Entertainment Center door and pocket hole construction.

[Greg Cuetara]

I have an entertainment center I am rebuilding. I have an 18 month old right now and I want to put a door on the front. The top half will be glass where the electronics will be and the bottom there will be 4 drawers for dvd's etc.

The door is approx 42" tall and 20" wide. The stiles are 2" wide and the rails are 3" wide. I will have 3 rails, top, bottom and one in the middle to separate the glass from the panel. Originally I was going to cut a slot down the entire length of the stiles for the panel on the bottom and the glass on the top. I was going to use traditional techniques with a mortise and tenon for the rail to stile.

I just received a kreg master jig as a gift and have been looking for the right project to use it on. Can I use it here for the rail to stile joints? I would think I could use the router table to plow a groove for the panel and glass.

Should I just use a M&T for the joint? I was trying to simplify things and reduce my shop time right now. I finally got into the shop after a 2 month hiatius. Life certinally has a way of getting in the way.

Thanks,
Greg

[Jim Kountz]

I would go with M&T personally. For something like that where the pockets will show its not the best choice of joinery IMO.

[Greg Cuetara]

Thanks Jim. That is kinda what i figured so M&T it shall be.
Greg

[Jamie Buxton]

.. Originally I was going to cut a slot down the entire length of the stiles for the panel on the bottom and the glass on the top....

So you're going to deal with the glass like it is a wood panel -- that is, capture it in a dado that runs around the periphery? You'll get impassioned arguments about whether this is a good idea. The typical approach in furniture is to use a scheme in which broken glass can be replaced without damaging the wood frame. The other approach says that broken glass panels are extremely extremely rare, so a permanent mounting scheme is okay.

[Greg Cuetara]

Jamie,
Maybe I wasn't really clear on that detail. I am going to cut a groove all around but then cut off the back side to make a rabbit on the backside only where the glass is. Then I will cut some small moulding to hold the glass in place.

Greg

[Steve Leverich]

Greg, as a father of two (grown/married) and a grandfather of three (youngest being 3 yrs) I would suggest NOT using glass (regardless of your parenting style) and figuring out a LOCKING method for the drawers and doors - alternatives to regular glass that are NOT life-threatening are plexi, lexan, tempered glass and lami-glass plus a few other similar to plexi.

Plexi scratches fairly easily but doesn't break into razor-sharp shards, lexan/polycarbonate is more expensive IIRC and maybe a bit more durable, tempered glass MUST be bought in the size it will end up in, and lami-glass can be cut to size but I probably wouldn't recommend DIY on the cutting.

Tempered glass will break, but does so into small rounded fragments that won't open arteries but ARE swallowable - lami-glass breaks into shards but the center lamination holds them all together.

Just some thoughts to further complicate your project... :mad: Steve

[Greg Cuetara]

Gee Steve thanks for the good thoughts. LOL.

Yes you are correct that I shouldn't just use Glass. I don't like the idea of using plexi because it scratches even before you get it out the door. So where does that leave me.....hmmm...not really sure. Guess I will have to go to the glass supply house and see what they have.

Greg

[Jamie Buxton]

You can avoid the glass issue entirely by using an IR repeater. I presume you're using glass so that the infrared signal from your remote gets to the electronics. An IR repeater has a little photoelectric eye which peeks out of the cabinet someplace to pick up the remote's signal. The repeater pipes the signal on wires inside the cabinet, and re-emits it as light in front of each piece of electronics you want to control. That is, the IR repeater lets you control something hidden behind an opaque door. I've used the Channel Vision IR5000: http://www.hometech.com/hts/products/infrared/kits/index.html#CV-IR5000