Oh no, my rabbit ate my homework!
One of the cats knocked my blog notes onto the floor and Ginger ate a good portion of the paper.
I am making a stand for the portable T.V. I made last month. These will go into the 2015 Creatin' Contest room box that Hobby Builders has.
The sliding doors on the backside of the room box reminded me of a walk out basement. These basements were (and still are) popular in the 1970's. People fixed them up for family rooms.
The original stand came right out of our basement when I was a teenager.
The stand was metal and a brass color. There were wheels on the bottom of the legs so you could move your portable T.V. around.
I am going to use Houseworks casters. They are available from Hobby Builders.
There are 12 in a package for $8.35.
I am using these because of the tiny wire at the top. Since I am going to use 1/16 inch diameter dowels for the legs I need a very tiny hole to drill.
The next thing I am using is this wire mesh for the book rack.
This is available from Michael's, Activ-Wire Mesh, $5.99 or Jo-Ann Fabrics, Activ-Wire Mesh, $6.99. Ask a clerk for the location, I found mine in the glues section but it may also be in the clays, like Fimo. Hobby Lobby carries the Activ-Wire Mesh but in a 24 inch by 10 feet size for railroad modelers. The price is $26.99
I am going to use 1/16 inch diameter dowels for the frame of the T.V. stand. You may also use skewers from the grocery store.
Cut four dowels 2 inches long.
These are the legs.
Cut two dowels 1 7/8 inches long.
These are the book rack dowels.
Cut two dowels 7/8 inches long.
These are the spacers for the sides.
You can use two pieces of mat board glued together or one piece of 3/32 inch basswood for the top shelf. It is cut 1 7/8 inches long by 1 1/16 inches wide.
I am going to make tiny dowels from some toothpicks.
These are for gluing the frame together.
Butt gluing just won't do, the stand would be very fragile; the dowels will make it much more sturdy.
Put the toothpick into the chuck of the Dremel.
Use 180 or 220 grit sand paper to sand the toothpick down.
I've sanded the toothpick.
The dowel you are making must be at least half the size of the original toothpick.
Mark your legs at 1 1/4 inches.
Use a "T" pin to mark the hole that is to be drilled. Don't press too hard or the dowel will split.
Use your drill, (from Hobby Builders) to drill a hole at the marks. Don't worry if you drill through.
Mark the center of the ends of the 7/8 inch long spacer dowels. Use your drill to drill a hole in each end.
Using yellow carpenter's glue to glue the wood together.
I've got glue in the hole and I have inserted the tiny dowel I made. Trim off the excess dowel.
Do this for the other end and the other dowel.
Dry fit the dowel, trim the tiny dowel so that the surfaces touch.
Put glue into the hole in the leg and insert the tiny dowel and press together.
Glue the other leg on.
Both sides are done.
Measure and mark one dowel at 3/16 inch, this is the top shelf and at 1 1/2 inch, this is for the FRONT of the book shelf.
Mark with a "T" pin and then drill the holes.
This is one leg done on one side.
This is the front of the stand. Make a mirror image for the other side.
I measured the leg for the back of the stand, do you see the tiny dowels sticking out?
The top mark is at 3/16 inch for the top shelf. The bottom mark is at 1 inch, this is for the BACK of the book rack.
Here are the two sides, mirror images.
**At this time drill out the holes at the bottom of the legs for the casters.
I laid my top shelf onto the top of a side and marked where the tiny dowels were. Do you see my marks? I marked with a "T" pin and drilled the holes.
Dry fit the shelf first to see that everything is level. If not, cut the tiny dowel off, remeasure and re-drill the hole. Put a new tiny dowel in.
Don't glue the shelf on, yet.
I trimmed the wire mesh to fit the book rack dowels, they are 1 7/8 inches long.
I bent the wire mesh along a sharp edge to get a nice sharp line.
There should be 3/4 inch beyond each side of the bend.
Showing my angle.
**At this time drill out the holes at each end of the book rack dowels.
I am showing how the edges look after I trimmed.
To glue the wire mesh to the wood dowel I used Crafter's Pick The Ultimate! glue. It works very well for this, I was very happy with the results which was that the wire mesh stayed glued to the wood dowel.
Apply glue to the wire mesh and press onto the wood dowels.
You will be able to press the wire mesh ends around the dowel after the glue has dried.
Let this dry.
Glue the top shelf onto one side.
When the book rack has dried glue it onto the side.
Glue the other side onto the assembly.
You can glue on some beads to the top of the legs. I added some yellow glue to finish off the tops.
This is totally optional.
I told you to drill the holes for the casters earlier in the tutorial. I didn't and had to drill them after everything was put together. My stand held together with all of the moving around, that's why I dowel my joints.
Use The Ultimate! glue to glue the casters into the holes at the bottom of the legs.
I used spray paint to paint my stand.
Close up picture of the stand.
The books are in and we are ready to move into the family room.
I hope you try this out. The doweling isn't hard to do but you do need to be precise with your markings.
Remember, if you have pictures of the finished tutorials please send them to me at:
camceiling@frontiernet.net
If you have questions please use the same address. I can not answer you from the comment section. I see questions in there but I can't find your e-mail address from your avatar most of the time.
Have fun, Expand on it, Make it better . . .
Just Keep Making Minis!
Talk to you later, Kris
