DOWNLOAD STORAGE SHED PLANS: iv

Showing posts with label iv. Show all posts

Dougs Bench Part IV Reinforcing the Seat

To install the threaded rod reinforcement in the seat of Doug’s Shoe Bench I began by routing three (3) ½” x ½” grooves down the length of the underside of the bench seat. Then I cut three (3) pieces of 3/8” threaded rod to fit into three (3) respective holes. I use 3/8” threaded rod in the ½” slot in order to allow room for the epoxy around the threaded rod.

Getting ready to route the slots.

The final step before mixing up the epoxy is to cut shims. The shims are used to hold the threaded rod up off the bottom of the groove and roughly center it to allow the epoxy to completely surround it. For shims I uses standard composite builders shims, such as you would use for a window or door installation. I cut about ½” of off the bottom at the narrowest point. Then I take that ½” x about 1” piece and cut it into roughly ½” x ½” squares. I do this by eye. The exact fit isn’t critical. The point is to raise up the threaded rod so that its high enough for epoxy to fit below it while sitting low enough for epoxy above.

With the slots, threated rod and shims ready it was time for the epoxy. I used Gorilla Epoxy. Mixing entire sets of epoxy at once, it was important to move fast, before the 5 minute epoxy set. For added flair, you can add dye (such as India Ink or Trans Tint) to color the epoxy for a matching or contrasting effect.

Ready for the epoxy and threaded rod.

As soon as the epoxy was mixed in a plastic cup, I dropped in shims, evenly spacing three (3) per slot. Then I poured in the epoxy. For this first pour I was looking to fill the slot about 1/3 of the way with epoxy.

Once the bottom of the slot was filled, I dropped in the threaded rod and using a scrap of shim, pressed the threaded rod down into the slot until it rested on the shims.

Then I poured me epoxy over the threaded rod. I didn’t always, but you should be careful to crown the epoxy. If it’s crowned, you can always sand it back to a smooth, flush surface. If it’s left shy of the surface, when you sand it will still be low and won’t look as clean.

Filled with epoxy and threaded rod.

It is important to work one slot at a time because of the epoxy pot life. If you fill the bottom of each slot before dropping in the rod and topping them off, the epoxy will set before you have a chance to finish the slot.

Sanded clean and flush.

Once the three (3) slots were reinforced, I let it set overnight before continuing with the sanding and smoothing of the bottom surface.

Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.

Dougs Bench Part IV Reinforcing the Seat

Nicks Berger Board Part IV

I’ve never been as nervous about a glue up as I was about Nick’s Berger Board. Because of the torsion boxes, I was essentially glueing blind. There was no way of knowing if there were gaps between the veneer sections until I took the board out of the clamps.

Out of the clamps and looking good.

Thankfully, the fence I attached to the larger torsion box and the clamps I had pressing against it kept the gaps away. The glue up and veneer turned out wonderfully.

This minor glue squeeze out was quickly handled by using a razor blade as a scraper, as shown by Matt Berger.

In order to create the shape of the board I first drew out the profile of half of it on a scrap piece of 1/8” plywood. I cut close to this line and used my oscillating belt sander to trim up to the line and further fair the curves. Using the center strip of purpleheart veneer to locate the center of the board I marked half the board, the flipping the template, marked the other half. Like the template, the board was shaped on the band saw and oscillating belt sand. My palm router with 1/8” round over bit finished the final shaping.

Shaped and ready for sanding.

The shaped board was then sanded from 80 to 220 girt. The final step was to make and drill out for the trucks. Lining them up was a bit never racking, but for just two (2) trucks, I didn’t want to go craze making a jig to set them square.

The initial layout of the trucks.

Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.

Nicks Berger Board Part IV