The TV console out of red cedar and construction brackets Comment

Hi Everyone,

For those of you who have been following the TV console project, Ive deleted my previous two postings about it and Ill explain why: it turned out that I made a lot of mistakes with it and had to completely re-do the whole thing. Here is a photo of the first effort several days ago:

It looked terrible. The parts didnt fit, the top didnt lay flat on the frame, I screwed up the bottom shelf and tried to improvise a solution. It didnt work.

So the next day I took it apart and completely disassembled it. I cut the legs down by 5 inches and very carefully with assorted wood working clamps and a square, completely re-assembled it. I also replaced the improvised shelf and went and purchased more lumber for the top and re-did that from the original plan I was going to start out with.

Here it is now:

Discussion and Further Plans

I still think the concept of construction brackets for use in household furniture is a good one and Im going to attempt another console next week. Here are some caveats however before I do this again:

Wood-the cedar looks really nice but its just too soft for furniture use. It dents and tears easily and if this were a regular table, it would not hold up to daily wear and tear. So next time Ill use pine or poplar. Also, no more construction grade lumber. Its not seasoned so when you get it home, within a day or two it will begin to twist and crack. Its also too rough. Next time Ill use a higher quality wood.

Brackets: the brackets work well. I primed and painted these and they dont look half bad. It does give the piece a more finished look. But next time Ill use smaller brackets so theyre not so prominent in the design.

Assembly-the devil is always in the details and very much so with the assembly.  The brackets have to fit the lumber very snugly in order for this entire system to work properly and all the part to fit together correctly. Its imperative that you proceed slowly and carefully and clamp the brackets to the 2x4s before you screw them together. Also check the squareness with a carpenters square as you proceed. This will give you a much nicer appearing piece at the end and the parts will fit together better.

Design-You cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear-remember, this is fundamentally a dressed up construction piece. You can make it look nicer by taking your time and carefully considering just how this will fit inside your home and what it will look like along with all your other furniture. Its never going to be fine furniture no matter what you do. My furniture is a little more rustic in appearance so this will fit in but its going to reside in my bedroom with a tv, a dvd player, lots of other stuff, and a cat or two on it and for this its adequate. 

I am going to make another console as I really need some furniture at the moment and Ill carefully post about that. That will probably happen next week so stay tuned.

Now, I need to turn my attention to the fall art show so thats what well look at next.

More later,

VW

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My Custom PBB Construction

Where to start with the details of the PBB? As I stated in the first post, I elected to make my PBB in two parts so that I could configure it to handle situations I knew I would encounter. I guess I should start with the basic structure of the bench.

I constructed the frame out of good old southern yellow pine. I bought 2x8s and milled it to get the sizes I needed. I chose 2x10s because they are made from larger trees and are a better grade than 2x4s and 2x6s. The thickness was a little under bit 1.5” after jointing, but I had a better surface. The corner posts were glued up to get 4x4s.

This is the frame of the 36”x72” module. The slats on the bottom support a piece of .75” plywood. The slats on the top only support a piece of .25” hardboard, which is a dust shield. I may eventually enclose the bottom of the modules, and I don’t want them filling with saw dust. There are four 5” heavy duty swivel casters. The frame of the 24”x72” module is constructed the same way.

The tops of the modules float on the bases. The floor of my shop, like most shops, is neither level not even, therefore, the tops can be adjusted to make them level and even with each other. This is the frame of the top for the 36”x72” module. It is 6.75” deep and can travel up about 4” from resting on the base.

Here you see the construction of the larger bench top. The section along the left side is for mounting the fence. The notch in the closest end is for the fence rail to extend beyond the bench. This allows for the maximum length of cut using the fence.

After mounting the rail mounting hardware (angle iron), I added the .75” plywood sub-top to the assembly. Note that the rail mount is upside down. This allowed me to get everything that is steel as far below the top surface of the bench as possible, thus greatly reducing the chances of hitting steel with a moving blade or bit.

Once the bench tops were assembled, I did a dry fit of the bases to assure that I had planned the fit between the two correctly.

After assembling the 24”x72” module base on my assembly cart (not shown, and too low to comfortably do the assembly on), I used it to assemble the 36”x72” module base. Here, the assembly is on its side.

I used a .325” bolt in a pocket hole to fasten the rail to the leg, and dowels to prevent twisting. You can see the three holes for the bolt and dowels at the top of this picture. The bottom of the picture shows the pocket hole for the nut and washer.

In this shot, you can see (barely) the rabbet in the side rail that accepts the tenon on the end of the slats that support the bottom shelf.

This is the finished 36”x72” module base.

The finished top is on the base, still needs the sliding modules between the SMEs.

This is the adjuster that is used to level and align the tops. It consists of a 8”x.5” all-thread, two nuts on the lower end (the bottom one is pined with a roll pin), and a nut embedded in the top of the block that is lag bolted to the leg.

Angle strapping is used to tie the tops of the two modules together in whatever configuration I’m setting up.

Next time I’ll look at some more details and some accessories I’ve made.

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