1st proper project - HELP!!

[Stanleymonkey]

Definitely agree with getting a yard / merchant to cut them for you.

It's nice to have the first step already done and done accurately. The day you plan on cutting that sheet of ply down it will be -10 degrees and a month's worth of rain will have fallen the night before and you will be cursing as you slide down to the garage.

Make a small toolbox / parts box first and practise the skills. Rebate that and learn from any mistakes before you go to a large project. You'll end up with a useful box and a bit more knowledge.

Good luck - hope the pictures load up soon. Get some advice, help and supervision with the router please. They go round a couple of hundred times every second. No one's brain or reflexes work fast enough when you mess up with one of those. You just get a massive scare and normally do something stupid as well.

 

[MikeG.]

........sorry about the immages. i cant get them to work.

Nev has told you how, 4 posts up.

i was going to paint it so i'm not sure what lipping to do

You can't just paint the edge of ply, it looks terrible. So, you have to glue a piece of timber on to the edges. The issue is that it is quite a skilled thing to plane and sand that back to being perfectly flush with the top and bottom such that the junction doesn't show through the paint.

i am going to support the shelves at the uprights

Is there another way? So how? This is the number one design decision of the whole piece of furniture. Traditionally, shelves are either housed into the verticals, or they are supported on proprietary supports, including, for instance, brass banjo supports.

i was thinking about trenching out the backs a bit to make the shelves sit in a bit.

That's highly unorthodox, because it would force you to have a really thick, heavy back. Shelves are normally supported at the ends only.

i will put a face frame on. (what would be the best wood for this?)

Poplar/ tulipwood is the usual paint-grade timber, but you can also use standard pine (AKA redwood), which will probably be cheaper, and in PAR form will be available in the size you require thus saving you a whole lot of work.

it will just sit right onto carpet.

It's trivial at the moment, but is critical that the top of the shelf unit is fixed to the wall, usually with a small bracket, otherwise they can easily topple forward. This is especially so when they sit on carpet, which is obviously soft and flexible, providing an unstable base.

 

[Lons]

BH
Take note of the advice given it's all good, continue asking questions and keep an open mind, you'll never stop learning and will develop and adapt methods that suit you.

Good luck with your woodworking adventure, I bought my first power tool when I was 12 using paper round earnings.

Above all, stay safe!

cheers
Bob

 

[TheTiddles]

I think at 15 he's not legal with ANY power tools :shock: :shock: =D>

Be careful lad, powered saw blades are very unforgiving. :roll: :roll:

ask anyone ive worked with. i dont fool about with power tools. ive seen 25 year olds using tools in more dangerous ways.

sorry. that sounded really arrogant. i will happily admit i have a lot to learn and will learn from anyone. appoligies if i upset anyone

What you've just bumped into is age discrimination, personally I'd rather see a teenager with a circular saw than some fuddy-duddy with poor eye sight getting in a car, at least the teenager will only hurt themselves. You might well already have more experience than many people on this forum.

You have one huge advantage these days that's developed over the last 25 years, you can see the world's combined woodwork design experience on the Internet for free and learn from it, you used to have to borrow/buy out of date books or buy ridiculously expensive magazines to see a handful of mediocre projects (and the odd very rare exceptional one). You're also getting great advice here so to add mine (if you want it)...

1) spend a bit of time designing it well and in general it goes much better
2) buy good materials (if you can)
3) buy good tools (if you can)

You might find a local member who's willing to help you out, there's a lot of kind people out there

Aidan

 

[Bm101]

While I agree with Mikes comments. If you are in need of a means of cutting sheet then i have one of these bought used on here. Its brilliant.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-gks12v ... gJswfD_BwE

By chance. Lidls have their version in store today for £25. Qiarter of the price. Look online on here under advanced search options for reviews.

Cut an edge off a sheet of mdf. Use that as a cutting guide. Its free.
Good luck. Love to see your efforts good and bad.

 

[Bm101]

Just a thought. I dug out an old stanley blockplane from a joblot from the shed last weekend. 110 or 120 maybe? It's in a state but not car crash measures. Needs cleaning up but I'll chuck in some citric acid. It's yours for nowt. Upgrade the iron mind. Just saying.
Pm me your address.
Regards.
Chris

 

[BHwoodworking]

Hi BH
Your images don't show because the (img) tags are use to link to a pic hosted elsewhere. You need to use the upload attachment function from below the save draft / preview/ submit buttons (don't forget to click the 'add the file' button.)

more info in the picture guide at the top of the forum page picture-posting-guide-t63716.html#p1138049

its just some very rough plans.

ive made some better ones on setchup

TVM

 

[BHwoodworking]

While I agree with Mikes comments. If you are in need of a means of cutting sheet then i have one of these bought used on here. Its brilliant.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-gks12v ... gJswfD_BwE

thanks for the idea.

just one hitch

i only run makita 18v so i might get one of theres or a corded one

 

[MikeG.]

If I'm reading your diagram correctly you are planning on metre long shelves. Is that right? If so, I would be very nervous of doing metre long unsupported shelves in ex-inch thick oak, and ply just won't do it *(here's the Sagulator, where you can put the numbers in yourself). You need to reduce the span somehow.

* You need 25mm ply for the shelves, fixed into housings at the verticals, before you can make ply shelves work for that span. Inch ply costs an absolute fortune.

 

[Rich C]

On the whole subject of lipping ply, can you just bash a bit of filler on the edge, sand smooth and then paint? Or does that not give a good finish?

 

[AndyT]

On the whole subject of lipping ply, can you just bash a bit of filler on the edge, sand smooth and then paint? Or does that not give a good finish?

Of course you can. Or with half decent ply you can make a feature of the edges. Or you can use iron on edging and spend some time trimming it back flush - cheap in materials but takes a while with ordinary tools.

One of the many unknowns about this project is what level of loveliness is required - is it to be a feature in the living room or utilitarian storage in the attic?

 

[BHwoodworking]

its for my room. its going to be hidden in the corner.

ive spocken to ma and pa about it and they suggested using pine board and buisceting of doweling it together to make it into a bigger sheet. would that be suitable.

Does anyone want me to put a skechup file on?

 

[MikeG.]

Much better. Solid timber will be so much easier, and so much stronger. You can do proper joints.

And yes to a proper drawing.

 

[BHwoodworking]

how can i get it on a skechup file on here?

 

[BHwoodworking]

here are some picture. tallest edge is 1660mm and the shortest edge is 740mm the width is 1000mm

the top of the storage area is 400mm from the base.

the shelves have also been moved closer together

they are now 250mm apart. i haven't done any of the fixings other than the bottom ones for the storage area

 

[BigMonka]

That looks like a cool project, although the angled housings on the slanted slide might be quite tricky to get accurate.
The other thing I'd mention is that with shelves spaced at 250mm you won't be able to stand up anything A4 (which is 297mm tall) or A4 folders which are even taller. Just something to think about as being a student you may have a few things like that to store.

 

[Rich C]

Good point on the shelf spacing - I put up a set for larger books and files recently, they are 320 mm apart (top edge to bottom edge) which seems about right for A4 sized stuff.

 

[AndyT]

That design might be achievable but it's unusual and challenging, because that slanting support on the right hand side will be tending to collapse, rather than taking the weight of the shelves.

If you make a cardboard mock-up (which could be half size) from cartons and gaffer tape, you'll get a practical feel for how it will behave.

The little triangular spaces on the right hand side won't be much use for storage, so ask yourself if you'd be better off designing them out.

One option would be for a stack of separate boxes, in graduated sizes, as big as would fit the space.

They'd be much easier to make while you are gaining experience and they'd be potentially more useful in future, as they would not be so tied to the one room.

You'll be able to find designs for boxes designed to stack - search for barrister's bookcases - or just make them plain. They are often glazed, but don't have to be. Roy Underhill did a nice version here which is worth a watch

https://video.unctv.org/video/the-woodw ... for-books/

 

[BHwoodworking]

That looks like a cool project, although the angled housings on the slanted slide might be quite tricky to get accurate.
The other thing I'd mention is that with shelves spaced at 250mm you won't be able to stand up anything A4 (which is 297mm tall) or A4 folders which are even taller. Just something to think about as being a student you may have a few things like that to store.

these were going to be holding paper backs like biggles as non-fiction war stories e.g. red platoon, sniper one so on and so forth

 

[BHwoodworking]

erm.. on again.

does anyone know of a decent timber merchant that you don't have to pay through the nose for?
Preferably near the HG postcode.

just as the Xmas holidays are coming up and i'll need to get my hands on it before then for something to do in the hols.

(is titebond 1 suitable for this sort of project?)