Thread: Simple TV table

I spent most of the weekend working away on this project and made more progress than i thought i would. For once things went pretty smoothly too with only one or two small mistakes to account for.

I've glued and cut all the MDF to size. I then filled the leading (exposed) edge of the MDF with plaster to get a smooth finish and to fill in the gap left with my shoddy panel glue job. It came up surprisingly well after sanding. I then had to prime and paint the leading edge and sand the hardwood on the inside edges as that would be difficult later when it's all glued up. I left the larger outer parts to finish later so that it isn't ruined when clamping. It's slower this way but it ensures that the finish goes on when the wood is ready for it instead of when I am ready to apply it.

It still looks a bit of a shambles but it's coming together and I feel good about how it's looking. I'm just a bit anxious about the beveled joints as that has proved to be painful in the past but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

1 - MDF portion of one of the sides (yet to be cut for height)
2 - MDF is nasty stuff, sure makes a mess
3 - Backing board which will provide lateral support and hide the wiring (including the mistake i made with the router, thankfully on the under side)
4 - checking shelf fit in the backing board
5 - the MDF portion of the table top ( the primed surface will be the underside of the top) also test piece on ground to see if spray paint will work ok.
6 - MDF portions of the sides with slot cut for shelf
7,8 - glue up of the MDF and hardwood sides.

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Cheers
Mat

As you can see by the fourth picture my hand planing skill leaves a lot to be desired but i can see why people enjoy working with hand tools. There is a certain satisfaction to working with a plane and smoothing out a piece of wood that isn't 100% straight.

Lplates: Just an observation from your pics: Train yourself to always set your Block plane or Jack plane on its cheek when setting it down. Years ago my Dad taught me to do this to save putting nicks in the plane iron which protrudes from the mouth of the plane. He would always give me grief if he caught me setting a plane down on its sole.

Originally Posted by ido

Lplates: Just an observation from your pics: Train yourself to always set your Block plane or Jack plane on its cheek when setting it down. Years ago my Dad taught me to do this to save putting nicks in the plane iron which protrudes from the mouth of the plane. He would always give me grief if he caught me setting a plane down on its sole.

Thanks Ido, good advice. I always retract the blade when i put the plane on the shelf but i have been guilty of leaving it on the work bench on the sole a few times.

Nice work. Looks like a good design.

A key challenge you'll have is managing the movement of the timber. I made a
bench top for some built in cabinets quite a few years ago with tas oak t&g boards over MDF. apart from being incredibly heavy and hard to manipulate, over time there has been some movement of the timber, leading to gaps between the boards. Nothing too significant, but enough.

Timber is always going to move, whether you like it or not.

Trav

Did a few small things yesterday again, cut the sides to their final height and sawed some holes for cabling. Also gluing the top pieces together overnight so should be pretty close to a dry assembly tonight or tomorrow. Might need to shave of a few mm here or there due to the method i'm using but i think i should be able to make it work.

One thing i realised yesterday much to my disappointment was that the clamping from the previous nights glue up had stuck to the primer and ripped parts of it off when i removed the clamps. That was the whole reason why i left the inside panels unpainted (enamel tends to stick more to clamp pads) but clearly that wasn't enough. I should have really used scrap wood to widen the contact area as i did with the top plate pictured below. Now I have to wait to see how badly the torn MDF comes through the final paint. Here's hoping its minimal. So annoying to make a mistake this late in the piece. All that hard work wasted by a stupid oversight.... *sigh*

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Bummer. Hope it's not too bad...

Our company gives us easter tuesday as a holiday so i had a solid five days to finish this project and that's just what i did. I delivered it to my brother yesterday so the garage is empty and a good deal cleaner again. The glue up for the sides was a major pain. I spent one whole night doing dry assembly working out how to best clamp the beveled joins. In the end i made stretchers to allow me to clamp along the 2m length of the table and i used some 600mm clamps for the ends. I also did one side at a time to better control the slip caused by the glue. All in all it took a bit longer but the result was worth it. The gap in the join was hardly noticeable in the end, at least on the outside, the inside still had a sizeable gap but thankfully that part is hidden due to the height of the table.

I also learnt that laminating MDF to MDF is not ideal where a smooth surface is desired, that stuff really moves around a lot. Must have absorbed some moisture from the air (we had rain a few nights) and ruined the smoothness of the inner panels, you can see it in the pictures. Thankfully again though the room that this table is to sit in is rather dark (cinema room) so you can't really notice it too much.

Overall pretty happy with the result but definitely left wanting for table saw or planer/thicknesser that could have made the beveled joints a lot easier.

1 - shelf getting final coat of danish oil
2,3 - clamping solution for beveled joins
3,4 - before finish
4-8 - finished in the garage and then in its final destination. (had to put some old rags under it as the end grain was still a bit sticky from sitting in a pool of danish oil)
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Thanks for watching.

Nice work. I think you should be very pleased with it.

many hours enjoying this one to come, well done, looks great

Looks great. Excellent work and nice design.

Trav