Final Project Update 2 Complete-Kelsey Osburn

I finally finished the jewelry cubby shelf. Probably the hardest thing about completing this project was planning and knowing exactly what to do next and getting the right measurements for every piece of plywood I was using. I crossed cut and ripped multiple pieces of plywood to make my frame, the shelves, and the compartments. Even though this class did give me trouble from time to time, I did learn a lot from it and it was a great experience.

Jesse Schulman final project: Complete!

This whole thing was definitely a learning experience. When I started this class I was so afraid of working with power tools, walking into the scene studio felt like walking to the gallows.
Over the course of this project, I learned to use the circular saw, table saw, band saw, pocket hole machine, speed square, and probably a ton of other things with names I can't remember at 12:46 in the morning.

After a semester of this, I now feel almost entirely comfortable in the scene studio. The project wasn't without it's difficulties (I still can't believe I cut the plywood backwards the first time), but all in all, I feel very satisfied with the outcome. (Still, as far as creative projects go, in the future I'll probably stick mostly towards making comics :P)

Final Project (Whole Process)

The first order of business was to cut the wood in preparation of building the table. I made cross-cuts to specific lengths and stacked the wood near the table saw. The next day, I started to create the truss. I calculated the angle of the diagonal members of the truss by assuming the outer edge of the 2x4 would meet at a third of the length of the horizontal 2x4 members. The main way I fastened everything in this project was by pocket holes and screws. It was a very clean and aesthetically pleasing way of fastening the table together. The next step was to create the legs of the table, which were made with 4x4 post. Two 2'-6" posts would stand vertically and two horizontal posts, 1'2" and 2', held the two vertical legs together. Again, pocket screws were the fasteners, but I had two screws on each side of the post instead of the just one side for the 2x4's. The next step was to fasten the legs to the truss itself. For both the truss and legs, I used small bar clamps to push the wood together to keep everything flush. To assemble the table itself, I had to use heavy pipe clamps that would reach from one leg to the other in order to push the truss together with the legs at both ends. The pipe clamps were necessary, since I needed this connection to be stable as I fastened the legs into the truss. The last step was to create and table top and fasten it to the rest of the table. The 2x6 wood I used was fairly warped, so the top was initial curvy and could somewhat roll. I also needed an extra 2x4 plank in the center, as 4 2x6 wood cut to 3'-11" was not enough cover the width of the table. The top was put together with pocket screws and fastened to the table with 2 1/2 inch dry wall screws. The final product looked really good. I was actually happy with what I made, despite some frustrations that came with constructing the legs, as I had trouble using the clamps, initially. I decided to sand down the table a little to make it a little smoother. All in all, the truss tables was made fairly well, except for some dimension errors and inherent flaws in the wood.

Final Project 2nd half progress

Today I finished piecing the hexagonal boxes together and finished my project. I ran into a few roadblocks along the way though. In order to get a good shape for the boxes, the pieces had to be glued together quickly which was a little hectic when the glue began dripping. After I glued ad strapped them together though it was quick work with the pin nailer, nailing each piece in on each side/angle in order to get the tightest fit.

 Here's some of the finished boxes:

My next challenge was geometrically fitting the boxes together. Since they're not really perfect I had to use quite a bit of clamps in order to hold them in the right place as I glued and screwed them together. Once finished, i sanded all of the rough edges and made sure the face of the design was sanded, Heres the finished product:

Final Project 1st half progress

For the first half of my project, I had to do a lot of planning before I could really jump into construction. Using Tim's help, I developed a strategy to be able to accurately cut the same angle and length into each piece I needed. After that, I spent a long time cutting the 1x10s into (49) 6 inch trapezoids as seen below. Lastly, I sanded the pieces down to remove all of the rough cutting edges.

Next, Ill prepare to glue and nail the hexagonal boxes together

Madeline Grimes Final Project Process Part 2

I finished my project today! I arrived at the scenic studio at 10am and spent an additional 3 1/2 hours finishing up my cabinet. The majority of this time was spent trying to correct the problem of the warped wood. While it is still not perfect, it is considerably better.

I began the process of trying to un-warp my wood by stacking weights of top of one side and attaching a piece of wood diagonally on the inside of one side to provide more structure: 

This is a close up of the piece of wood I attached to the inside of the cabinet. I did so with glue and 1/4" crown staples:

While I waited for the glue to dry, I sanded down the pocket screw fillers I had inserted a couple days ago when I accidentally put the pockets on the wrong side. I also sanded down the rest of the cabinet, making sure that all sides were flush: 

I also attached a small piece of wood to one of the cabinet doors with pin nails. This took care of the small gap that was between the two doors:

Finally, I attached a pieces of wood to the bottom of my project to add even more structure and even out the warped wood. This helped a lot, but I also ended up having to add a couple washers in between the hinges on the top right side, and the bottom left side of the cabinet. This resulted in a pretty good looking finished product! 

Nico Champion FINAL Final Project Update 4

Hey Diary,

This is my final update as I completed my project today.

Yesterday, I built my drawer. I had it all cut and ready, but then Tim and I realized that when I'd gone to Woodcraft previously to purchase a drill bit, I'd purchased the incorrect attachment bit and I needed to go back. So I made the trek back to Woodcraft, this time to be helped by a nice man named Louis. They're all lovely folks there at Woodcraft and I feel connected to them now, thus I will no longer buy supplies from any other (inferior) hardware store. Here's a picture of Woodcraft, for those curious, as well as one of Louis (he's the guy behind the counter whose head seems to be coming out of the other guy's shoulder):

After I returned to the shop, I constructed my drawer using my fancy new bit and some corner clamps, pictured below:

Today, when I came in again, I was ready to install the drawer glides. Unfortunately, drawer guides come directly from Satan and thus are very difficult to install. After I had put all the pieces together, it didn't fit at all. I had to do several things, including putting washers under all my screws to make the drawer longer, cutting the bottom of the draw off some (Tim took off the whole plastic bit from the top of the table saw to assist with this; seems dangerous but who am I to judge), and move the actual glides down by about 1/16th of an inch, as shown below:

Finally, the drawer fit in. All I had left to do was install the knob and edge band the shelves, shown below:

And I was done! Here are my final thoughts on the process:

1. I'm a hole drilling machine
2. I'm an edge banding machine
3. I would not make a good cabinet maker
4. This project would not have been completed without the help of all my good friends at Woodcraft
5. The Woodcraft boys are all my best friends now, coincidentally
6. Tim = number one construction man
7. Spending about 25 hours of work on something really gets you invested in it

Here's a picture of my final project (shelves not placed in).

Until next time diary,

Nico

Casey Deal Pantry Building Process

This process started with me battling yet again with my old friend SketchUp.

As shown above I was victorious (although it did take me like 2 hours). 

I then decided to make a cut list on paper with a pencil instead of using SketchUp again. The part I struggled with the most was keeping the grain of the wood in mind. This proved to be somewhat of a challenge later when my good friend Holly and I were trying to share a piece of Plywood. Eventually it all worked out and I got all of my pieces out of the two pieces of Plywood. 

These are two pictures of all of my cut up plywood. We used mostly the table saw to rip and crosscut the plywood. After all my pieces were cut I measured and made holes for my pocket screws. 

As advised by Tim, I set up my pantry horizontally on a shop table and used corner braces to align the top piece to the side pieces and pounded them in place with a rubber mallet. This was the end of my first day in the shop. To start the next day I stood on the table and screwed the sides into the top. 

Unfortunately, one of my pocket screw holes didn't line up properly when I screwed the screw in so Tim showed me this fancy tool to realign the hole. I ended up adding another pocket screw hole next to this one and then screwed screws into both of the pocket holes.  

Then (with Tim's help) I flipped my pantry upside down onto the top shelf so I could add in my next two permanent shelves. Next I made 11" spacers to ensure my shelves would be even and straight. And used a bar clamp to keep the sides of my pantry close to the shelve pieces as I screwed them in. 

Here is my pantry on its head with both of my permanent shelves attached and all the tools I used in a pile next to it. I used the same method to attach the second shelf as I did for the first one. 

Then I had to go through and measure where I wanted my optional shelve braces to go. Initially I had installed the braces upside down (because the pantry itself was upside down so really it was right side up but either way I did it wrong but fixed it quickly). To do this I used the same 11" spacers and actually set my optional shelves up on them similarly to how I did for my permanent shelves. I measured out how far each brace should be in from the edge and then screwed the braces in accordingly. Also I was standing on the table for almost all of this process.

Next I had Holly help me flip my pantry onto its front so I could attach the back of it. To attach the back I used wood glue and staples. Before I could staple in the back I had to measure where the middle shelf was so I could staple into it without seeing it. I put the glue on first and then I put the staples in.  

Then I used some pieces of 1x4 that Tim had in the scene shop. I used the power miter saw to crosscut the pieces into the length I needed. I annoyingly somehow managed to cut both pieces about a fourth of an inch to long and had to tediously trim them down to correct. Then I used wood glue and staples again to attach these support straps to the back of my side panels. As I was attaching the pieces the side panel slanted inwards so the right side of the bottom strap was attached wrong. I had to use a rubber mallet to take it out and then pull the staples out of it and then reattach it to the sides. 

Next with Tim's help I took my pantry off the table and for the first time stood it up like how it will eventually stand for the rest of its life. At this point all I had left to attach was the cabinet doors (silly me thinking the hard part was over).

(After realizing I only had half of the number of hinges I needed) I followed the very vague directions that came with the hinges I bought. I created two 12mm deep holes using the 35mm bit on the drill press (my favorite tool). Then I drilled a hole into each door for the handles I bought using the 1/8 drill bit, which turned out to be too small causing issues later with the screws for the handles. 

Then after much frustration I had the one cabinet door attached with the hinges I had bought.  

UNFORTUNATELY the hinges I bought were for face frame cabinets which is not the kind of cabinet I was making. So the cabinet door hung over the side of the cabinet which was not what I had intended. 

Tim realized that I had bought the wrong hinges and actually found a set of correct hinges in the studio that he was willing to trade with me for the wrong one I bought. He only had two instead of the four I needed so I still had to go back to Home Depot but it worked out in the end. I attached the other door with Tim's correct hinges. The correct hinges are called frameless cabinet hinges, who knew? This was the end of day two.

The correct hinges did not hang over the side of the cabinet but they did come in from the side about an eighth of an inch which later proved to be an issue.

So I went to Home Depot and got another set of the correct hinges but that eighth of an inch came back to haunt me and my doors actually wouldn't close properly due to it. So I had to take the doors off the cabinet, and take the handles out of the doors. Then I set the table saw to 10 and 7/8th inches and trimmed both of the doors down to the smaller size. 

After the doors were the correct length I made the holes for the screws for the handles bigger by using a larger drill bit and they slid in with much more ease this time. And after that I got the doors screwed back into the hinges and my pantry was complete! End of day three.

Here is my lovely pantry in its new home already stocked with snacks! While some of the dimensions were not what I had originally planned in my design I am very happy with the way my pantry turned out. As shown above the optional shelves for later fit perfectly between the cabinet sides and the microfridge, and the braces for the optional shelves do not get in the way of the microfridge which is also good. I'm excited to get to use it a ton in the coming semesters! A big shout out to Tim for all the help in the construction process as well as a shout out to Holly and Tyler for helping me get my pantry to the fourth floor of Thomas.