Wine shelf Update...........

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

I got the other two done.....
http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_3_done.jpg

Now all I have to do is put the strips on the front to cover the plywood edges,
and make the pieces that will stop the bottles from rolling off the shelf.The
vertical strips I did first, that went well, but the horizontal pieces made me
come up with a jig to do them.I needed the pieces to be fat on one end and then thin on the other.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_jig_BB_sliced.jpg
I jointed the board, and put it through he thickness planer (it was twice the
length of the wood in the pic) cut the piece to length, and then sliced them up
on Big Blue.Now I made up a jig to route them on the router table.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_jig_to_cut.jpg
The jig holds them in a template and then I use a straight cut bit with a
bearing on it to get the shape I want.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_jig_cut.jpg
After routing.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_jig_one_cut.jpg
That is what one looks like finished.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_jig_1st_two.jpg
Here are two on the shelf fronts. You see the shelves are only 9.5 cm wide, so
some of the fatter bottles would be hard to get in and out of the shelf, this
way, I have a spot to take them in and out, but the bottles are also prevented
from rolling out (think earthquakes).

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_jig_120_more.jpg
Well that is 15 done, I need 120 more.............

The question is, how could I speed this up?

The sizing and cutting of the stock is fine, no big deal there, but can anyone tell me of a quicker way to do the shaping of these pieces?

I wish I had some good toggle clamps to do this, instead of the three small screws, but I don't have any, I had one, but I can't find the darn thing! ::)

Am I nuts, or does this system look like it is the way to go?

Cheers!

[Tony Falotico]

Stu, thats the approach I would take, my only suggestion is that they seem to be thin so you may be able stack route 2, maybe three at a time ????

[Art Mulder]

Looks like your router bit could handle 3-4 stacked and cut at a time.

Or I'd think about stacking 10-15 of them and cutting them out on the bandsaw/scrollsaw or some such.

Or for a different look, cut a straight angle instead of a curve and you could chop them out on the chop saw or tablesaw and knock'em out a lot faster.

...art

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Stacking them would work, if I had some toggle clamps, but I don't, so I hold them in place with 3 short screws, these screw holes end up on the back side, so they cannot be seen, but if I had two or three deep, I'd have to screw through the top two, leaving holes. OK, I need to buy some toggle clamps! :o

Art, I do not have a scroll saw, or a BS that can cut curves, did you see the blade on Big Blue, my bandsaw in that pic.........? Not going to be cutting any small curves with that!

Thanks for the comments just the same!!

Cheers!

[Matt Guyrd]

Stu...you know these guys as well as any. Somebody will come up with a great idea. A shot in the dark...do you have a piece of wood that is double the length of the strips? If so, setup the jig to route one long piece (2x the original or basically a mirror image of the strip you have), then cut the piece in half? It might save you a little time in setup. Hope that made sense.

Cool projects, as usual. Thanks for sharing.

Matt

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Thanks Matt, and yeah, this is one of the places I steal........er......get most of my good ideas :rolleyes: :D

[Mark Patoka]

Stu,
You could try double-stick taping several pieces together. Don't know if it would save you time though if you have to clean tape off of each piece when finished.

How about trying to fasten the ends of your stack together somehow? It looks like they are not seen either so you might be able to do something there that will hold 3-4 together at once.

[Blaine Harrison]

What about resawing after routing the shape? Then run the cut pieces through the thickness sander to get rid of the bandsaw marks.

Blaine

[Julio Navarro]

Get two more router tables and two helpers with them...cut 2/3 time out:D :p

But serious Stu, they look great!

[Dave Richards]

Very nice work Stu. I'm curious if your employer gives you a discount on product since you make these nice shelves for him. :D

[Charlie Hans]

Stu could you rig your jig to utalizing a Vacuum set up to hold the pieces while routing them, this will free you from the screwing of each piece to the jig. I use vacuum jigs all the time on the router table and it really works great if you have a lot of pieces to do, or for work that you do very often. All you need to do is to install a gasket on the peremiter of the jig and add your vacuum port, and you are set to go. Just a suggestion
Chuck

[Dave Richards]

Stu,

You could make a piece of plywood to fit over the blanks and use a wedge or two to hold it down. It would work sort of like the toggle clamps. I'd also start by cutting away most of the waste with a bandsaw as Art suggested.

A picture is worth a 1000 words so they say.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/weekender410/stu.jpg

You could make it to handle more blanks than I show and to make it double sided so you could load twice as many blanks.

[Matt Warfield]

If you have the confidence, you could bandsaw the profile into the board and then resaw. The amount of sanding may not be a time saver though.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Matt, with the only band saw I have having a 63mm wide blade, corners are just not going to happen ;)

Charlie, I don't have a vacuum pump of any kind, I want one for a vacuum chuck on the lathe, but with your fine idea, I might get one quicker for uses just like this! :)

Dave thanks for the pic, that might just work!! :D

Blaine, yep, thought of that, but I'm wondering if it would end up much faster or not?

Mark, I'd rather clamp than use the double sided tape, but the idea is a good one!

Julio, dude you are ALWAYS making more work for me ;) :D

Cheers!

[Charlie Plesums]

Stu, I got the vacuum chuck adapter for my DVR... it recommended using a shop vac. I couldn't believe it, so I hooked up my vacuum pump. Then one day I tried the shop vac, and it worked just as well. On the lathe, neither vacuum source is sufficient for a small piece, either source is plenty for a larger piece (given the uncertain seal and leakage around the bearings, the volume of the shop vac seemed to make up for the higher suction but lower volume of the vacuum pump).

So if I haven't discouraged you from getting a vacuum pump for the lathe, consider my trying to use it on my bench for sanding. I even put a hole in the bench so I could draw vacuum directly, and got a rubber thingie to provide the seal around the work. The idea was great for the first piece, ok for the second piece, and didn't hold the third piece. I traced the problem...the sawdust I was creating plugged the filter in my vacuum pump. I gave up trying the vacuum pump as a hold-down.

The router chips may be large enoug to not cause a problem, but I bet the router creates a bunch of fine dust too. Maybe a larger filter....

[Corey Hallagan]

Looking good Stu, good idea on the edge detail to keep bottles from rolling off. Nice job. I love that big old meat carver if a bandsaw :)

corey

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Looking good Stu, good idea on the edge detail to keep bottles from rolling off. Nice job. I love that big old meat carver if a bandsaw :)

corey
Yep, Big Blue is a keeper:D

So what I've ended up doing is to make up some see-saw clamps...........

46961

46962

Now I can do two at a time, and these clamps are more secure and faster than using the three screws and the drill. Instead of 120 to do, now I have only 60 to do!

I'll also cut all the pieces, and then clamp them, and remove most of the waste, so the router bit only has to take off an 1/8" or so.

Cheers!

[Steve Ash]

Stu, nice work. Now does making those wine racks count as time spent at work or at play?.......

as always Stu....good job.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Stu, nice work. Now does making those wine racks count as time spent at work or at play?.......

as always Stu....good job.

Thanks Buddy! :D

They are surely work, because if I did not have to be building them, I'd be spinning stuff on the DVR :rolleyes: :D

Now when it comes to work, well this beats digging a hole in the ground in the rain on a cold day easy, but it is still work. :) (or at least that is what I'm telling my wife and the MILFH!! ;) ).

Cheers!

[Dave Richards]

Good job on the clamps, Stu. Now, why don't you make the opposite side of the template the same and you can clamp up two stacks of blanks at the same time. You have to have something under the back end of the clamps anyway. Shouldn't it be more blanks? That would also cut down the number of time you have to load the jig by 50%

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Good job on the clamps, Stu. Now, why don't you make the opposite side of the template the same and you can clamp up two stacks of blanks at the same time. You have to have something under the back end of the clamps anyway. Shouldn't it be more blanks? That would also cut down the number of time you have to load the jig by 50%

I think this will work just fine, much more work on the jig, and I'm wasting time.

I suffer from a short router bit, I tried to do three, but it just would not squeak it out............. :(

Oh well, I look at it this way, it is easily twice as fast, more than that, I think, as the installation and removal of the parts is quicker too.

Cheers!

[Craig Coney]

Stu-
If you can, cut your blanks 1" longer, stack them, then shoot pins in the last 1/4" on each end where you won't hit the brads with your tooling, trim on the BS, then use the pattern, then cut to length on the miter saw or TS.

[Jim Becker]

Very kewel design, Stu!!

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Stu-
If you can, cut your blanks 1" longer, stack them, then shoot pins in the last 1/4" on each end where you won't hit the brads with your tooling, trim on the BS, then use the pattern, then cut to length on the miter saw or TS.

Great idea, but my bandsaw don't cut curves. :D

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Well, it rained on Sunday, the kids went to their school to take care of the class rabbit, and my wife was a touch under the weather, so I got most of the day in the Dungeon, and got a LOT of work done!

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_10_inch_jointer1.jpg
I took the stock I needed to make the rest of the fronts and jointed it, then cut it to length

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_BB_cut1.jpg
Once cut to length, I decided to cut a notch, to remove a bunch of the waste, so they would be easier to route.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_BB_cut2.jpg
It is sure nice to have the right tool, as Big Blue just hogs through this dry Beech like nothing doing.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_fronts_all_cut3.jpg
There are all the pieces cut, now they need to be shaped and then planed smooth on one face.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_smoothing_jig.jpg
I don't own a drum sander, so I made up this little jig, and got out my trusty old refurbished Japanese hand plane (yep the one I bought for $1 used),
and I procceded to make some flat curlies!!!

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_smoothing_jig_half_done.jpg
Half way there.........

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_smoothing_jig_all_done.jpg
Whew, all done! Sometimes the old and simple ways work just dandy!

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_fronts_all_shaped.jpg
There they are, all shaped, the jig worked great, I did switch the template around on top so I was cutting downhill, not uphill through the grain, I got a much smoother cut.

cont..................

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

.........................

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_1st_unit_done1.jpg
Here is the first unit all done...........

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_1st_unit_done2.jpg
Another view.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_1st_unit_bottle.jpg
This is how the bottles will fit in there

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_1st_unit_bottle_out.jpg
and the cut outs will let the bottles be removed.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/flapper.jpg
After seeing Jim's thread on Ian's shop, I thought, I have a flapper wheel that goes on a drill, I put it in my drill press!!

I was concerned that the chuck might fall off the drill press,
so I turned a support on the lathe, and set it up like this, worked GREAT!!
I used it to round over the edges of the front pieces, so that no one gets a sliver when reaching for a bottle of wine.

Now some shots of the L shop, some "before shots" so you can see where the shelves will got and what they are replacing.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_in_L_shop.jpg
This is the spot the three new shelves will go.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_in_L_shop2.jpg
Opposite end view.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_in_L_shop3.jpg
This is the spot that the new humidor will be going, so all that wine will move into the new shelves.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/Sunday/wine_shelves_in_L_shop4.jpg
Another view

Well, I'm in the home stretch!! :D

[tod evans]

looks well thought out stu! are you building the humidor too? what kind of finish have you found that`ll hold up to liquor store traffic?
nice to see you pullin` curlies, even with all my power stuff i enjoy the old ways best and for home, friends-n-family i pretty much build with hand tools alone. nice work! .02 tod

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

looks well thought out stu! are you building the humidor too? what kind of finish have you found that`ll hold up to liquor store traffic?
nice to see you pullin` curlies, even with all my power stuff i enjoy the old ways best and for home, friends-n-family i pretty much build with hand tools alone. nice work! .02 tod
Thanks tod, I got lots of help from lots of people on these.

For the wine shelves, I don't put any finish on them at all, people seem to like the raw wood, I guess it reminds them of the wooden boxes that most qualitly wines come in......?

The shelves currently in the L shop are about 6 years old (?) and they still look good.

I really like using handtools when I can, and when they fit the job. This was a no brainer (to me) as the other option was to hang onto the ROS with some #80 paper on it, with the shop vac screaming......... nope, I'll listen to my stereo, and pull some curls :D

I'm so impressed by that old plane, it was in a sorry state when I got it.............

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/treasure/planes/dollar_top.jpg

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/treasure/planes/dollar_back_crack.jpg

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/treasure/planes/dollar_bottom_crack.jpg

Sure worth the dollar I paid for it........ ;) :D

Cheers!

[Jim Becker]

I knew you'd figure a way out to get all those faces manufactured...and the shelving looks wonderful! I believe it's going to be very beneficial to your retail environment, too, as they bring a consistency and "high class" look to the simple task of displaying fine wines that you don't get with ordinary shelving! Nice!

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

I knew you'd figure a way out to get all those faces manufactured...and the shelving looks wonderful! I believe it's going to be very beneficial to your retail environment, too, as they bring a consistency and "high class" look to the simple task of displaying fine wines that you don't get with ordinary shelving! Nice!

Geez, let me write that down Jim, so I can tell the wife that :D

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

.....time for a final update.......

OK, here is the first shelf on it's way up out of
the Dungeon..........


http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_going_up.jpg
There goes one shelf up out the hatch, thank goodness for that electric winch!!

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_out_the_hatch.jpg
Just hanging around...... Now that I have it up there, I just put the stairs back and climb up, at the top, I push the shelf out to the right, and then gently let it down with the electric hoist, worked great!

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_1st_floor_landed.jpg
Looking out the hatch, the shelf has landed!! (see told you they would fit!!)

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_1st_floor.jpg
Looking back towards the hatch, you can see the cart I used to transport the shelves to the L shop.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_in_place1.jpg
Getting the shelves out of the Dungeon was the easy part, taking the old shelves out and such was work! We got them all removed and ready to put the new ones in place.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_in_place2.jpg
A different view, you can see the shims I had to put under the shelves, the floor was not even close to level, out over a 1/4" over three feet in spots!
http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_in_place3.jpg
Lots of spaces to fill, that is until I make the display humidor, then we will lose the other wine shelf that holds a ton of wine as well!!

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_before_after1.jpg

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/wine_shelves/wine_shelves_before_after2.jpg
Some before/after shots. I think it looks good!

Cheers!

[Dave Richards]

I think it looks good, too, Stu. Thanks for the update.

[glenn bradley]

What a difference! Makes it all worth while. The shop looks much cleaner and open (using the term open loosely here but you know what I mean; less cluttered). Great job and thank goodness for that winch!

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Thanks guys, the next thing I got to do is to get my wife to always buy the same sized POP cards, a we have 3 different sizes, and it looks really crap, to me.....:rolleyes:

With the consistent shelving, I hope we can get the sames sized price cards going.

Cheers!

[Rennie Heuer]

Stu,

What you can accomplish working in a hole-in-the-ground is truly amazing and should humble those of us with above-the-ground large-doored high square footage shops. Thanks for being an inspiration.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Stu,

What you can accomplish working in a hole-in-the-ground is truly amazing and should humble those of us with above-the-ground large-doored high square footage shops. Thanks for being an inspiration.

Thank you sir, but I have to say, I've learned so much at SMC that just thinking I might inspire others makes me feel very good indeed................ as long as I don't get blamed if you get in trouble ;) :D

Cheers!

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

BTW, I think I figured it out that I have about $300 in cash into those shelves, I was told that they could cost close to 10 times that if I had them made up. Well today, just as I was finishing up, a buddy that also runs a liquor shop, a fair ways from mine, stopped by. He was blown away, could not stop saying "Great!!!" (in Japanese).

He told me that he had something similar built, about 5 years ago, but it was only about 1/3 of my shelving, same as one of my units, but a touch taller, as it went against a wall. He said the shelf cost him nearly $1500 :eek:

I've seen the shelf he is talking about, and to be honest, I though he made it, it is that bad. Well, I got to get some sleep, long day today!

Cheers!

[tod evans]

stu, those really add to the store, looks much more organized. i think you can get away with raising your prices;) ........nice job! tod

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

stu, those really add to the store, looks much more organized. i think you can get away with raising your prices;) ........nice job! tod

Thanks tod, I'm pleased, I ended up wiping on a coat of wax on the fronts of things, to keep the tape and finger mess more under control than just raw wood.

BTW, instead of raising prices, I just hope to sell more wine! :D

Cheers!

[tod evans]

do both:eek: then you can swing a dungeon expansion that`ll accomodate some mm equipment;)

[Bob Childress]

Those shelves look awesome, Stu. :cool: Classy. And it was interesting watching the process unfold. And you're right--standardizing the POP cards would add another dimension of class.

Great job!!:D

[Jim Becker]

It's almost painful to look at all that wonderful wine...and know that it is SO far away! The shelves are great, too.... :D ...like I said before, very up-scale. Nice job!

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

It's almost painful to look at all that wonderful wine...and know that it is SO far away! The shelves are great, too.... :D ...like I said before, very up-scale. Nice job!

Thanks Jim, I guess it would be way too much for you if I posted pics of the basement cellar then :D

Cheers!......the DRC kind! ;)

[Don Baer]

Great Job Stu. The only thing that missing is some hand turned bottle stoppers on display on the tps pf the cabinets....:D

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Great Job Stu. The only thing that missing is some hand turned bottle stoppers on display on the tops pf the cabinets....:D

Yep, I was also thinking that some of those bottle balancing things too!

BTW, here is a rather quick and dirty sketch up of the Humidor (yes, I'm still learning how to use Sketch Up).

47749

The top unit will be two pieces, the bottom will be one unit.

Cheers!

[Karl Laustrup]

Stu, those really look sharp. Very good design and well executed.

I have a question or two though. In the event of an earthquake, is the lip on the rack enough to keep the bottles in their place? Have you done anything to prevent the entire rack from tipping over? Such as bolting back to back racks together.

I also noticed it appears the racks sit directly on the floor. Will this be a problem, in case of spills or normal mopping of the floor?

Just wondering.

Karl

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Hi Karl, thanks for the kind words!

The other racks I have have been here 8 years or so, and they have an even smaller lip, and we have had no troubles with the turf surfing.

When the really big one hits, well all bets are off, but at least down in the basement wine cellar, I keep the most expensive stuff near the floor, that way it cannot fall! :D

The new shelves are all screwed together, something like 12 screws in each shelf. Then the new shelves are screwed to the old wooden shelves, on the corner, making an "L" shape. Then the new wooden shelves are screwed to the metal shelves, so they are rock solid.

The racks are on a 10 cm ( 4") kick, the kick is made up of some special water proof plywood that is used for concrete forms. This stuff has a layer of paint that is baked on to it, is lasts outside in the rain etc for YEARS, so in the L shop, with the occasional wet floor, it will be just fine.

Cheers!

[Karl Laustrup]

Sounds like you've got all the bases covered Stu. Again congrats on a great job. If I had built them I probably would have made 'em too big to get out of the dungeon.:o :eek: :D

I agree with Tod, you should raise your prices a wee bit, maybe the equivalent to a nickle. You need to get paid for your work in building the shelves. :D :D

Karl