Storage: A Cabinet Under The ShopSmith, Part 2

There!  Close enough to done that I feel okay about writing this post.  I've got 4 doors left to install, and then hang it from the ShopSmith (I've gotta get some carriage bolts to do that!)

Also, it was stinkin' hot in the shop today!  I was certainly a sweaty yeti, but I drank lots of water and persevered.  Not having AC in a garage shop in Phoenix is not particularly enjoyable, but I really wanted to get this assembly done today.

Another important lesson learned: if you're using material that is thicker than what the plans call for, you have to allow for that in your cuts.  It seems so obvious in retrospect, but at the time that I was cutting, I thought that everything would regulate, since I was using material that was consistently thicker.  I had to do a lot more cutting for the shelves and doors to fit.  That's the main reason that assembly was not entirely completed.

Assembling the cabinet base

Counter-sink those screws!

Main carcasse assembled

Yay dados....

Shelf supports going in!

Partition and shelf installed!

Sliding shelves installed

Door and cabinet back installed

Hooray for the doorknob!

The body of this cabinet was assembled with Titebond II glue and #6 flat head wood screws.  I failed to take pictures of the intermediate step of a dry assembly with clamps so that I could drill and countersink pilot holes for all the screws.
Now, dados are very strong mechanical wood joints, but since this is supposed to be suspended AND hold a lot of tools (some of which are quite heavy) all the joints have been reinforced with screws as well.

As you can see in some of the pictures, a couple of the shelves have some dados cut in them.  These are an example of that "measure 15 times, cut 50" thing that I was talking about in my last post.  Those 2 shelves were originally cut way undersized.  I'm not sure how that happened, but I had to use some scrap that was in the pile to replace them.  I will eventually replace those shelves, as material becomes available.

Other things I need to do: either sharpen my chisels, or get a hinge mortising bit for my router.  The strap hinges need to be recessed just a touch, and until I do that, the doors don't close correctly.  It also doesn't help that, while the body as a whole is pretty darn close to square, slight warping of some of the panels led to the shelf partition being a bit-more-than-slightly out of square.  Had I realized that was happening, I would have glued and screwed the back panel of that partition in place before screwing down the central partition.

Another thing I should really get: a stacked dado set.  Having that would have saved me a LOT of grief on cutting these dados.  That and maybe measuring 20 times.

Had to patch an incorrectly placed dado

These dados are a bit oversized.

Final verdict: Overall I am satisfied with this being my first complex project involving a decent number of techniques.  Could it have been better?  Absolutely.  That being said, though, it will certainly serve its purpose, and I am happy with the final result at this stage of my learning.  I will likely build another one down the road when my skills have improved, and that will be an interesting experience!

Parting thoughts: I have discovered that theoretical knowledge gleaned from reading and/or watching videos will only take you so far.  In the end, you've got to really practice those skills and techniques in order to convert that theoretical understanding into practical know-how.  So, I'm going to do what I should have started with: skill practice.

If you're just joining, Click here for part 1 of this project, or here for part 3.

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Storage: A Cabinet Under The ShopSmith, Part 1

It may not be incredibly obvious from this picture, but there is a lot of open space underneath the ShopSmith.  This machine also has quite a lot of accessories!  The base package has a miter gauge, a big rip fence, 3 10" saw blades, a 12" sanding disc (with a few sheets of sand paper), upper and lower saw guards, drill chuck (with key), a lathe tool rest, tail stock, cup center, drive spur, and a safety package including a feather board, over-fence push block, push stick and gripping push block.  Some older models also come with a set of drill bits and a set of lathe chisels.  That's a lot, and doesn't include any of the accessories for any of the SPTs. It makes a lot of sense then, to keep as many of these tools with or near the ShopSmith.

Several years ago, ShopSmith published a magazine, HandsOn!  Several of these back issues are available on ShopSmith's website.  One of the projects was an under-the-Mark-V cabinet.  I stumbled across this plan some time ago, and have been planning to make it for my shop.  I'm finally tackling this project!

On the surface, this cabinet doesn't look that complicated, and it has storage for a LOT of ShopSmith accessories.

 

I quickly discovered that simple is fairly relative.  While it's certainly not overly complicated, there are quite a few areas that are relatively easy to mess up.  Some errors can be easily dealt with, others require cutting a whole new panel.  I encountered a few of the latter, much to my chagrin.

Right between the center and right-hand tables, you can see three panels that I messed up.

 Though I tried my best to "measure twice, cut once", on more than one occasion it was more like "measure 15 times, cut 50".  Later I realized that some of these problems were due to some alignment issues, while others had more to do with process and personal attention.  I'm still learning, so process will improve, and the extensive extra work taught me the value of really paying attention to measurement details.  My next topic is going to cover the alignment, maintenance and cleaning issues.

I learned some interesting techniques with this cabinet, such as "fluttering" the quill to cut dados without a dado blade (or dado stack)

Dado, dado, dado!  I cut you from the wood!

Even though I did the initial break down of the plywood with my circular saw and straightedge guides (scroll to the bottom of this page for some plans for one of your own!), I also learned a bit about dealing with larger stock on the table saw.

Blade guard added for the saw's safety!

Due to a lot of extra work due to cutting errors, I wasn't able to get the cabinet assembled and placed in time for this post.  Part 2 of this post will go over all of the assembly, including hardware placement, as well as some finishing.  But here are a couple of pictures of all the pieces cut and (mostly) ready for assembly!

This is the main carcasse, shelves and mounting supports

Here are the doors!

Looking for the rest?  Part 2 and Part 3 are available!

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Workbench: It Works If You Work It (And Build It)!!

After tackling the lumber rack, I began looking around for workbench ideas that would function well in my shop.  Given my available space, major tools already owned, and current skill level, I had a hard time finding something that would work!

My shop is a 17'x10' one-car garage with limited electrical; that is, there is one outlet in the ceiling (designed for a garage door opener), and one on the far back wall.  The ceiling is a good height (about 10'), and it has both a big garage door, and a regular door in the adjacent wall.  The lumber rack is installed on the same side as the door, which leaves me a 10' wall and a 17' wall available.

Before I got the ShopSmith, I had built a torsion box workbench.  Unfortunately, having no knowledge of what I was doing, I made several major errors.  Mainly, I didn't let the dimensional lumber dry and acclimate to my shop after bringing it home from the big box store.  The bench top was bowed, and the front rail had nearly pulled away from the bench make the tail vise and dog holes useless.  There were several other problems, but those were the worst.  You can see the disassembled boxes on and behind my lumber rack.

Once I got the ShopSmith, I knew that I wanted to make it the heart of the shop.  That means that the bench needs to be out on the periphery, along one of the walls.  I also wanted to keep it fairly simple, while still offering a lot of capability and options for "upgrades".  That was all fulfilled by this modular workbench.

At 16' long by 2' deep, it offers tons of work surface and fits perfectly in my shop.

It only looks like I'm working!

Tools!  Free wood!  Clamps!!

I made a fairly major modification, in that I have a radial arm saw instead of a miter saw.

Such table!

Very securely mounted to the wall

There are several parts of the build that I have not yet completed, but the main body of the bench is done, and that's what I needed.  Obviously, I won't be making the swing-out table saw component, which works as I'm using that space to store some found wood that have given me a few ideas.  I do plan on making the rolling drawers, the slide out hardware organizers and flip-up assembly table.  I will cover those in later posts.

One thing I added that I'm happy with is a power strip.  I cut off a length of 14g extension cord that included the male plug.  This runs under the bench to the left of the radial arm saw to the outlet on the back wall, then comes up on the right side of the saw and is wired into a multi-outlet strip.  Now I can use powered hand tools on that side of the bench without having cords all over the floor.

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