The Shop Table - Final Touches

The edging is made using 3/4"x1" solid wood. They have been cut to length and mitered using the plywood/hardboard to get the actual dimensions. The idea for the edging is to cover the edges of the plywood and to provide a way to contain the hardboard.

Here are the edging pieces installed. They were set by using a small-ish piece of 1/4" hardboard to align the top of the edging with the top of the hardboard and glued and pin nailed to the plywood edge. I didn't use the final piece of hardboard because I don't want the glue squeeze-out to permanently attach the hardboard. Once the glue had a chance to set-up, I then installed the hardboard.

For right now, the hardboard will just sit on top. I want to stain and poly the edging, so for now, it will float.





I had to do a little bit of trimming around the edges of the hardboard to get a nice, snug fit.







And here it is. Done. I'm still deciding whether or not to poly the hardboard.






One more shot annnnnnnd...we're done. All that's left to do is load it up. I enjoyed building this project and it'll be a welcome addition to the shop.





I had mentioned in a previous post that I'd provide plans for The Shop Table. I've had these all along, but they really weren't ready for final distribution until now. I've made a few changes that I ran into as I was building and modified the cutting diagram to use standard boards (I originally made the diagrams based on the rough cut wood I already had). I also found a way to get the drawings I made into PDF format.

You are welcome to download, use and distribute these as long as you don't modify them in any way or sell them. I might also add that I made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and completeness of these drawings, however, they are being made available as-is without warranty or guarantee. And always remember to work safely.

The Shop Table Plans - (336kb PDF)

The Shop Table - Cutting The Top

It's been a few days since my last post. The finishing always seems to take a while and I just completed it. The cabinet work is done and I've even installed those fuzzy brown bumpers on the doors to keep them from slamming. After cleaning-up the shop a bit, it's time to get started on the top.

The top starts with a sheet of 3/4" plywood. It's sitting on 'sleeper supports' to elevate it above the workbench and prevent me from cutting into the workbench top. I use a long straight edge designed for cutting large material. After aligning it with my marks, I clamp it to the plywood at each end. The straight edge is actually two pieces of extruded aluminum connected end-to-end with an aluminum plate. This makes it easier to store when not in use, however, this connection and the length of the straight edge causes it to flex a little in the center. To overcome this flexing, I simply place a stiffener (just a piece of scrap) tight to the straight edge near the center and clamp it to the plywood.

Next, I set the depth of cut on my saw slightly deeper than the thickness of the material. This makes it easier to push the saw through the plywood and the sleeper supports plus helps to ensure I will not cut the bench top. Once this is all set up, I make the cut and put the drop piece in the 'future project' pile.


Once the plywood is ripped to width, I can now cross-cut it to length. For this cut, I'm using another handy device called a panel clamp. It's also an extruded aluminum straight edge, but this one has it own clamp. Simply place the fixed clamp pad against the edge of the material, line-up the edge with your marks, move the adjustable clamp pad against the other side of the material and lock the clamp. Once again, I make the cut and add the drop to 'the pile'.

There's a couple of things worth noting about the two cuts I've just made. First, both straight edges are clamped to the piece I want to keep. This is because, as you come to the end of the cut, the pieces have a tendency to move a bit since there's very little material holding them together. When the guide is on the piece you want to keep and you keep the saw tight to the guide, you'll get a consistent cut instead of a fish-tail at the end. The second thing concerns cross-cutting. Since you cut parallel to the sleeper supports, you run the risk of the material falling (to the bench top) or sagging as you get further into the cut. To overcome this, use four sleeper supports and place two on either side near where you're cutting, but not directly under the cut. The other two go on each end of the material. This gives you two supports under, what will be, each piece and keeps the pieces from falling which promotes a cleaner cut. I also helps prevent kick-back, so I suppose it's also for safety.

After cutting the plywood, I cut a piece of 1/4" hardboard in the same fashion so that it's about 1/2" larger than the plywood in both directions. I then position the hardboard on the plywood so that it overhangs a bit on all four sides and clamp it to the plywood. The whole thing is then clamped to the bench.

I install a flush-trim bit in my router and set the depth so that the bearing will ride along the edge of the plywood and the cutter will cut the hardboard. Running the router around the edges makes the hardboard exactly the same size and shape as the plywood. This is known as pattern routing and is very effective. It is also very dusty. You have to keep moving the clamps around as you trim each edge. One clamp on the three edges that are not being trimmed is sufficient.


Here's a picture of the in-progress top sitting on the finished (but somewhat dusty) cabinet. You can see how the top will overhang the cabinet on the far end. This is to allow for the planer cart which is somewhere in the 'future project' pile.



Here's a different angle to show the overhang a little bit better.






Next, the top will receive a 3/4" wood wrap all around. This will be used to cover the plywood edges and to contain the hardboard. The big-picture plan is for the hardboard to not be permanently attached and be replaceable in case of damage (or excessive glue bumps). That's enough for tonight, I'll tackle the edging tomorrow.

The Shop Table - Beginning the Finish

Finishing a project has never been my favorite thing to do. Anticipation of seeing the final result makes for a bit of excitement while I'm preparing the shop for this brilliant transformation. Of course, this fades within the first 5 minutes.
I chose a medium-dark stain for the cabinet called 'Gunstock' (aka 'Mission Oak'). I say chose, but actually, I bought this awhile ago for another project and had a pretty good idea of how it was going to look.

Here's a few pictures of the stained pieces. I basically flood on a coat of stain, let it sit for a few minutes then wipe off the excess, blending as much as possible. This helps with getting an even coverage.



The pictures don't accurately show the color, but it gives you some idea. As you can see, I've already put the shop table to work. It's the perfect size to store the doors while they dry.




Here's a shot of a drawer front...again with the color. I think I need some better lighting in the shop for pictures.





And another drawer.








I'm pleased with the color. The next step will be to apply a couple coats of a wipe-on poly.
A quick update on the top. We had a nice day (no rain) yesterday, so I got the material. As soon as the finish is, well, finished, I'll get started on that.

The Shop Table - Installing Drawer Fronts

Now that the doors have been installed, we can locate and install the drawer fronts. I've tweaked the doors a bit using the adjustment screws on the hinges. I have to the say, I really like the European hinges. Installation and adjustments are a snap and they're even self-closing! These things have it all. On to the drawer fronts.

To start, I've cut a piece of 1/4" hardboard to act as a spacer behind the drawer front. This will be sandwiched between the 1/4" plywood of the drawer front and the front of the drawer box and is attached with double-sided tape. While I have the tape out, I cut a couple of small pieces and stick them to the drawer box. This will temporarily hold the drawer front until I can get the clamps on. Using a 1/2" MDF spacer placed on top of the door, I position the drawer front, aligning it with the edge of the door. Press the drawer front so that it bonds to the drawer box and then carefully open the drawer just enough to get the clamps on.

Remove the drawer from the cabinet and stand it up on the corner of the workbench. I pre-drilled and installed four 1-1/4" screws through the drawer box front into the drawer front - two on top and two on the bottom. Remove the clamps, put the drawer back in the cabinet and then move on to the next one. As far as the order of drawer front installation, I normally start on the outside and work my way in. Since I only have three drawers, once I did the outside drawer fronts, the middle drawer front was centered between those.

And when all of that was done, I ended up with this. Now that we have operating drawers and doors, let's make them easier to open.






The drawer/door pulls are pretty straight forward. I only had a couple of quirks to work out. First, the screws provided with the pulls are too short for the drawers, which is a typical problem if you use applied drawer fronts. Secondly, the pulls I bought (which kind-of match the workbench) aren't tall enough to get a grip on when placed directly on the drawer front panel. So, I used a 1/4" thick maple shim and a #12 x 2" long screw. Problems solved. I stick a piece of masking tape about where the pull will be and then mark all of the drawer fronts. I then drill a 1/4" dia. hole through the drawer front and the drawer box. Install the screw from inside the drawer, place the shim and screw on the pull. As I was holding the pull and driving the screw, the shim spun around a bit until everything was tight. It stopped on a diamond shape, which I thought looked pleasing. So I turned the others to match. Makes a nice accent.

Well, here it is. Except for some sanding and the top, there's no more woodworking to do. It's been rainy the past few days and I haven't been able to get the material for the top, so maybe I'll start finishing the cabinet. I plan on a coat of stain (something medium to dark in color) and a couple coats of wipe-on poly. You can look forward to those pictures soon. I probably won't have alot of dialog with them since it's mostly just 'wipe on, wipe off'.

The Shop Table - Installing The Doors

Well, the doors and drawer fronts are out of the clamps and ready for action. This round will be all about installing the doors (we'll get to drawer fronts soon). This is my first time installing European style door hinges, so this should be interesting for both of us. I have, however, installed 'regular' hinges many times. I'm guessing the process is similar.

Before I get too far along, I want to treat the edges of the doors and drawer fronts. This will be a simple round-over made on the router table. I want to ease all four edges of the 'outside' (the face that you see when the cabinet is all closed up). It's an easy setup and operation, but it adds a lot to the look of the panels.



Here's the installation of the doors. I won't go through all of the measuring, math, head-scratching, math and measuring I went through to obtain the locations of the hinges and holes, let's just pretend they magically appeared. I use these numbers to first locate the top hinges on the face frame, then mark and drill 1-3/8" dia. cup holes in the back of the door panel for both the top and bottom hinges. I then attach the hinges to the door, making sure they are perpendicular to the edge of the door. Next, take the door to the cabinet opening and install the screws for the top hinge. Lastly, pre-drill holes and install the screws for the bottom hinge, which was just attached to the door only moments ago.

And there you have it...perfectly aligned door hinges without a jig and very little monkey business.






Here's the cabinet with its new digs. It takes me awhile to get over the change that having the doors installed makes. I have to confess, I stood there for about 15 minutes just staring at it. I'll install the drawer fronts next, if I can tear myself away.

The Shop Table - Doors and Drawer Fronts

I've spent the past few evenings working on the doors and drawer fronts. Last night I did the woodworking and tonight I did the assembly. I didn't take any pictures of this process because it's the same as the cabinet panels (Shop Table - Making the Panels, Dec. 23,2007). The only thing I did different was omit the brads through the tenons.


Here they are, still cooking in the clamps. There is more work to be done to these, but that will happen after the glue cures. I'll cover those steps in the next post.



I'm out of wood so I guess I'm close to end. Of course, I still have the table top to build, but that will come later.

The Shop Table - Drawers

Ahh, the dovetail joint. Long revered as a hallmark for fine furniture. Its beauty and elegance surpassed only by its strength and durability. They can be hand-cut or machine-cut, variably spaced or uniform. Anyway you slice it, a true delight.
That being said, we're not using dovetails on our drawers for the shop table. Dovetail joints are nice and very strong, but we're using full-extension ball bearing drawer slides. Dovetails were originally used for drawer joints because there weren't any mechanical mechanisms to ease the operation of opening/closing a drawer and a strong joint was necessary. With modern drawer slides, a simple butt-joint and a couple of brads are more than enough to withstand the stresses involved in opening/closing a drawer. The dovetail is an awesome joint and definitely has it's place, just not for this project.
Instead, we'll be using a locked-rabbet joint. This is a combination of a dado and a rabbet and is very strong. It's really overkill for ball bearing slides, but it makes assembly a breeze. Here's how we make 'em.

It starts with the material. I'm using 3/4" plywood for the sides and front/backs and 1/2" MDF for the bottom. This may also seem overkill, but I'll be storing a few heavy tools in the lower trays. All of the material was cut after I confirmed the opening dimensions of the cabinet. Then a groove was cut in the bottom of all the pieces to accept the 1/2" bottom panels. The joint starts with a dado cut in the ends of the side pieces (see picture) then a matching rabbet is cut in the ends of the front/backs. For some reason, I didn't take any pictures of the front/backs. I'm not sure why. I mean, I like the front/backs. I meant to take pictures. I really wanted you to see the front/backs. It just didn't happen. I'll try to make it up to you, if that's possible.

This picture shows all of the completed drawer parts (if you look close, you can see the front/backs). There will be 3 drawers and 3 pull-out trays. It really doesn't take long to cut all of the parts since they are all batch cut. I believe it took me about 30-45 minutes to cut all of the parts for the 6 boxes. The picture also gives you a sneak peek at the drawer box. It hasn't been glued-up yet, but soon....very soon.

Here's the assembly. The pictures show a drawer assembly and the tray assembly is the same. The parts are all arranged and I confirm that the pieces fit together (dry fit). After taking it apart, I put plenty of glue in the dadoes and then add a front/back and slip the bottom into the corner. Add the other front/back and the other side, then clamp it up. Just a little clamp pressure is needed, just enough for a little glue squeeze-out. Over-clamping leads to drawer distortion, which is bad. At this point, I check to make sure the drawer is square. I do this by measuring across the diagonals. This is why I really like this joint for drawers. It assembles quickly and easily and, if cut right, square.

Here's a close-up of the locked-rabbet. The dado (lock) is in the drawer side and the rabbet is in the drawer front/back. I've been calling these 'front/back' because, at this point, they can be either the front or back of the drawer. I suppose they could be called ends, but I think that would be confusing. I'll just stick with front/backs for now.

Now that we have the drawer boxes completed and the drawer slides have been installed in the cabinet, the next logical step would be to put the drawers in the cabinet. This process started awhile back when the drawer slides were located and then installed in the cabinet. The only thing left to do is attach the drawer part of the drawer slide to the drawer box. After marking a center line on all of the drawer box sides, I use the actual slide to mark the holes. These are slotted which makes marking, drilling and adjusting a snap.

Here's a completed, installed and open drawer. The slides were located 3/4" back from the front (which we can now call 'the front') so that the box will be flush with the face frame when closed. This will allow the applied drawer front (to be constructed later) to close against the face frame. You'll also notice that the back of the drawer is almost flush with the face frame when it's in the open position. This is a characteristic of the full-extension drawer slide.

Here's the cabinet as of this posting. The drawer slides I bought were supposed to have the screws included. As I was installing the drawer slides in the cabinet, I noticed that one set didn't have the little bag of screws. It didn't matter at the time because I had plenty to get the slides into the cabinet. Now that I'm finishing the drawer slide attachment, it matters. You can see in the picture one drawer and one tray that needs to be installed. It should be done by the next posting...if I can find the very specific screws required.

Now that the drawers are in, it's time to build the drawer fronts and doors. These will be made the same way I did the panels for the cabinet. I've had the stock for these hanging around the shop since I started and, frankly, I'm tired of having to move this pile around every time I want to do something. It'll be good to put these pieces to work.

The Shop Table - Base Work

The shop table has come a long way since its humble beginnings. The whole process has taken place on the workbench. However, today is the day the carcass officially becomes a cabinet and can no longer reside on the much needed real estate of the workbench.

So here it is. On the shop floor. Upside down. "Upside down?" you ask. Yes. It's in its current orientation because today we'll working on the base.




Here are the parts for the base. I would normally design for a 3-1/2" to 4" tall base for toe space, however, in order to accommodate for the larger tools that will be stored in the cabinet, something had to give. The inset pictures show the corner joint, which is a miter reinforced with a #10 biscuit and the intermediate connection, which is pocket screws. If you look close in the picture, you can also see the pocket screw holes that will be used to attach the base to the cabinet.

After assembly of the base, it's centered on the cabinet bottom and attached with pocket screws, as mentioned above. This completes the basics, now it's time for the accessories. The cabinet will receive casters to make it easier to move around, should the need arise. However, I don't want this thing rolling all around while I'm trying to work. So we'll add some pads for the table to sit on, lifting it just enough to get the casters off the floor. I call these pads lifters and we'll talk more about those later.

Since the cabinet will be supported by the lifters at each end, I want to add some reinforcement as well as make the bearing surface a little wider. This is simply done by adding a strip of 3/4" plywood with some glue and brads.



Next, it's time to get started adding the casters. I will be using 1/4"x1" lag screws, which unfortunately, are 1/4" too long for the 3/4" plywood bottom. This wouldn't normally be a problem, but I don't want the protrusion on the inside of the cabinet to affect the sliding-out of the slide-out shelves. So, we'll add some shims made of 1/4" hardboard at the locations of the casters.

Once the hole locations for the mounting plate on the casters are marked, I drill 11/64" holes then set the caster in position and drive the lag screws home. (After looking at the picture, one might wonder how this thing is supposed to roll with the wheels going all ev'ry-which-a-way. I may have neglected to the mention that these are swivel casters. Sorry for any confusion.)

Here are the lifters I spoke of earlier. They are two pieces of 3/4" plywood, glued and a screwed. They are about 2" wide, which is plenty of bearing surface.




And here's the cabinet, up-right and sitting on its lifters. By the next posting, I'll have the drawer slides in. This should go pretty easy since I've already drilled the holes for the slides when this thing was on the workbench. After the slides are in, we can start making drawers....fun, fun.