound systems what plasma systems did for display technology. It changes the whole game. As mentioned I set this room up for a home theater experience and prewired it for a full 5 channel sound system. I pulled wire in the framing stage for the rears channels and fully expected to run a five speaker system with a sub to get the sound to go with the image I now have. I was dreading having to find speakers my jaded ears and wimpy pocket book could stand. Five well-matched quality speakers and a subwoofer are not cheap. And you must physically hook them all up and then tune them to the space. In my case as in almost every room I have been in, the space is not ideal. Far from it as I have no window coverings or soft surfaces other than the couch and carpet to absorb dreaded reflected sound. I figured we could get by with our old crappy cheapo speakers till I can come up with the budget for the good stuff and full-length curtains over all the windows. Maybe in 2008 I might be able to pull that off. That was until I talked to my buddy Brad Wells who just happens to be one of the best A/V guys in the business. He told me about a system that from one speaker and a small support subwoofer you could achieve full surround sound in any environment that rivals anything but the very best true five speaker setups he has done. Uhhh…. Yeah sure! He goes on to explain the technology of beaming focused sound originally developed for military purposes has been refined into one of the coolest products to come along since flat screen TV. From one speaker the size of a large skinny center channel you will hear full surround sound that will defy comprehension. Uhhh…. Yeah sure again! And not only that, it is self-calibrating to optimize any space it is in. It also retails for about one third of what the starting price for what I would consider good set of speakers to cost. And ….the best part is, all the lousy hard surfaces and parallel walls that give us fits in home theater environments actually make the thing work better. Ok this guy is whacked cause if it’s true we just found the Holy Grail of sound systems. But I know he’s not because I have done several projects with the Bradman and he does not blow smoke about equipment. Long story short I demoed the unit at Shelley’s and got hold of one for myself right after I heard it. As mentioned early in the blog I was in a quandary about placement of the center channel speaker. I decided to run it above the screen on the shelf with left and right speakers on shelves like in the drawing. This unit goes in the same space as the center channel speaker but there is no need for speakers on the side or in the back of the room. Brad hooked me up with a small high-powered subwoofer that I placed on the left side of the room visually hidden beside a nice old toy box we have there. The YSP 1000 is actually the system amplifier so you hook up your equipment directly to it. I had Bryce do all that and then run the calibration program. That involves placing an included microphone in the seating position then getting out of the way while the unit sends out sound beams then adjusts itself to optimum sound for your environment. With that all done, we got to demo the system. Amazing is all I have to say. Hearing crickets in Xbox 360 games five feet out and six feet over to the side from one speaker in the middle of the unit is downright… amazing. And movies!!! sound fills the whole room as well if not better than anything I have heard. You can also run this unit in several other modes like conventional two channel stereo with several different recreated sound environments like a jazz club. I am loving that I just had to hook up a couple of wires then run a simple calibration so there is absolutely no guesswork on setup. Thanks Yamaha for the new A/V Holy Grail. This unit will change how I design systems at least as much as the flat panel displays have changed things as explained in my recent Fine Woodworking article. I am looking forward to being able to simplify my designs even further and the possibilities that this new technology will present. Yamaha YSP 1000
Comments (5)
28 March 2006 The Final Details
Here are some parting shots in different lighting with some details of the unit. Everything worked out as expected and it looks even more dramatic than I had hoped. We are now enjoying state of the art images and sound and it is quite impressive. The cobbler finally has some really nice shoes! I want to thank Matt Berger for inviting me to do this blog which got me motivated to finally do this project. I want to thank my #1 man Alex for all his help and 13+ years of loyal service. Thanks to my son Bryce for helping with the photography and hooking up all that new technology. Thanks to all my industry colleagues and friends who helped out with advice and great discounts on equipment. And most of all thanks to all of you who jumped in on the comments and the thousands of viewers (5466 unique visitors as of this writing) that followed along “looking over my shoulder”. I have an open invitation from Matt and the FWWNetwork to do this again anytime I have an appropriate project and the time to document it. I’ll keep my eye out for something interesting.
Till then, Adios Amigos. Steve Casey, March 28, 2006
Pocket door open Removable skirt Media storage drawers Rope light Cobblers really nice new shoes
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