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Desk Shelves.

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S. Heslop:
I'm really making a meal of what was supposed to be a quick and simple project. I've got a few house jobs to do at the same time so progress has been slow as it gets.

For drilling the cross pieces I just used the same dowelling jig again, but clamped to a square 2x4 since these boards are thicker than the sides.



I then moved to drilling holes in the top piece and, whoops. It's hanging over by about half a centimeter. I cut the top board on the wrong side of the line and then totally forgot about making the mistake and never corrected the other pieces for it. Shouldn't be a problem though, i'll just add a thin vertical piece to act like a lip on the rear or the shelf, which might help prevent small things falling down the back of it. It's a 'feature'.


Unfortunately I only have a single clamp long enough to actually clamp it up. I was thinking about making some clamp stretchers but then I wouldn't have enough clamps to get the rest, so I think i'm going to go buy a few more. You can never have too many clamps, as they say.

I tried a bit of a dry assembly though to make sure it fits, and all seems good thankfully.


I think rather than try getting dowel holes to line up with the top piece via careful measurements i'll just machine some pins to mark the positions of the holes.

S. Heslop:
A month later and i'm still working on these things, and doing a crappy job of it. Ran out of spray lacquer (don't think i'll use it for something so big again, a can doesn't go a long way) and had to get some more, which took almost a week of searching via the bus. Then the weather took a dip and it took a few more days for it to clear up enough to spray the stuff outside.


Got the main frame except for the top together now. Some long sash clamps would've been handy but they're way expensive. If I ever have to do another project like this i'll probably make some.


Things lined up fairly okay in the dry fit, but I wish I numbered these boards to put them back in the same place. I'd assumed they'd be about the same dimensions since I lined the drilling jig up via the same sides on each one. They're amazingly misaligned now though, I have no idea what could've caused such a huge difference since I took my time to get things as close as possible. I wouldn't expect them to be perfect but it's so far off...


Machined those pins to mark the top, which i'll probably do tomorrow, and then that'll be the frame finished. Drawers and smaller shelves i'm going to add at... a later date. I'm more than fed up with this now.

Wish I went with dadoes instead of dowels now though. I went with dowels for the sake of the edge banding, but dowels are just very difficult to get right.

S. Heslop:

I need more clamps. The little dowel pins worked brilliantly and I had no trouble lining the holes up.


Moved the unit upstairs to free up space in the garage. They're not quite complete, need to add a board to the back, drill holes for shelf pins, and finish the shelves off. They look small in the photo but they seem huge when sitting down next to them.


The shelves just need lacquered.

The units also need the drawers but i'm still not sure how to go about it. I might just buy some drawer slides rather than try something fancy.

micktoon:
Hi Simon , looks like a good job , I bet you will be able to get a lot on them but will probably fill them up and wonder where the hell everything was before you had them, glad your little transfer pins did a good job.
  Cheers Mick.

Spurry:
Your job is coming along nicely. :thumbup: Probably not much use now...but if you are stuck for some long clamps just use a length of 4x2 or 3x2 or WHY, with a small piece of similar, screwed across the top of the wood. Use another short length at the other end with a heftyish screw or bolt, (so that it will swivel slightly) then knock a small wedge into the gap between your work and the swivelling end piece.
Pete

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