Todd Burch
01-14-2004, 12:37 AM
Fine woodworking? No. Good craftsmanship? I did my best. Customer pleased? Tickled pink.
Well, this one went pretty fast. From order to installation complete took 8 days, with some of that time spent on other projects. Basically, a couple base cabinets, 2 face frames, a countertop, a shelf assembly, and 8 doors.
The specs:
1) Client didn't want to see any wires
2) They needed it done fast (Homeowner is having a bunko party on the 20th!)
3) They wanted doors across some existing shelves and wanted the new cabinetry to match
4) Do whatever else I thought they might want (I love it when they let go of the reigns!)
There were a few design challenges.
1) No sagging desired. The shelf would hold at least 4 electrical components, and have items displayed on top of the shelf, and the span was almost 53".
2) How to hide the wires
For the shelf, I created a torsion box on the bottom AND the top. The bottom is 3" thick and the top is 2" thick. I think I could drive my truck over it and have it not sag. I used plywood instead of MDF so that I could lift it to install it. I designed it on the side to rest on cleat that I mounted to the wall. The wall cleats were screwed to studs, level front to back and side-to-side across the opening. The shelf just slid in place, and with some shims and a few 2" nails, it ain't going nowhere.
For hiding the wiring, I did a few things. First, I installed a false back on the unit that is 1½" forward of the rear wall. I left the back 1½" of the countertop area countertop-less, which left the rear top of the cabinets open. On the shelf unit, I left it away from the back wall 1½" too. All wires will be dropped from the top to the bottom, right into the cabinet box.
To make my life easier in the installation, I left the backs off the cabinets. I had actually built the cabinets with backs, and after I thought about it for a while, and after running it past the client, I took the backs off. In doing that, no hassles with electric, speaker wire outlet, phone jack or video cabling. Phewww!! I was concerned that there might be integrity problems at first, but after the cabinets were screwed to studs, they did not budge a bit, and absolutely no racking.
I'll get a final picture after the homeowner has it painted (next couple days, I think) and gets the carpet tucked. Around here, you can get carpet tucked like this for about $35.
Another false back panel went up in the upper arched opening to bring the back forward and to not have such a deep, dark space. My two challenges here were 1) how to make a template to cut the arch, and 2) how to apply a nailer on the curved part of the arch, fast and efficiently. Both answers came to me quickly. As shown below, I taped a piece of ¼" MDF across the top of the opening, with the bottom corners at the ends of the arc. From the inside, I drew a pencil line along the corner. Pretty easy, huh?! Even with deviations in the sheetrock, it was close enough for a caulk job. Second, I took the same template for the arch and laid it across some scrap pine. I drew an arc as long and I could, then I drew another arc about ¾" away, as in concentric circles. I then cut two of these pieces out on the band saw. What a no-brainer! I shot 2" nails thru the curved pine pieces until I hit enough studs to fix them firmly in place. Then, a bunch of pin nails and the back was in place.
I needed a 1½" wide moulding for the front edge of the countertop. I grabbed a piece of 2 3/8" wide pre-primed chair rail and cut the bottom section off to leave about 1 9/16" inches. On install, I glued and nailed it about 1/32" proud on top, and used my handy-dandy Festool sander to bring it to level.
I made the 8 doors in less than a days work. They came out great. I used self closing overlay hinges since that was how I had to mount them on the open shelving. They turned out nice. No room for errors on these hinges. There are no adjustments for up/down or left right. If you are ½ a screw off, you're hosed.
Anyway, it's not much, but I enjoyed the project since it went so fast. And since it was fast, I think I even made a little $$ on it! (If I can do 12 more of these type jobs (quick ones) before April, that new machinery will be paid for, easy-like!
Todd.
(The first picture is a before shot. The 2nd to last image is a Sketchup drawing that I took all my cut-list measurements from. The last image is about 1/2 way through the install. )
Well, this one went pretty fast. From order to installation complete took 8 days, with some of that time spent on other projects. Basically, a couple base cabinets, 2 face frames, a countertop, a shelf assembly, and 8 doors.
The specs:
1) Client didn't want to see any wires
2) They needed it done fast (Homeowner is having a bunko party on the 20th!)
3) They wanted doors across some existing shelves and wanted the new cabinetry to match
4) Do whatever else I thought they might want (I love it when they let go of the reigns!)
There were a few design challenges.
1) No sagging desired. The shelf would hold at least 4 electrical components, and have items displayed on top of the shelf, and the span was almost 53".
2) How to hide the wires
For the shelf, I created a torsion box on the bottom AND the top. The bottom is 3" thick and the top is 2" thick. I think I could drive my truck over it and have it not sag. I used plywood instead of MDF so that I could lift it to install it. I designed it on the side to rest on cleat that I mounted to the wall. The wall cleats were screwed to studs, level front to back and side-to-side across the opening. The shelf just slid in place, and with some shims and a few 2" nails, it ain't going nowhere.
For hiding the wiring, I did a few things. First, I installed a false back on the unit that is 1½" forward of the rear wall. I left the back 1½" of the countertop area countertop-less, which left the rear top of the cabinets open. On the shelf unit, I left it away from the back wall 1½" too. All wires will be dropped from the top to the bottom, right into the cabinet box.
To make my life easier in the installation, I left the backs off the cabinets. I had actually built the cabinets with backs, and after I thought about it for a while, and after running it past the client, I took the backs off. In doing that, no hassles with electric, speaker wire outlet, phone jack or video cabling. Phewww!! I was concerned that there might be integrity problems at first, but after the cabinets were screwed to studs, they did not budge a bit, and absolutely no racking.
I'll get a final picture after the homeowner has it painted (next couple days, I think) and gets the carpet tucked. Around here, you can get carpet tucked like this for about $35.
Another false back panel went up in the upper arched opening to bring the back forward and to not have such a deep, dark space. My two challenges here were 1) how to make a template to cut the arch, and 2) how to apply a nailer on the curved part of the arch, fast and efficiently. Both answers came to me quickly. As shown below, I taped a piece of ¼" MDF across the top of the opening, with the bottom corners at the ends of the arc. From the inside, I drew a pencil line along the corner. Pretty easy, huh?! Even with deviations in the sheetrock, it was close enough for a caulk job. Second, I took the same template for the arch and laid it across some scrap pine. I drew an arc as long and I could, then I drew another arc about ¾" away, as in concentric circles. I then cut two of these pieces out on the band saw. What a no-brainer! I shot 2" nails thru the curved pine pieces until I hit enough studs to fix them firmly in place. Then, a bunch of pin nails and the back was in place.
I needed a 1½" wide moulding for the front edge of the countertop. I grabbed a piece of 2 3/8" wide pre-primed chair rail and cut the bottom section off to leave about 1 9/16" inches. On install, I glued and nailed it about 1/32" proud on top, and used my handy-dandy Festool sander to bring it to level.
I made the 8 doors in less than a days work. They came out great. I used self closing overlay hinges since that was how I had to mount them on the open shelving. They turned out nice. No room for errors on these hinges. There are no adjustments for up/down or left right. If you are ½ a screw off, you're hosed.
Anyway, it's not much, but I enjoyed the project since it went so fast. And since it was fast, I think I even made a little $$ on it! (If I can do 12 more of these type jobs (quick ones) before April, that new machinery will be paid for, easy-like!
Todd.
(The first picture is a before shot. The 2nd to last image is a Sketchup drawing that I took all my cut-list measurements from. The last image is about 1/2 way through the install. )