Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 29

Thread: Project: Equestrian Center Locker Doors

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675

    Project: Equestrian Center Locker Doors

    One of my many contacts in the local equestrian community recently commissioned twelve locker doors for the new lounge he built in the second story of the farm's stable building. He's a reasonably skilled carpenter himself, but his primary time focus is re-training off-track thoroughbred horses for the Hunter show ring and pleasure use. So I got the nod. "Sadly", he already chose pine for his locker structures and surrounding trim...it was easy because that's what the home centers sell in "one by" material. Anyone who has built doors of any kind know that "flat" is everything and there was no way I was going to build what he wanted in the quality and strength he wanted using that same "one by" material from the lumber yard, even if it was the supposedly "good stuff" offered by a local independent yard.

    So the first order of business was obtaining material that was "worthy"...a thankless task it seems...as clear pine is expensive and only distributed by a few places to more local suppliers. I also had to buy a "lot" of the material that was in excess of what I really needed by about 30%...and at $5.25 a board foot for the 5/4 I required. The extra will get used, but really...oak would have been less expensive and easier to work with. At any rate...it arrived after about a week of waiting for my order and I picked it up.

    IMG_6727.jpg

    I broke it down upstairs in my lumber storage area to manageable lengths for milling. Here's the first batch. I later had to go back and do this again because, um...twelve doors require twice as much as six doors and well, math...

    IMG_6734.jpg

    After measuring moisture, I determined that I was going to have to take this slow. It was a little higher than I prefer and you know...doors. In the end, these piles got processes at least three time.

    IMG_6735.jpg. IMG_6760.jpg

    Which filled this up many times...

    IMG_6758.jpg

    Once I was happy that my components were flat and straight (and I did manage that), some crosscutting to component length ensued...

    IMG_6836.jpg. IMG_6837.jpg

    And that left me this pile of "fun to come" after milling the slot for the knotty pine plywood panels (operation not shown but a "plywood thickness" bit was used for the slots)

    IMG_6838.jpg
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    I'm using Domino tenon joinery for the rails and stiles...dual 10mm Dominos to be specific. Since I chose the easy way for the panel slots, milling them full length in both rails and stiles, I made up some filler pieces out of scrap pine for the stiles that would close up the slots in the area where the tenons would live. Yes, this was a few extra operations, but it was easier and, IMHO, safer than doing stopped slots at the router table, especially with how much fun it was to push the cut through with feather boards, etc. The material was milled up using a thickness planer. Since I was waiting for a part from Italy at that very moment, I ran over to a friend's shop to see a project he was working on and, um...borrowed time on his planer.

    The fillers were cut to length quickly....

    IMG_6840.jpg IMG_6841.jpg

    They were nice and snug as shown on my test piece, so just a little glue would be required to secure them followed by making them flush with a block plane

    IMG_6842.jpg IMG_6843.jpg

    Adding the fillers was done assembly line style...get them ready, put in the glue, whack them in place with a mallet and wait for the glue to dry, then plane them flush

    IMG_6846.jpg IMG_6848.jpg IMG_6851.jpg

    Meanwhile, I worked with my Domino 700 XL to get "the spot" I wanted to insure that the tenons were centered. In most cases, I wouldn't care if there was a slight offset, but I wanted to be anal for some reason...

    IMG_6854.jpg
    Last edited by Jim Becker; 03-16-2020 at 12:10 PM.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    Test pieces are absolutely important here. I actually tried things with a single tenon, but felt that wasn't going to be as secure at preventing racking over time than doubles would be. I re-purposed/add-purposed an existing marking jig I had made years ago to locate the tenons consistently on each stile, not that I'd be mixing and matching, but just to make the whole process go in a regular way.

    IMG_6859.jpg

    That resulted in exactly what I wanted on my test pieces

    IMG_6857.jpg

    At that point, it was time to sort the components and make up sets of rails and stiles for each door. One important part of this was to insure that all four pieces for each door had the thinner/thicker edge along the panel slots lined up. It's impossible to get a single router cut "exactly" centered so there was one side of every piece that was a hair thinner than the other sides. Keeping them matched insure that the Domino tenons were all indexed to the same face for each door. It doesn't matter if one door has the thinner portion out and the next door has the thicker portion out...it's only a tiny amount, but it DOES matter that all of the components use the same surface to index the mortises from the face. My caliper helped with this task and the end result was 12 sets of rails/stiles marked and ready to "do the deed". And wow...that was a lot of mortises to cut!

    IMG_6858.jpg IMG_6860.jpg ADQG4108.jpg

    At about that point, the very nice knotty pine sheet goods were delivered. I was able to rip that on my slider, but because of the stairwell to the right of my machine, I had to use other means to cross-cut the panels to length. Here's the ripped-to-width material waiting to be cut in half

    IMG_6876.jpg

    Yes, I do use my track saw in the shop...for things like this where I just can't handle the material up on the big saw or if it's something too large for my CNC to deal wtih. First cut with actual measuring...

    IMG_6877.jpg

    Subsequent cuts using the first cut to mark the line

    IMG_6878.jpg
    Last edited by Jim Becker; 03-16-2020 at 12:24 PM.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    And the pile gets higher, but shorter.

    IMG_6879.jpg

    And smoother...pre-sanding the panels with a touch of 180 cleaned them up and made them ready for door assembly.

    IMG_6880.jpg

    All the components were relocated from the CNC machine bed because, well...I'll be using that CNC machine bed to assemble the doors. Why? Because it's actually flat. I have to replace my main benchtop because it's got some serious issues that I just don't want to continue to "bandaid" through at this point, especially since my "ideals" for a benchtop have changed over the years. But that's another story for another thread to come.

    IMG_6881.jpg

    I wanted to assemble the doors "on edge" and actually, the CNC table was perfect for this because I could easily screw a few scraps of wood to the MDF table without concern for the holes (there's already about a million of them on it already). And so I did...and it worked beautifully for the task,

    IMG_6883.jpg. IMG_6884.jpg. IMG_6882.jpg IMG_6885.jpg

    The door were a few inches longer than the table, but the workpiece was easy to shift back and forth while I assembled the doors. As each door was glued, it was transfered to the other side of the table and clamped up.

    IMG_6886.jpg
    Last edited by Jim Becker; 03-16-2020 at 12:32 PM.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    Part of the clamping process was to insure that the doors were square...kinda important, you know. But honestly, all but two were nearly perfect and the other two just needed a little gentle persuasion.

    IMG_6890.jpg

    The end result is the nearly completed door. I only had to add a faux center rail which I did in the same manner I trim out my tack trunks.... ~.25" thick stock with a bead of glue and 23 gage pin nails.

    IMG_6893.jpg

    The last operation was to knock off the back corner of the latch side of the doors to insure clearance when they swing on the hinges. These are 1" thick doors, but because of the setting, there was no need to get fancy and do a few degree bevel on that edge like might be done on kitchen and bath cabinets. The openings in the lockers are not perfect as it is. So a chamfer at the router table did the job.

    IMG_6897.jpg

    And at that point, my work was pretty much done...

    IMG_6894.jpg. IMG_6898.jpg

    I will hopefully get photos from the client once he installs the doors and will post them here at that point. Fun project with a happy outcome, but...pine. Not my favorite.

    Speaking of favorites, meet my new shop assistant, one of many it seems. LOL

    IMG_E6852.jpg
    Last edited by Jim Becker; 03-16-2020 at 12:41 PM.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    WNY
    Posts
    9,645
    Nice build along Jim. I just bought some 5/4 pine, too, to build some shutters. You are right, not easy to find and expensive when you do. But cedar was double the price of pine, so pine it was.

    That little guy is what we call a wood bug or stink bug. They are harmless to you and your wood. Just pick him up and throw him out - and then you'll know why they are called stink bugs!

    John

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    Yes, they are Stink Bugs...we've had them for years. This one was just being friendly...or inquisitive...or suicidal. Thanks for your kind comment on the doors. I appreciate it!
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    olmsted falls,ohio
    Posts
    484
    I hate stink bugs.nice build along jim looks great.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    I got a photo of the completed install this afternoon on FB when the client put out a "thank you" post...I'm even more pleased at how they look now that they are hung! No latches yet, but he'll get to that at first opportunity.

    Installed.jpg

    I forgot to mention that the quality of the knotty pine plywood from Industrial Plywood was absolutely excellent. Good stuff!
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    SoCal
    Posts
    22,492
    Blog Entries
    1
    Those look great. Good call on the wood.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    Having to let that wood relax multiple times was indeed frustrating and beneficial at the same time, Glenn. It kept me from rushing things which breeds mistakes and also let me think through things in a more organized way. The downside was having to wait longer to get paid. LOL
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    NE OH
    Posts
    2,615
    Look really nice Jim! Are they going to be finished in place? What finish?
    --I had my patience tested. I'm negative--

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    No idea if there will be a finish on them or not, Paul.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Winterville, NC (eastern NC)
    Posts
    2,360
    Nice build on the doors. I agree that Pine can be troublesome to work with, and hard to find from lumber dealers. I just don't trust the big box stuff for precision work like doors.
    I searched for some pine to make some replacement shutters, but used some local Cypress recycled from pickle vats from the Mount Olive Pickle Company in Eastern NC.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    Mike, the local lumber supplier I used (the same folks who I take stuff to for their wide sander, etc.) had to order this in and had to order it from a different distributor than he normally buys from. Not only did I have to buy a 122 bd fit lot of the material, he had to spend another two grand to meet their minimum order himself. This is one reason I've become very loyal to him for domestic woods.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •