Rainy day entertainment center

[atgcpaul]

We're trying to set up a new entertainment center in our finished basement. Older plasma goes to the basement and newer LED set goes in the LR. However, there's no storage in the basement so it was either IKEA or DIY. What better use of my time on a rainy July 4 afternoon while the kids nap?

I'm not too proud so say we do furnish our home with IKEA stuff but for the prices they're charging, I convinced the wife I'd make it for less and custom to our needs.

Anyway, I really do like the melamine shelving from HD. Already finished and already banded on one edge. My Freud melamine blade leaves nice, chip free cuts. So after some cutting to length and rabbets and dados on the TS, I'm here. The top compartments will stay open and the bottom section will be 6 drawers. I'm going to forego drawers hardware and use runners instead.

To change things up a bit, I plan on covering the top and sides with either red oak or white oak--which I have--and make the drawer fronts with the same wood.

I've got to convince the wife about the wrap. That will also allow me to conceal the screws because I'm not convinced that glue in the dados and a screwed on back will suffice to keep the racking from breaking the case. Thoughts?

Thanks for looking.

[Black walnut]

Much better than IKEA!

[capncarl]

Melamine doesn't have much strength wilth glue, nor do the screws. Both together should do the job, probably overkill though. A wrap is a nice great touch and will look great!

[thrytis]

Several years ago I made a toy shelf of similar construction (melamine shelving, glued dadoes, and screws) with a thin beadboard panel nailed on the back. The only real wood used in it is a pine top and two 1x4s used to attach the top. It is still as solid as when I built it, including after a house move. With a back tacked on, I think you'll be fine. An oak top may look nice though.

[atgcpaul]

Well, that was an interesting glue-up!

I had some time to kill before going into work this morning so I decided to rabbet for the back panel and cut the internal dividers shorter to accept the back. Done.

This evening while the family was in the inflatable pool, I decided to do the glue-up. I put glue in the bottom two grooves and then slid in the first vertical divider.

What the?!!! I cut my rabbet the opposite of what I needed--too wide and too shallow. So now I need to rip off the thickness of my back panel from all the boards and cut the rabbet deeper so the back panel has more purchase.

If that wasn't bad enough, just before I start up the TS, I realize my blade is backwards. OK, fix that. Rip all the boards down. Install the dado stack, deepen the rabbet.

I'm re-assembling all my pieces and then I realize I forgot to rip down one of my side panels! So now I have to reinstall the melamine blade, remeasure for the cut, then switch over to the dado stack.

And all this while I still have glue in those two grooves.

I'm doing the first clamp up and my wife says they're done and the kids need a bath! Argh.

So everything is in clamps now but during all that commotion, something went down the wrong pipe and now I've got hiccups!

[poolhound]

This type of shelving is basically chipboard and does not make the strongest joints. The melamine surface wont yield much adhesion on the sides of the dados. As the Cap'n says with screws you should be fine but the key to preventing racking will be the back panel. forget the thin1/8 stuff and go for at least a 1/4 or even 3/8 and when screwed square to the back will keep racking at bay.

[atgcpaul]

This type of shelving is basically chipboard and does not make the strongest joints. The melamine surface wont yield much adhesion on the sides of the dados. As the Cap'n says with screws you should be fine but the key to preventing racking will be the back panel. forget the thin1/8 stuff and go for at least a 1/4 or even 3/8 and when screwed square to the back will keep racking at bay.

Yep. HD had a nice 1/4" panel that is already finished white on one side and already 2x4 which is essentially the size of this box. All glued surfaces are particle board to particle board, nothing to melamine except a small bit of shoulder.

The box seemed pretty solid this morning after I took off the clamps and I'm going to go through tonight and reinforce with screws.

[JimD]

There are special oversized screws for particle board. I used them when I built some melamine cabinets for a kitchenette in the basement of our previous house. You need a special drill bit to drill the holes but with the setup, they are easy to use. They also sell white covers which doesn't make the hole invisible but you find they are not objectionable this way.

[atgcpaul]

I added screws Saturday morning. Just went with 1 1/2" wood screws. They're the same ones I used on my melamine kitchen cabinets almost 2 years ago and those are still going strong.

Spent a good chunk of time Saturday jointing and planing the red oak to 3/4". There were a lot of knots which I ended up losing during planing so I didn't have too many options on what side of the board to use. Either that or invest in a lot of epoxy or do a bunch of dutchman patches.

This morning I glued up the top and side panels before church, and after lunch, used my Dewalt track saw to cut a 45deg bevel so the corners meet in a miter. First time and not a lot of extra wood for practice. No pressure. The Dewalt bevel gauge is kind of fat so I eyeballed where I should lock the bevel knob. The Dewalt also tips over at 45 so it's a little awkward making the cut--you need your left hand to press down on the base while you plunge and push with your right. The Dewalt also cuts just a little bit away from the rubber guide strip during a bevel cut so I had to sneak up on the final cut.

After making the 4 bevel cuts (2 on the top and 1 for each side), I cut 4 Domino slots at each miter--also my first time cutting Dominos at an angle. I was pleasantly surprised that everything came together well over the 16" width.





My older daughter photobombing the pic with the dominos. I've all but stopped using my biscuit joiner after getting the Domino. I couldn't keep the side panel vertical like this with just biscuits.




I was really worried I'd cut the top too short but I ended up doing the exact opposite and left it about 1/8" too long. I had already cut the Domino slots so I couldn't recut the miter. So I decided to make it into a feature. I'm going to use washers on the sides and top to create a small shadow line and I'm also going to project out the leading edge of the board 1/2" from the main cabinet. This way if there sides aren't perfectly parallel to the cabinet, it will be pretty much impossible to tell unless you use a ruler to check. The sides have been cut down to match the length of the cabinet.




I mixed up some epoxy with black and reddish powdered wood dyes and filled in the cracks and small knot holes. The shop was hot and I had to work fast.

[atgcpaul]

Last night I made drawer boxes from some salvaged crate plywood. The crate contained some lab equipment from Finland so the plywood is genuine Baltic birch. I joined the corners together with some FF biscuits and glue. Tonight I brad nailed on the 1/4" hardboard bottoms and then got to work on the drawer runners.

I decided to make a dado for the runner and for that I needed a jig. I was going to use a dado cleanout bit. It has a short section of carbide with a bearing on top. This way I could just make my jig around my runner and not do any math for the base offset, etc. Simply enough, right?




That is until I started routing the dado and realized the bearing had slid up the shaft and now the shaft was acting as the bearing and the cutters were undercutting the jig and making my dado too wide! I don't remember the last time I used this bit but when I went back to the drawer, I found the little stop collar that's supposed to sit on top of the bearing. Once installed, it worked as it should.




With the dados cut, I glued the runners into the dado.




The kids are away at my parents for the week so my wife is really pressuring me to finish this up this week. Her motive is to have it in place so she can organize the basement before they come back this weekend.

I still have to find some wood suitable for the drawer fronts (and finish them) as well as make the base (will be a simple 4" tall closed base). The back is cut and just needs to be installed. The top and side wrap is also done and finished. I just need to drill holes in the cabinet for screws to hold the wrap in place.

[radhak]

Nice photobomb! And I can totally relate with the unexpected curve balls you have been facing: got two daughters myself, and I have tried to be hands on with them instead of fobbing them off to my wife, and that has always taken a bite off my time in the garage.

Your oak cover is coming up pretty good - and I'm sure will be pretty strong. If anything, I want to nit-pick that you could have chosen to start off with a much cheaper melamine shelf and built on it, or even built the whole thing with oak instead of building on an IKEA shelf. For one, their stuff costs way more than the average similar stuff from elsewhere; for another, because of their thickness and build quality, I feel they look better than other similar stuff, and it seems a shame to hide all that.

But I guess you must feel this is quicker and you don't have to worry about the design itself. There's value there. Now you have worry about the finish...

[atgcpaul]

Got a few coats of rattle can lacquer on the drawer fronts and right now they are double stick tape and pin nailed to the boxes. I need to buy some shorter screws to attach them. I also need pulls. My wife wants knobs but I want more modern pulls that attach to the top of the drawer and are more sleek/modern. The wrap is secured to the cabinet, too.

I took the day off tomorrow. I'm going to work on the base (I'm thinking red oak and then spray painted black) and cut the slots for the wires.

[BadeMillsap]

Really shaping up nice!

[JimD]

I agree, it looks great.