Thread: A walk on the flatside (whoppin' great WIP)

Pic 6. Rough bit of a jig to cut the mortices with my brand new trimmer - worked a treat!
Pic 7. Fits like a glove - rounded the end of the tenon with a chisel - gettin' all dark like!!!!
Pic 8. This is actually the second shot at gluing up the case - 1st was aborted as in this thread. This time I masked all the joints and used a slow marine glue called AV510 which took 3 days to set but let me relax while gluing it up so I got every thing right for once.
Pic 9. Glue and tape all cleaned up - starting to look like something!
Pic 10. All the tray sides mitred and grooved splines cut and ready to glue up. Was going to use ancient southern mahogany (the black bits) at each end of the spline for interest but then decided that would be going against my ' no visible joinery' policy.

Pic 11. Close up of the tray sides - 4mm groove for the base (3.8mm ply), 2mm groove for the tray lining (which was later aborted also!) and a rebate at the top for the glass (Lexan ).
Pic 12. Tray set ready for glue-up.
Pic 13. Clamped and glued.
Pic 14. Detail showing the 4mm gap left in the spline on the front corners for the Lexan to sit in.
Pic 15. Base cut to shape using the template sitting on it. I cut it a mil' or 2 out from the line on the bandsaw then used the same template (3mm MDF) to clean it up with an edge trimming bit in the router. Drilled the locater holes with a 19mm Forstner in the drill press ( the purpose of these will become obvious later)

Pic 16. Using a template for the router to follow to shape the top just slightly smaller scale than the base. Will be keeping the template for later additions.
Pic 17. 2 pieces of 12mm ply glued together and turned down to the size of the Lazy Susan bearing (300mm) for the 'foot' - the chamfered edge is to make locating the disk in the matching recess in the stand easier.
Pic 18. Underside of the base showing the bearing screwed on to a square of 9mm ply which is screwed on to the base from the top side. The ply will have to be upgraded at some stage as the weight of the cabinet once full of eggs is bowing it up allowing the base to rub on the stand as it's rotated. Not really a problem as I can fit up to about 15mm ply in it's place or even steel plate if I have to!
Pic 19. An old rabbeting jig I dodgied up to cut the mortices in the legs. Rough but it worked
Pic 20. Completed mortice - 1st level is 10mm deep and sized to fit the end of the rail with it's edged rounded over. Next level is 25mm deep and 1/2" wide.

Pic 21. Cutting the tenons on the leg rails. One day I really will get around to making a router fence
Pic 22. The stand drawer front and frame cut and reglued from one beautifully figured piece.
Pic 23. Gluing up the case for the stand drawer.
Pic 24. Gluing up the drawer for the stand.
Pic 25. Roughing a leg down to round - pushed the Stubby to it's absolute limit for spindle length - not what I normally use it for though!

Pic 26. Bit of a mock-up of the stand - was still tossing around some different ideas to get the look I wanted at this point -time was running out - had to bite the bullet and start cutting!
Pic 27. Turning the legs to shape - this one revealed a defect (feature!) near the bottom that had to be drowned in CA to reinforce it but I didn't have time to cut and mortice another leg. It's now at the front of the stand with the fault facing the back
Pic 28. All the legs turned - 1st time I've used a storyboard to copy turn - might as well have used my dodgie eyes (or closed them) - went overboard with the sizing on one of the bottom onions so it ended up notably smaller - nobody has picked up on it -----YET!
Pic 29. Cutting the recess for the drawer case in the leg rails - the darkside will NEVER get me in!
Pic 30. The leg rails shaped, notched and ready to go.

Back in a minute - need a cuppa!

Pic 31. Upper part of the stand assembled.
Pic 32. Cutting the recess that takes the turntable of the cabinet into a sheet of 9mm ply which was then glued to another 9mm sheet to create the top insert of the stand.
Pic 33. I cut a rebate into the top edge of the drawer case and stepped the edge of the ply insert to suit.
Pic 34. Gluing the legs on to the rails.
Pic 35. Brass knobs arrived from Elraco so I sat it all together for a sneak preview. Gave up on the idea of turning all the knobs from Gidgee - just didn't look right

Pic 36. 1.6mm brass sheet arrived from Ebay - time running short now. Drilled and slotted the catches before cutting them from the sheet.
Pic 37. Catches buffed and ready to fit on case.
Pic 38. Top locating tabs drilled before cutting from the sheet.
Pic 39. Catches fitted. This shot also shows the false-sandalwood drawer runners in place - why false-sandalwood??? - 'cos I can - - - and I thought maybe the oiliness would help later if the mahogany bleeds at all.
Pic 40. One of the top locating tabs in place - note the 'F' for 'front' - I had hoped it would fit all 4 ways but my accuracy just ain't that good

Pic 41. The 4 locating tabs fitted to the underside of the top.
Pic 42. Cutting the 200 and something 35mm long posts from 7 broom handles. The broom handles are nearly half the price/metre of 22mm dowel - go figure?!?!?
Pic 43. Shaping one of the 200 and something $#$%#@ posts. Only took a second or two each but got damned tedius ofter the first 20 or so - you can have production turning all to your self !
Pic 44. Glad that lot's done!
Pic 45. Using a template to locate the posts while they are glued onto the false base for each tray. The false base is 3mm MDF with a 28mm hole drilled where each egg sits.

Pic 46. Holders I came up with to split the posts on the bandsaw for the sides of the trays - worked out safe and very easy - precision accuracy wasn't important.
Pic 47. Gluing the split-posts in place over the false tray bottom.
Pic 48. Display-mode retainer tab screwed to the back (bottom) of the tray - had to wait until the false bottoms were in the trays to fit these tabs. These tabs slip into the catches on the case when the trays are in the upright 'display mode'.
Pic 49. Sheets of Lexan cut to size and notched a few mil's offset from the retaining pins.
Pic 50. Finished tray. You can just see the Lexan retaining pins in the sides - they are just short pieces of 3mm rod glued into the sides 4mm up from the bottom of the rebate so that the Lexan can slip underneath them. Gave up on the original plan of lining the trays with black velvet because the velvet was tending to push the eggs forward and was also hiding them which went against the very reason I used posts to support them in the 1st place - better visibility. The 2mm groove I had cut in the drawers to hold the edge of the velvet wasn't a complete waste though - it made masking the trays before spraying the flat black enamel very easy !
Pic 51. Had nightmares of my grand-daughter spinning around on the cabinet like a merry-go-round (oh yes she would!!!) so I fitted a brass slide-bolt to the back of the stand and a plate to the base of the cabinet to lock it in place while it's in 'collector' mode. Happens to be a very good thing while putting the trays away too because if the case can turn the trays tend to rack really easily.

The finished product!

Finished literally just hours before the show - the insides of the trays were sprayed Friday avo' and the cabinet had to be at the pavillion Saturday morning! Worth the effort though - I'm really stoked with the way it turned out and it was a hit at the show. It wasn't so much getting 1st in section and overall champion, but while working on the woodworking clubs stand, I noticed how nearly everyone, young, old or otherwise, stopped to take a closer look at it. Even if they looked at nothing else in the woodworking section, one glance and they would stop for a closer look - that was a real buzz - can barely fit me head through the door at the moment!

Absolute work of art
Never a dull moment with any of your work.Definately given the right prize as overall champion!Congratulations.
Gidgee 1

very nice indeed.

Eggciting!


Sorry had to say that Very nicely done and what a WIP.