OPJ
Established Member
My CD collection seems to have grown and grown over the last few years and I've been meaning to get a second cheapo CD tower next time I'm going past Argos or somewhere. Before I thought to myself, "hang on a minute, I'm a woodworker and I haven't had a project for a few months now!"
Here's the thing I'm looking to replace. It holds 60 CDs fine. But it's cheap, it's plastic-laminated 'pine-effect' Argos junk. You can see how it just isn't up to the job any more - CDs EVERYWHERE!
So, about two months ago I bought myself some Ash (waaaaay too much for this single project, might I add!) and set about machining the timber I needed after 2 weeks acclimatising indoors. The CD racks came from Woodfit, I got the dimensions for the timber from these, basically.
Three 8"x1"s (for the sides) and a length of 10"x1" (base and top), all roughly 1m long.
It planed up B-E-A-utifuly, as you can see.
...And one heck of a mess on my workshop floor, since I have no extraction whatsoever! :?
You can also see my method of jointing - dowels, just like the flat-packed jobbies; only, these are PROPER beech dowels, with polyureathane glue. This was done using some careful marking out and work on my Clarke drill press, while the sides were drilled using my Wolfcraft dowelling set (below) - dead handy for £14.99 (Screwfix or D&M).
Everything I could possibly need, even though I prefered the Titebond approach to the glue-up.
...Unfortunately, I wasn't quite accurate enough in my setting out! So, I ended up having the plug the incorrect holes with the excess dowels, trim them flush later, double-double check my measurements and start again (yep, I still manage to mess it up just one more time as well!!
)
For the profiles around the edges I used one of the 'Classical' router cutters Rutlands sell as part of their Tornado range. Aside from a couple of burn marks, it made a lovely job. Even though I had to use my router and guide fence as the table I have set up's being a pain in the neck at the moment.
I decided I would hide any visibility through the back simply with a sheet of 3mm hardboard I had lying around. To accomodate this, I cut and 4mm deep rebate half the thickness of the 2 19mm sides and planed the central part (22mm thick) down to 4mm less than the two outside. After the assembly I pinned the panel on with my Tacwise nailer (... :x ), after giving it a quick coat of Danish Oil (why not, eh?).
The Woodfit racks were all carefully screwed in place with some of my own brass screws (they don't seem to supply fixings with these). Without a(n accurate) cross-cutting saw in my 'shop, I clamped the boards together and cut them all to length with a Stanley Jet-Cut handsaw - and did a pretty good job, too, I might add.
After the glue-up, I noticed the same kind of problems that always seem to hit me when using polyureathane glue. I KNOW it will expand several times, but I still insist on using "plenty, just in case"! :lol:
And finally, we're on to some shots of the finished item (after four liberal coats of Rustins' Danish Oil - Woodfit again).
I am very pleased with the outcome, it certainly looks a lot better than that other thing I had before. Generally, the CDs fit rather well - though I'd always advise you to leave a couple of mm extra, each side, to allow an easy fit for the CDs. In the top right, something went wrong and now I struggle to get a few in and out again.
I have compensated for this, however - that is where I keep my least-listened-to albums, you see!! :wink:
I'm happy, my shelf's happy as he gets some breathing space back, my mum's happy with the old one I don't want and it's been a real pleasure working with this Ash - it certainly was a lot kinder than I thought it'd be.
Just don't every mark it with a pen when it's down to finished thickness - always a pain to clean off, much more so than a pencil!
Thanks for reading, hope I didn't make you late for work, bed or an important meeting because of the length! :? :wink:
Olly.
Here's the thing I'm looking to replace. It holds 60 CDs fine. But it's cheap, it's plastic-laminated 'pine-effect' Argos junk. You can see how it just isn't up to the job any more - CDs EVERYWHERE!
So, about two months ago I bought myself some Ash (waaaaay too much for this single project, might I add!) and set about machining the timber I needed after 2 weeks acclimatising indoors. The CD racks came from Woodfit, I got the dimensions for the timber from these, basically.
Three 8"x1"s (for the sides) and a length of 10"x1" (base and top), all roughly 1m long.
It planed up B-E-A-utifuly, as you can see.
...And one heck of a mess on my workshop floor, since I have no extraction whatsoever! :?
You can also see my method of jointing - dowels, just like the flat-packed jobbies; only, these are PROPER beech dowels, with polyureathane glue. This was done using some careful marking out and work on my Clarke drill press, while the sides were drilled using my Wolfcraft dowelling set (below) - dead handy for £14.99 (Screwfix or D&M).
Everything I could possibly need, even though I prefered the Titebond approach to the glue-up.
...Unfortunately, I wasn't quite accurate enough in my setting out! So, I ended up having the plug the incorrect holes with the excess dowels, trim them flush later, double-double check my measurements and start again (yep, I still manage to mess it up just one more time as well!!
)For the profiles around the edges I used one of the 'Classical' router cutters Rutlands sell as part of their Tornado range. Aside from a couple of burn marks, it made a lovely job. Even though I had to use my router and guide fence as the table I have set up's being a pain in the neck at the moment.
I decided I would hide any visibility through the back simply with a sheet of 3mm hardboard I had lying around. To accomodate this, I cut and 4mm deep rebate half the thickness of the 2 19mm sides and planed the central part (22mm thick) down to 4mm less than the two outside. After the assembly I pinned the panel on with my Tacwise nailer (... :x ), after giving it a quick coat of Danish Oil (why not, eh?).
The Woodfit racks were all carefully screwed in place with some of my own brass screws (they don't seem to supply fixings with these). Without a(n accurate) cross-cutting saw in my 'shop, I clamped the boards together and cut them all to length with a Stanley Jet-Cut handsaw - and did a pretty good job, too, I might add.
After the glue-up, I noticed the same kind of problems that always seem to hit me when using polyureathane glue. I KNOW it will expand several times, but I still insist on using "plenty, just in case"! :lol:
And finally, we're on to some shots of the finished item (after four liberal coats of Rustins' Danish Oil - Woodfit again).
I am very pleased with the outcome, it certainly looks a lot better than that other thing I had before. Generally, the CDs fit rather well - though I'd always advise you to leave a couple of mm extra, each side, to allow an easy fit for the CDs. In the top right, something went wrong and now I struggle to get a few in and out again.
I have compensated for this, however - that is where I keep my least-listened-to albums, you see!! :wink:
I'm happy, my shelf's happy as he gets some breathing space back, my mum's happy with the old one I don't want and it's been a real pleasure working with this Ash - it certainly was a lot kinder than I thought it'd be.
Just don't every mark it with a pen when it's down to finished thickness - always a pain to clean off, much more so than a pencil!
Thanks for reading, hope I didn't make you late for work, bed or an important meeting because of the length! :? :wink:
Olly.
