Thread: WIP - Lowline TV console

What sort of overall dimensions are you looking at there? Looks like it might be a 6 or 8 footer?

There's no doubt it will be heavy, being made from hardwood, but I don't think there's much you can do about it. You don't really want to compromise on the section sizes and 19mm is pretty much as thin as I'd want to go for frame parts.

You might get it a bit lighter if you use veneer ply for panels etc.

Have you got a bandsaw? A 35mm dressed board will give you 19mm + 12mm (just), so you can use the 12mm for panels - it doesn't matter if they're a bit undersize.

Actually it's only 1450mm long just 4' 9"

I do have a bandsaw but the original blade on it isn't up to the task of resawing brushbox. I've tried to split one of the larger boards but the blade doesn't cut very well or track at all straight. It's on my todo list to to find a 3tpi skip tooth blade to try. I think given the cutting experience so far I might even need a bi-metal blade for brushbox.

OK. That cabinet I made was 1100 wide.

Yes get yourself a bimetal blade. Last one I bought was around $50 I think. Henry Bros saws in Sydney. They do mail order. I bought it before I started on that cabinet and I used it tonight to cut some Sydney Bluegum tonight and it is still cutting like a knife through butter. Definitely worth spending the extra $20 or so.

Your design looks good. Make sure it has good support along the base, it will be heavy but strong.

I moved my carcas in 2 parts, but they still weighed ~130kgs each, it took 2 of us to move them with another person guiding us. Final assembly of the 2 parts was with car jacks Yours is a lot smaller, so shouldn't cause too much trouble once the drawers are removed.

Good luck with it.

I would not be of any help with what you are making. I do understand how heavy things can be and so I am looking forward to this work in progress.

I found some time to invest in the project this weekend. My first goal is to get the timber dimensioned. I'll preface this with an acknowledgment that I've generally got a hand tool bias, but I have picked up a couple of machines along the way to assist with specific projects.

Some years ago I bought a retro Chinese "universal woodworking machine" cheaply at a Pickles auction. Somebody must have imported a container load of junk machinery but found these failed even the most rudimentary OH&S inspection. I doubt they copied anything from the USA or Italy for the design but the planer thicknesser function works well enough for rough dimensioning. I have so far been too chicken to try the table saw function.

However, faced with this much reject Brush Box I think I need to use something more substantial than the 7 1/4" circular saw and a straight edge that is my usual way to start sizing stuff.

I dropped by the local tool stores looking for a 10" rip blade without luck. Gary Pye's site says he is out of stock, Glenfords had only a few blades and none were rip. I stopped searching at Trade Tools when they said they don't stock 24 tooth blades, I instead settled for a $19 40 tooth combination blade as a compromise, since I don't know if this is going to work anyway.

This weekend I fitted up the blade in the monster, looked at it and heard the Danger, Danger, Will Robinson sound track play in my head. I carefully tried a test cut, just to see what it was like. It confirmed it works and is probably as dangerous as it looks.

I'm now making some modifications to improve safety. First off I tried to stop some of the saw dust being thrown around by adding a dust tray made from a section of rectangular down pipe below the blade. This was only marginally successful, I have now boxed in the upper area as well and it seems to be working somewhat better.

Next week I intend to add more protection around the blade guard and rig up some sort of reasonable outfeed support.

At least you have thought of it as being dangerous.

Interesting fence.

Originally Posted by Christos

Interesting fence.

The original fence is a joke, it's only 1 1/4" high and offers no lateral resistance whatsoever. The board you see clamped to the table has been run over the jointer to relieve the face on the outfeed side of the blade.

At the moment the relief starts at the back of the blade, but I'm wondering if it should really start from just after the arbor.

Looking at that saw, all I can say is F@$K THAT!!

Guess you gotta do what you gotta do.

Nice cabinet, how are you planning to support it over that length.

I know that you're most unlikely to come into contact with the exposed blade under the bench, but holy #$%# it looks mean!

Interested in your design for the lowling TV cabinet. Looks nice.

Cheers,
Dave

This seems to be turning into a machine WIP, eventually I'll get to the joinery bit. A few more adjustments this morning before letting it rip.

More downpipe turned into a cover for the outside of the blade. I'm not sure it's any safer but it sure feels better not watching those spinning teeth!

The boxing below the table has more to do with containing dust rather than preventing contact with the blade. All in all, dust collection seems to be working as well as can be expected, given it is still fairly open toward the interior of the machine and it's only a 1hp underbench blower.

The aim today was just to roughly size stuff, not to be dimensionally accurate. Most of the boards started out around 4m length but I wasn't really happy trying to handle those on such a mickey mouse rig. After a little contemplation I decided to cut things in half and only work with lengths around 2m.

I had to rip down a raw edge on one slab using a hand held circular saw, because it wouldn't fit past the blade guard post. All I can say is chalk and cheese.

BTW. The outfeed roller was $5 at the $ shop stocktake sale. No box and missing the bolt to fix the roller cross bar.

You are making some progress. I agreed that the cover for the machine is looking better then it was originally.

Today I had some time to start dimensioning the timber. I had sorted the rough sawn stuff into pieces I can take down to 20x20, 45x20, 60x20 and 70x20 plus some other wider pieces I will just take down to 20 thickness for the moment. The pile is currently down to about 22 thick. I haven't started on widths yet.

The wide boards destined for panels, drawer fronts and shelves haven't been touched yet.

Things I learned today:

1. Don't try and feed two pieces through the thicknesser at the same time. Said thicknesser can and will kickback and bite you.
2. Wearing gloves does offer some protection when a board spits out and bites you.
3. Some boards, no matter how hard you try, refuse to give up their twist.
4. Go buy a crayon to mark the working face. Chalk rubs off too easily and you will put the twisted board the wrong way up through the thicknesser making the problem worse.
5. Empty the first stage dust separator before it fills up to the baffle board.
6. After you've emptied the dust separator and cleaned up, empty the dust bag on the 1hp blower to. A Thein style baffle doesn't work very well if there is no suction coming from the blower.
7. The neighbours didn't complain about machinery running all day.

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

Things I learned today:
..................
7. The neighbours didn't complain about machinery running all day.

Give 'em a try at 11pm and see how they do.