My wife's long delayed entertainment center......

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Last July the wife saw an entertainment center at Costco she liked. She asked me to take a look at it and give her my opinion. A few weeks later I made it there and they were sold out. So, I went to the internet, found some photos. My wife saw one she liked but did not want the upper part as it would hide the wall where she likes to hang family photographs. I took the photo, made some modifications and drew some plans. That was a first for me. About that time we had our house roofed and the contractor found some rotten fascia. I milled some new fascia for him and he installed it. After he left, I found some dry-rotted soffit in the same area. So I removed the metal roof from the patio, manufactured some new soffit and installed them. I got the 2nd coat of paint on, reinstalled the patio roof and the first winter storm of the season hit earlier than normal.

Meanwhile, the cochlear impant I had been waiting to come back on the US market got FDA approval and I got a call from the surgery center. The CI surgery effected my equilibrium and I stayed out of my shop for over 4 months. Finally around March 1st, I felt I had enough balance and confidence to start woodworking again but with a lot of caution.

So today, my oldest son, his BIL and I brought the wife's new entertainment center into the house from the shop.

My wife loves red oak so I believe in giving the lady what she wants.

Here it is....a lot of firsts.....first design...first finger/box joints.......each raised panel door hides 3 drawers on full length full extention slides.....each divided glass pane door hides 2 sliding equipment shelves on full length, full extention slides......

Below the bottom shelf in the 2 equipment compartments, there is a louvered vent.....in the back of each equipment compartment is an opening for cables and ventilation. The opening is covered by a routed oak trim piece. I used a pattern so they are identical.

A lot of firsts for me.

Unlike a lot of the pros on this board, I am a rank amateur....learning with every step in the process.

Critiques and Comments are welcomed!

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[Ken Fitzgerald]

So here's the final product in place as of this afternoon. The finish is simply Min-Wax Fast Drying poly applied with a foam brush.

76 5/8" long.....25" deep.....26" high....


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[Darcy Forman]

Nice work Ken I really like it. I am in the process of building one as well, but out of Cherry.

[Keith Outten]

Ken,

That's a real beauty!

Sorry you lost your Amateur status :)
.

[Sam Murdoch]

Geez, what's wrong with that? - NOTHHHHINGG!. Looks great. You really tackled a pretty ambitious piece - lots of moving parts - and they all work. Finish looks good too. Nicely done.

I will add only one comment and that does not at all detract - I would have preferred the grain of the shelves and drawer bottom run parallel with the top rather than perpendicular. There is no technical reason for this when using plywood (you might have gotten a better yield with your stock this way and that's just good planning and design) but if these were solid wood you would control the wood movement better, and it looks more "normal". Again, I am very impressed.

[Shawn Pixley]

Nice work Ken! Glad to see your progress when getting back in the shop.

[Bruce Page]

Very nice Ken! I think you are going to love those extension slides.

[Richard Wolf]

Looks great Ken, wonderful job.

[Scott T Smith]

Looks great Ken! The design appears to be very practical and flexible too.

[james glenn]

Great Looking entertainment center Ken.

[Baxter Smith]

Excellent job Ken. Very pretty and very practical!

[Phil Thien]

That looks terrific. Love the pull-out shelves, and I think the finish you used imparted a very nice tone to the oak.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Thanks everybody for your generous comments!

Sam......that is oak plywood used on those shelves, I have plywood left over and frankly just overlooked the grain orientation between the shelves and the top. I will try to keep this in mind in the future! Thanks again for your suggestions!

[Sam Murdoch]

Thanks everybody for your generous comments!

Sam......that is oak plywood used on those shelves, I have plywood left over and frankly just overlooked the grain orientation between the shelves and the top. I will try to keep this in mind in the future! Thanks again for your suggestions!


That's just what I meant Ken when I wrote you might have gotten a better yield with your stock this way and that's just good planning and design. I can see that I might not have been clear wording it that way. I meant to say that, you probably chose to use stock that you had on hand and that the orientation resulted in the best yield, and so that's just good planning and design. :)

I like the cabinet very much.

[Pat Barry]

Ken, Very nicely done cabinet. Looks like it was well thought out and built.

[Paul Cahill]

Very nice - both design and execution. I have a fondness for the look of glass doors, although I have never made any (yet).

Paul

[Frank McKinney]

Very nice job Ken! My wife wants one similar in size and shape, as soon as we get rid of the huge one that we have.

How did you make the finger/box joints?

Thanks,

Frank

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Frank.....I made a jig for my table saw using 2 miter gauges screwed to a piece of 3/4" plywood. I set the dado blade up for 1/4", cut through the plywood, removed the plywood, offset the cut by 1/4" and reattached it to the 2 miter gauges....glued in a 1/4" piece of wood into the cut. Then using another 1/4" piece of wood when I need an offset, cut the box joints on the table saw....

Using 2 miter gauges gets rid of any side to side creep you might experience if you used just one miter gauge.

[Frank McKinney]

Good info, thanks.

Frank

[John Keeton]

Ken, I just happened to drift over to the Projects Forum and saw this - great job!! Nice design and good execution. You have a couple of firsts on me - I have never attempted installation of drawer slides, and I have never done box joints! Glad to see you are finally enjoying your shop work again.

[thomas prusak]

Cogratulations Ken ! In short I'd say I appreciate your accomplishment. Great piece of furniture and BTW, I searched through Cosco and I didnt see an entertainment ctr made with solid red oak, full drawer slides, custom made cable routes, box joints etc.

[Phil Koundakjian]

Frank.....I made a jig for my table saw using 2 miter gauges screwed to a piece of 3/4" plywood. I set the dado blade up for 1/4", cut through the plywood, removed the plywood, offset the cut by 1/4" and reattached it to the 2 miter gauges....glued in a 1/4" piece of wood into the cut. Then using another 1/4" piece of wood when I need an offset, cut the box joints on the table saw....

Using 2 miter gauges gets rid of any side to side creep you might experience if you used just one miter gauge.


Ken, is it possible to post a picture on this setup?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Phil....it's late here but I'll take a picture and post it tomorrow morning.

[Jim Becker]

Great work, Ken!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Phil,

Here's the double miter gauge setup. I was actually reusing this piece of plywood. It's set up for a type of molding rather than finger joints but....

In the 2nd photograph, follow the numbers.

1. setup your dado blade to the desired width for the finger joints and cut a slot in the piece of plywood as shown directly under the No. 1. Mill a piece of wood that will exactly fit that slot. Make the piece about 8-10 inches long. Cut off a 2 inch piece and glue into the slot. Let the glue set up. I let it setup overnight.

2. Remove the screws holding the plywood to the 2 miter gauges and using the scrap piece you milled to fit the slot as a jig, offset the glued piece to left of the dado blade by that amount and using the screws, reattach the wood to the 2 miter gauges. Hang on to the scrap piece as it will be used as a spacer frequently.

3. Cut another slot in the plywood. The distance between the 1st slot and the 2nd slot should be equal to the width of the dado blade setup.

I hope this makes sense. It's a quick way of making a jig for finger joints. In the photo I was reusing the same jig to make a type of molding. By using 2 miter gauges the jig is much more stable and accurate as it doesn't allow side-to-side slop.

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