alex grams
09-30-2012, 11:47 PM
Well, we moved to a new house, and the old one I had built in cabinets and wall mounted the TV, but alas the new house does not. We are currently using the aquarium stand as a TV stand, so a large entertainment center is in need.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/EntertainmentCenter-Front_zpsded25807.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/EntertainmentCenter-SideProfile_zpsb1301f6a.jpg
Primary wood will be maple, columns will be curly maple, doors will be koa. What I don't show in the model is that all doors will be jack miter/beaded face frames. The crown will be curly maple also. I also anticipate building in some lighting in the glass doored shelves, and will have grommet/cableways to be able to run whatever wires where ever I want to, all out of sight.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/jackmitre_zps27c1ea85.jpg
The top center arch i plan on doing an inlay with some of the koa, but banding it with a 1/8-1/4" strip of ebony for contrast.
After working on it this weekend though, there are some changes in the design/construction. I had 3/4 sheets of maple veneer ply I was going to use on the shelves in the cabinets, but decided to instead make them all from solid maple. So that meant milling up the remainder of my on hand maple and a lot of gluing up of panels:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Entertainment%20Center/EntertainmentCenter014.jpg
I also altered the shelves inside the glass doors, those will be glass shelves now. So i need to work on finding a glass supplier for shelving and door glass.
I also cut the main cabinet side panels:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Entertainment%20Center/EntertainmentCenter033.jpg
For some perspective, the side cabinets are 84" tall, the main is 96", so it is going to be pretty massive when it is all said and done.
I am still short enough pieces for one of the big center cabinet shelves, so I need to go buy more maple as well as more for all of the trim/accents.
I then dado'd the colums and rabbeted the side panels (which are still going to be from plywood, as vertical surfaces don't see the abuse that shelves do) and did an assembly to see how they look.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Entertainment%20Center/EntertainmentCenter009.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Entertainment%20Center/EntertainmentCenter029.jpg
Next was to do a lot of cutting for the shelves. It was tedious because the front columns don't have the grooves cut for the shelves, so I couldn't glue anything together until i have all of the cuts, so that involved cutting a lot of individual dados to line up. And as I was being careful not to screw up a column with a wrong cut, I did a lot of assembly, marking, disassembly, cutting, assembly, checking, then on the the next shelf cut.
Also, some of the shelves terminate a certain depth into the columns, so out comes the chisels and hammer:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Entertainment%20Center/EntertainmentCenter034.jpg
And the first shelf in along with the bottom and top boards (out of frame)
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Entertainment%20Center/EntertainmentCenter023.jpg
The other side is coming along parallel, but i just keep one assembled and work on both at the same time so I can check everything.
Hopefully through this week I get all of the side cabinet shelves in, get by the lumber yard to get more material and get that milled down. It is coming along faster than the photos indicate. Once i get the shelves in on the side cabinets I can make the shelves for the middle cabinet, and then get it mocked up. Then on to the doors and trim.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/EntertainmentCenter-Front_zpsded25807.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/EntertainmentCenter-SideProfile_zpsb1301f6a.jpg
Primary wood will be maple, columns will be curly maple, doors will be koa. What I don't show in the model is that all doors will be jack miter/beaded face frames. The crown will be curly maple also. I also anticipate building in some lighting in the glass doored shelves, and will have grommet/cableways to be able to run whatever wires where ever I want to, all out of sight.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/jackmitre_zps27c1ea85.jpg
The top center arch i plan on doing an inlay with some of the koa, but banding it with a 1/8-1/4" strip of ebony for contrast.
After working on it this weekend though, there are some changes in the design/construction. I had 3/4 sheets of maple veneer ply I was going to use on the shelves in the cabinets, but decided to instead make them all from solid maple. So that meant milling up the remainder of my on hand maple and a lot of gluing up of panels:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Entertainment%20Center/EntertainmentCenter014.jpg
I also altered the shelves inside the glass doors, those will be glass shelves now. So i need to work on finding a glass supplier for shelving and door glass.
I also cut the main cabinet side panels:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Entertainment%20Center/EntertainmentCenter033.jpg
For some perspective, the side cabinets are 84" tall, the main is 96", so it is going to be pretty massive when it is all said and done.
I am still short enough pieces for one of the big center cabinet shelves, so I need to go buy more maple as well as more for all of the trim/accents.
I then dado'd the colums and rabbeted the side panels (which are still going to be from plywood, as vertical surfaces don't see the abuse that shelves do) and did an assembly to see how they look.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Entertainment%20Center/EntertainmentCenter009.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Entertainment%20Center/EntertainmentCenter029.jpg
Next was to do a lot of cutting for the shelves. It was tedious because the front columns don't have the grooves cut for the shelves, so I couldn't glue anything together until i have all of the cuts, so that involved cutting a lot of individual dados to line up. And as I was being careful not to screw up a column with a wrong cut, I did a lot of assembly, marking, disassembly, cutting, assembly, checking, then on the the next shelf cut.
Also, some of the shelves terminate a certain depth into the columns, so out comes the chisels and hammer:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Entertainment%20Center/EntertainmentCenter034.jpg
And the first shelf in along with the bottom and top boards (out of frame)
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Entertainment%20Center/EntertainmentCenter023.jpg
The other side is coming along parallel, but i just keep one assembled and work on both at the same time so I can check everything.
Hopefully through this week I get all of the side cabinet shelves in, get by the lumber yard to get more material and get that milled down. It is coming along faster than the photos indicate. Once i get the shelves in on the side cabinets I can make the shelves for the middle cabinet, and then get it mocked up. Then on to the doors and trim.