A newbie welcomes your advise

[Teguy]

Hello to all!
I am in the very first stage of getting into woodworking. I have almost no experience other than a couple of tables and a shelf in year 12. That was a looong time ago.
I have identified several projects in my house at the moment and have decided not to buy the furniture but spend the money on some equipment and give it a go myself.
The first thing that needs doing is a shelving / entertainment unit which would cover the entire wall in the living room. I have spent some time planning how I want it to look and did some modelling on the computer to help visualise. It will have designated space for the TV, speakers, and a few other items. The rest will be some shelves, some cupboards and a relatively large “wardrobe” where I plan to install a folding desk for the laptop. I have attached pictures of the idea without doors and shelves – stage 1 and picture with doors – complete unit.
I am planning to get a compound mitre saw and a table saw to do this job. I believe those two saws should be all I need to do the job. I plan to prime and paint everything instead of clear coat.
I would appreciate your advise on wood type that would be appropriate. Would pine from Bunnings do the job? Is it likely to bow after some time? This is the most difficult decision for me at the moment as I don’t know much about the different types of wood and their suitability for this job.
Appreciate the help guys.


EK

[tdrumnut]

Welcome to the forum I am certain you will get all the help you need right here

[coffenup]

if using pine and worried about bending over time . Why not cut a small channel underneath & insert a thin steel rod or stengthener or put a front edge slightly thicker on the front as a feature and use it to strengthen the shelf.
This will make the shelf stonger
and welcome to the forum
Regards Michael

[malb]

Hard to get an idea of size from the sketches, the TV gives some idea but it could be a 26 inch or a 55, or something in between, so it is hard to gauge size.

The critical issue is the width (span) of shelves and the load you want to put on them. As they get wider for a specific load (say the TV), or get more heavily loaded for a given width (say plasma 55 instead of LCD 55), then the shelves need more thickness, or need to be better designed to provide the support without undue sag.

One way to accomplish this is to use torsion box construction. This uses two thinish skins (say 9mm) seperated by an external frame all round and regular internal supports. This type of construction could give very robust shelves at about 40mm thickness and could be built from MDF quite easily.

If you are content with a fully painted finish, MDF would be better than pine etc as it is cheaper, more stable, and will hide well under paint.

Re tools, a decent table saw will rip and crosscut well, particularly if you make a 30minute crosscut sled to go with it, and handle the sizes you are dealing with better than a non sliding mitre saw. You might be better instead to consider a cheapish circular saw to break down sheets into manageable bits that you can finish cut on the table saw. Sliding mitre saws have a better crosscut capability than their non sliding cousins, but even with the top end units, accuracy is rarely on par with a decent well set up table saw.

[lancelot_qld]

Hard to get an idea of size from the sketches, the TV gives some idea but it could be a 26 inch or a 55, or something in between, so it is hard to gauge size.

The critical issue is the width (span) of shelves and the load you want to put on them. As they get wider for a specific load (say the TV), or get more heavily loaded for a given width (say plasma 55 instead of LCD 55), then the shelves need more thickness, or need to be better designed to provide the support without undue sag.

One way to accomplish this is to use torsion box construction. This uses two thinish skins (say 9mm) seperated by an external frame all round and regular internal supports. This type of construction could give very robust shelves at about 40mm thickness and could be built from MDF quite easily.

If you are content with a fully painted finish, MDF would be better than pine etc as it is cheaper, more stable, and will hide well under paint.

Re tools, a decent table saw will rip and crosscut well, particularly if you make a 30minute crosscut sled to go with it, and handle the sizes you are dealing with better than a non sliding mitre saw. You might be better instead to consider a cheapish circular saw to break down sheets into manageable bits that you can finish cut on the table saw. Sliding mitre saws have a better crosscut capability than their non sliding cousins, but even with the top end units, accuracy is rarely on par with a decent well set up table saw.

Hi All

I am on the same boat. Not much experience other than a couple of toy boxes and a bookshelf. The project is to make a TV Unit, the space available is 2035x1720x430. I was wondering what thickness would you recommend for the MDF? Thanks