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Part 1 – Introduction
Part 2 – Woodworks
Part 3 – Control Panel
Part 4 – CRT Assembly
TBD: Part 5 – Electric Assembly
TBD: Part 6 – Software Setup

Multiplex/Blockboard

Multiplex/Blockboard

I did a lot of thinking about which type of wood to use – I don’t like MDF, it should be stable, not too expensive and not too heavy. Due to the task of cutting the groove for the t-molding – which I never did before, less operating a router, I requested a quote from a local carpenter which made me sit down and rethink the whole idea. Finally I ended up with 18mm beech multiplex for the sides and 18mm birch blockboard for the connecting boards. Those are quite stable, warp-free and cost approx. 25€/m2 in Germany, leaving me with costs of around 150€ for the wood.

I already own a jigsaw and a band sander, so all I needed was a router or a tool to cut that molding groove. Fortunately I decided on the router which in general gave my edges a seriously better quality than the jigsaw. Since the cheapest routers in the tool-shop are around 130€ and I have very few uses for such a tool, I decided to take my time and bought a brand new router for 15€ from the flea market – complete with a set of cutters.

03_Seitenteil_gefraest

I transferred my shape to one side first, cutting it with the jigsaw, straightening the edges with the router and a clamped straightedge (normally used for concrete) and finally rounding the corners very carefully with the band sander to keep the edges as angular as possible. Then I cut the second side very roughly, leaving some mm space to the shape, clamped the second board on top of the first and used a copy-router (google it 😉 ) to make the two sides absolutely identical. Since I planned to put the connecting boards some millimeters “in” anyway, like they have been in the old cabinets, I didn’t have to be too precise in terms of measure, but identical was an issue.

07_Korpus

Since I still had a lot of respect concerning the groove-cutting (and my t-molding had not arrived yet) I built the form of the cabinet first, using wooden dowels (take an aligning tool for this!!!) and furniture connectors – thus, I can disassemble the cabinet later, if I want to move it.

It’s vital to cut the groove before sanding and painting the cabinet, otherwise the router may leave traces. Cutting the groove was a piece of cake – contrary to my expectations. I used a template guide to prevent the cutter of biting in too deep, one of my biggest concerns but it worked like a charm.

Sanding

Sanding

In my case, sanding was a rather simple issue, since multiplex and blockboard are pretty smooth already. I just had to smooth out the topmost edges, where the connecting boards came together at an angle (see pics). Then I painted with acrylic black matte, three times. I love acrylic here, because due to the water-based paint you don’t have to worry about tool-cleaning and drying times. Just use your sink.

Of course, there’s much room for failure … some of my dowels didn’t fit, so I had to leave them or to cut bigger holes or shorten them. In two cases I drilled through, so I had to use wood putty to conceal my sloppy work. Some of the furniture connectors refused to fit, so they had to be coaxed by brute force(hammer) to cooperate.

Washers

Washers

I did a major failure on the tray which was a bit too narrow for the guiding rails, so it kept constantly falling out. In a state of foolishness I tried to widen the tray by putting washers between the edge of the tray and the rail, which led to an even more frail construct. Later I put the washers between the sides and the side rails – a much more solid solution.

But all in all, I was quite amazed that even for somebody like me who does things like that only one or two times a year a certain amount of precision is possible.

 

 

Categories: Diverses, Retro, Uncategorized

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