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8K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  wormil 
#1 ·
Designing the Cabinet

I got a new Laguna Revo 13/36 lathe about a year ago and have been contemplating ever since for a way to store my accumulation of lathe tools and accessories to both keep them close at hand and prevent them from taking over every bit of horizontal space in my shop while I am turning.

Requirements:
  • I am planning to put it under the ways on wheels so that I can move it if it in the way or when I need to move the lathe.
  • I want to have shallow drawers to store the various full size turning tools but have no bottoms in the drawers so that dust and shavings simply fall through. All drawers will be on full extension glides.
  • I will have deeper drawers to store chucks, jaws, faceplates, and centers
  • Other drawers, possibly with removable trays or caddies, to hold and organize sanding and finishing supplies and gadgets.
  • It will have a bay with a full-extension drawer to hold my Ringmaster while not in use.
  • Avoid plywood in the case.

The Design:
Below is the Sketchup drawing of what I came up with. I am planning to use oversized box joints to the join the top, bottom and ends. Because I don't want to have any plywood externally, the back will be comprised of vertical boards with overlapping floating joints to deal with wood movement.

I am a little concerned about whether I have designed the bottom strong enough for the ~46" span and wondering if I need to add an apron on the bottom or least turn the bottom boards 90 degrees to give it a little more strength. I didn't do that because I am constrained by the height of the lathe and am trying to maximize the internal space and leave clearance for the casters on each corner.

Comments, concerns and suggestions welcome.

Rectangle Gas Cabinetry Aluminium Metal

Back & internal view:
Cabinetry Chair Rectangle Shelf Chest of drawers

Back detail with top removed:
Rectangle Slope Wood Parallel Pattern
 

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#2 ·
Designing the Cabinet

I got a new Laguna Revo 13/36 lathe about a year ago and have been contemplating ever since for a way to store my accumulation of lathe tools and accessories to both keep them close at hand and prevent them from taking over every bit of horizontal space in my shop while I am turning.

Requirements:
  • I am planning to put it under the ways on wheels so that I can move it if it in the way or when I need to move the lathe.
  • I want to have shallow drawers to store the various full size turning tools but have no bottoms in the drawers so that dust and shavings simply fall through. All drawers will be on full extension glides.
  • I will have deeper drawers to store chucks, jaws, faceplates, and centers
  • Other drawers, possibly with removable trays or caddies, to hold and organize sanding and finishing supplies and gadgets.
  • It will have a bay with a full-extension drawer to hold my Ringmaster while not in use.
  • Avoid plywood in the case.

The Design:
Below is the Sketchup drawing of what I came up with. I am planning to use oversized box joints to the join the top, bottom and ends. Because I don't want to have any plywood externally, the back will be comprised of vertical boards with overlapping floating joints to deal with wood movement.

I am a little concerned about whether I have designed the bottom strong enough for the ~46" span and wondering if I need to add an apron on the bottom or least turn the bottom boards 90 degrees to give it a little more strength. I didn't do that because I am constrained by the height of the lathe and am trying to maximize the internal space and leave clearance for the casters on each corner.

Comments, concerns and suggestions welcome.

Rectangle Gas Cabinetry Aluminium Metal

Back & internal view:
Cabinetry Chair Rectangle Shelf Chest of drawers

Back detail with top removed:
Rectangle Slope Wood Parallel Pattern
Bottom looks strong enough from here Nathan. Instead of an apron, you could always reinforce it with a piece of steel tubing or angle across the middle of it that's shorter than your castings. It would ensure no sag develops over the years and wouldn't be visible.

I'll be watching for good storage ideas!

Edit: Castings=Casters ;-P
 

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#3 ·
Designing the Cabinet

I got a new Laguna Revo 13/36 lathe about a year ago and have been contemplating ever since for a way to store my accumulation of lathe tools and accessories to both keep them close at hand and prevent them from taking over every bit of horizontal space in my shop while I am turning.

Requirements:
  • I am planning to put it under the ways on wheels so that I can move it if it in the way or when I need to move the lathe.
  • I want to have shallow drawers to store the various full size turning tools but have no bottoms in the drawers so that dust and shavings simply fall through. All drawers will be on full extension glides.
  • I will have deeper drawers to store chucks, jaws, faceplates, and centers
  • Other drawers, possibly with removable trays or caddies, to hold and organize sanding and finishing supplies and gadgets.
  • It will have a bay with a full-extension drawer to hold my Ringmaster while not in use.
  • Avoid plywood in the case.

The Design:
Below is the Sketchup drawing of what I came up with. I am planning to use oversized box joints to the join the top, bottom and ends. Because I don't want to have any plywood externally, the back will be comprised of vertical boards with overlapping floating joints to deal with wood movement.

I am a little concerned about whether I have designed the bottom strong enough for the ~46" span and wondering if I need to add an apron on the bottom or least turn the bottom boards 90 degrees to give it a little more strength. I didn't do that because I am constrained by the height of the lathe and am trying to maximize the internal space and leave clearance for the casters on each corner.

Comments, concerns and suggestions welcome.

Rectangle Gas Cabinetry Aluminium Metal

Back & internal view:
Cabinetry Chair Rectangle Shelf Chest of drawers

Back detail with top removed:
Rectangle Slope Wood Parallel Pattern
I was hoping you might have some good ideas Kenny. ;-) One thing I still have to design is how to arrange and organize the chucks and centers. I think that I am going to want a caddy I can pull out of the drawer because I typically take the the chuck over to the bench to change the jaws.

My plan is to put 1 or 2 screws into each of the shiplap boards on the back (no glue) which hopefully will add some rigidity and reduce any tendency to rack. BTW, I've estimated that with the radially cut boards on the back a 6% moisture change would amount to a maximum of about 1% change in the width of the shiplap boards or about 1/2" across the entire width which is about 1/32" per board so that will be used to set the gap between them.
 

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#4 ·
Poor Man's Vertical Grain Douglas Fir

Since I decided I didn't want to just use plywood for the lathe cabinet I am building, needed to try a substitute. I wanted to try something other than the standard hardwoods and I've always liked the way that the vertical grain Douglas fir looks in Woodsmith magazine projects. Vertical grain is basically quarter sawn. That stuff is crazy expensive and frankly I doubt that I could even find it here in in the DFW area without special ordering it. About the only Douglas fir I could find without checking all of the high end lumber suppliers in the area are 4Ă—4's at Home Depot and Lowes and I had about 4' of one left over from a previous project which I had selected because it had really nice tight and straight grain. I selected a few more with the straightest, tightest grain near the top of the stack at HD and decide to see if I could make my own vertical grain Douglas fir.

First step was to cut the 8' 4Ă—4s in half so that I could resaw them on my bandsaw more easily.
Outdoor bench Picnic table Wood Street furniture Road surface

and then cobbled together a quick and dirty resaw guide to help keep them as straight as possible.
Wood Tool Table Flooring Floor


Even though the 4Ă—4s are kiln dried, after resawing them I decided to sticker them as I waited a few days before milling them just in case they move a bit.
Wood Wood stain Floor Plank Composite material


I used my crappy bench top jointer to flatten the face and then ran them through my planer to mill them down to 3/4" and then used a jointing sled on my table saw to get nice straight edges. I did a few with a hand plane and then tried using the POS jointer but finally made a quick and dirty sled to do the rest. Not sure when or why it happened, but the infeed and outfeed tables on the jointer are no longer parallel and it has no obvious way to fix that. I tried adding some shims which made it better but I could not get a straight edge to save my life.

Now, I am in the process of gluing them up in to about 2'x4' panels. Just to make it easier to clean up the squeeze out, I decided to use liquid hide glue. I finally had a chance to use a few of the parallel clamps I bought cheap at a garage sale a while back.
Wood Engineering Gas Machine Hardwood


It is not quite as nice as the the real thing, largely because VG DF is usually cut from old growth trees to get finer growth rings and grain, but overall it so far seems to be a good substitute. The grain orientation should at least make it more stable and less susceptible to humidity swings from season to season.
 

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#5 ·
Poor Man's Vertical Grain Douglas Fir

Since I decided I didn't want to just use plywood for the lathe cabinet I am building, needed to try a substitute. I wanted to try something other than the standard hardwoods and I've always liked the way that the vertical grain Douglas fir looks in Woodsmith magazine projects. Vertical grain is basically quarter sawn. That stuff is crazy expensive and frankly I doubt that I could even find it here in in the DFW area without special ordering it. About the only Douglas fir I could find without checking all of the high end lumber suppliers in the area are 4Ă—4's at Home Depot and Lowes and I had about 4' of one left over from a previous project which I had selected because it had really nice tight and straight grain. I selected a few more with the straightest, tightest grain near the top of the stack at HD and decide to see if I could make my own vertical grain Douglas fir.

First step was to cut the 8' 4Ă—4s in half so that I could resaw them on my bandsaw more easily.
Outdoor bench Picnic table Wood Street furniture Road surface

and then cobbled together a quick and dirty resaw guide to help keep them as straight as possible.
Wood Tool Table Flooring Floor


Even though the 4Ă—4s are kiln dried, after resawing them I decided to sticker them as I waited a few days before milling them just in case they move a bit.
Wood Wood stain Floor Plank Composite material


I used my crappy bench top jointer to flatten the face and then ran them through my planer to mill them down to 3/4" and then used a jointing sled on my table saw to get nice straight edges. I did a few with a hand plane and then tried using the POS jointer but finally made a quick and dirty sled to do the rest. Not sure when or why it happened, but the infeed and outfeed tables on the jointer are no longer parallel and it has no obvious way to fix that. I tried adding some shims which made it better but I could not get a straight edge to save my life.

Now, I am in the process of gluing them up in to about 2'x4' panels. Just to make it easier to clean up the squeeze out, I decided to use liquid hide glue. I finally had a chance to use a few of the parallel clamps I bought cheap at a garage sale a while back.
Wood Engineering Gas Machine Hardwood


It is not quite as nice as the the real thing, largely because VG DF is usually cut from old growth trees to get finer growth rings and grain, but overall it so far seems to be a good substitute. The grain orientation should at least make it more stable and less susceptible to humidity swings from season to season.
Personally, I would have gone with plywood. That's way too much work for me. I'm really disappointed in you. You're not living up to your name at all. ;-)

I can't buy DF around here that I know of but Home Depot has some flooring boards that might save you some time if they are available at any of your local stores.

Smart call on the jointing sled for the table saw. That's always my go-to for big batches of lumber. It's just plain faster than my jointer.
 

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#8 ·
Making the Cabinet Box

Finally posting the next installment on making the cabinet. After gluing up the panels, I decided to use oversized box joints to make the box for the cabinet. Instead of cutting them by hand, I decided make a router jig that would take the inaccuracy that typically happens when I try to cut them by hand.
Wood Motor vehicle Table Urban design Naval architecture


I adapted this from a jig I saw in a Woodsmith Magazine video. With this jig you get perfect fitting joints without any tuning of the jig. You simply cut the jig parts to the width you want for the fingers. On one side it forms the cutout and on the other the finger for the mating board. For these, the middle 3 fingers are 3" with 2" between and 1.5" fingers on the ends. First one came out perfectly. So easy. I will use this approach again.
Brown Door Wood Wood stain Plant

But as with almost anything done with a router makes a huge mess.
Wood Floor Flooring Wall Automotive tire


Next step was to cut the mortises for the vertical drawer supports and the grooves for the back and cut the small tenons for the vertical supports. The tenons were done by hand but I actually decided to try using my new to me CNC machine to cut the grooves and mortises. I could have done this by hand and a handheld router more quickly but I mostly just wanted to see if I could figure out how to do this on the CNC, especially with one whose bed is not as long as the the grooves I need to cut. It worked pretty well though for some reason on one panel, 2 of the mortises were off by about a half inch in the X axis so I had to fix it with a chisel and make the tenons slightly larger.
Wood Hardwood Engineering Flooring Plywood


Next step was to make the back. Because I did not want to use plywood and because wood movement on a 45" panel could be significant, especially given the humidity swings I will get in my shop, I decided to use shiplap boards to make the back. These were cut and milled to 1/2" thick and I used a dado blade to cut the rabbets on the the sides and ends. I used a small plane to add a chamfer on the edges to accentuate the joints.
Plant Wood Cuisine Road surface Grass


After a dry assembly, I didn't leave enough room for expansion so I used a shoulder plane to adjust the width. Most of the adjustments were done by making the rabbets slightly wider.
Wood Engineering Hardwood Composite material Plank

Wood Hardwood Engineering Composite material Machine


Glue up was a PITA. I approached this by gluing 3 sides together, making sure they were square, and then once the glue set enough to remove the clamps glue the vertical supports, put the shiplap boards in place and attach the 4 side. Getting all of the shiplap in the grove, gluing the vertical drawer supports in place and keep vertical as I lowered the top in place and checking that everything is square took my wife's help. I opted to use liquid hide glue because you can apply more glue latter if needed without worrying about whether it will hold. I finally got to use all of the parallel clamps I bought a couple of years ago for $12 each.

Wood Gas Engineering Machine Electrical wiring


Wood Wheel Hardwood Wood stain Bicycle


I set it on some furniture dollies to put it under the lathe while I work on the frame and casters to put underneath. Looks like I didn't screw up the length anyway.
Table Wood Automotive design Desk Computer desk


I put a bunch of the stuff that will eventually wind up in the drawers to get them out of the way as I begin working on the drawers. I will need to mill some more stock for the drawer fronts but so far the selection at the local HD and Lowes just doesn't have the right grain to get the vertical grain that I want so I may have to expand my search. I am in the process of designing the cradles and other storage options for the drawers.

Thanks for looking.
 

Attachments

#9 ·
Making the Cabinet Box

Finally posting the next installment on making the cabinet. After gluing up the panels, I decided to use oversized box joints to make the box for the cabinet. Instead of cutting them by hand, I decided make a router jig that would take the inaccuracy that typically happens when I try to cut them by hand.
Wood Motor vehicle Table Urban design Naval architecture


I adapted this from a jig I saw in a Woodsmith Magazine video. With this jig you get perfect fitting joints without any tuning of the jig. You simply cut the jig parts to the width you want for the fingers. On one side it forms the cutout and on the other the finger for the mating board. For these, the middle 3 fingers are 3" with 2" between and 1.5" fingers on the ends. First one came out perfectly. So easy. I will use this approach again.
Brown Door Wood Wood stain Plant

But as with almost anything done with a router makes a huge mess.
Wood Floor Flooring Wall Automotive tire


Next step was to cut the mortises for the vertical drawer supports and the grooves for the back and cut the small tenons for the vertical supports. The tenons were done by hand but I actually decided to try using my new to me CNC machine to cut the grooves and mortises. I could have done this by hand and a handheld router more quickly but I mostly just wanted to see if I could figure out how to do this on the CNC, especially with one whose bed is not as long as the the grooves I need to cut. It worked pretty well though for some reason on one panel, 2 of the mortises were off by about a half inch in the X axis so I had to fix it with a chisel and make the tenons slightly larger.
Wood Hardwood Engineering Flooring Plywood


Next step was to make the back. Because I did not want to use plywood and because wood movement on a 45" panel could be significant, especially given the humidity swings I will get in my shop, I decided to use shiplap boards to make the back. These were cut and milled to 1/2" thick and I used a dado blade to cut the rabbets on the the sides and ends. I used a small plane to add a chamfer on the edges to accentuate the joints.
Plant Wood Cuisine Road surface Grass


After a dry assembly, I didn't leave enough room for expansion so I used a shoulder plane to adjust the width. Most of the adjustments were done by making the rabbets slightly wider.
Wood Engineering Hardwood Composite material Plank

Wood Hardwood Engineering Composite material Machine


Glue up was a PITA. I approached this by gluing 3 sides together, making sure they were square, and then once the glue set enough to remove the clamps glue the vertical supports, put the shiplap boards in place and attach the 4 side. Getting all of the shiplap in the grove, gluing the vertical drawer supports in place and keep vertical as I lowered the top in place and checking that everything is square took my wife's help. I opted to use liquid hide glue because you can apply more glue latter if needed without worrying about whether it will hold. I finally got to use all of the parallel clamps I bought a couple of years ago for $12 each.

Wood Gas Engineering Machine Electrical wiring


Wood Wheel Hardwood Wood stain Bicycle


I set it on some furniture dollies to put it under the lathe while I work on the frame and casters to put underneath. Looks like I didn't screw up the length anyway.
Table Wood Automotive design Desk Computer desk


I put a bunch of the stuff that will eventually wind up in the drawers to get them out of the way as I begin working on the drawers. I will need to mill some more stock for the drawer fronts but so far the selection at the local HD and Lowes just doesn't have the right grain to get the vertical grain that I want so I may have to expand my search. I am in the process of designing the cradles and other storage options for the drawers.

Thanks for looking.
Looks like it's coming together, Nathan. Good luck finding your drawer fronts.
 

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#13 ·
Making the Drawers

I am a little tardy updating the blog but I am finally finishing the cabinet so I thought I would post a few more pictures. I actually made the wide set of drawers and mounted them into to the cabinet back in February but didn't make the narrow drawers or the fronts for the wide drawers until a couple of weeks ago and I resawed, milled and glued up the drawer fronts a few days ago.

I decided to use my Milescraft Dovetail router jig to make the drawers. It is actually a jig used to make the jig.
Crosscut saw Wood Font Hand tool Tool

Musical instrument Wood Hardwood Wood stain Lumber


After dialing in the jig, which isn't hard either, this has got to be one of the simplest ways to cut dovetails.

But first I had to find some more Doug fir 4Ă—4s to resaw into boards I used to make them. For some reason, the supply of Doug fir in my area got really crappy right after I started this project so it took a few weeks before I finally found some that that had reasonably straight grain and few knots. Once I had the wood resawed and milled flat. Cutting the dovetails with the Milescraft system went really fast. It only took a couple of hours to crank out all dovetails for the wide drawers.
Musical instrument Wood Musical instrument accessory Art Folk instrument

I cut groves for the bottoms using my CNC machine and assembled the drawers.
Wood Hardwood Rectangle Publication Automotive exterior


Next step as to make some tool racks for the 2 top drawers to hold my most commonly used tools. I left the bottoms open so that that shavings do not collect in these drawers.
Wood Office supplies Gun accessory Tool Metal


Wood Gas Metalworking hand tool Metal Kitchen utensil


I then mounted the wide drawers using some inexpensive full extention drawer slides.
Table Furniture Wood Drawer Rectangle


I took a couple months off to actually use the lathe while I hunted down some more Doug fir. The Lumberjocks turning swap was a nice diversion during this time. Once I had some acceptable DF, I milled it up and made the the narrow drawers and mounted them, again with full extension slides. After cutting all of the dovetails, I realized that if I made the two top narrow drawers the same depth as the two open bottomed wide drawers, they would be pretty useless so I glued them together to make a single deeper drawer.

Wood Table Automotive exterior Floor Audio equipment


I then made the drawer fronts and attached them.
Wood Musical instrument Table Gas Hardwood


I was careful to make sure that the grain continues across from the wide to narrow drawers. I was going to continue this across to the door that covers the Ringmaster Garage to the left, but I decide it looked a little weird so I decided to orient the grain vertically for the door. At a later date I may add some sort of carving or other pattern to the door to dress it up a bit.

Table Outdoor bench Wood Plant Bench


I applied Tried and True Varnish oil and added some drawer pulls my wife basically got for a few cents each at an estate sale. All that is left is to attached the hinge and pull for the door.

Cabinetry Drawer Wood Audio equipment Wood stain


I still need to come up with some dividers and other organizers inside the drawers to help prevent them from just becoming a tangled mess. I am debating whether to use some Kaisan foam or simply add some wood cutouts and dividers. I may make a sliding tray on the deeper drawer to hold some of my less used chisels. I plan to keep sanding and finishing tools and supplies in the narrow drawers and I may make some removable trays to put them close at hand as I am sanding and finish. I still need to apply a few more coats of the finish but it is basically done and I can get back to turning.
 

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#14 ·
Making the Drawers

I am a little tardy updating the blog but I am finally finishing the cabinet so I thought I would post a few more pictures. I actually made the wide set of drawers and mounted them into to the cabinet back in February but didn't make the narrow drawers or the fronts for the wide drawers until a couple of weeks ago and I resawed, milled and glued up the drawer fronts a few days ago.

I decided to use my Milescraft Dovetail router jig to make the drawers. It is actually a jig used to make the jig.
Crosscut saw Wood Font Hand tool Tool

Musical instrument Wood Hardwood Wood stain Lumber


After dialing in the jig, which isn't hard either, this has got to be one of the simplest ways to cut dovetails.

But first I had to find some more Doug fir 4Ă—4s to resaw into boards I used to make them. For some reason, the supply of Doug fir in my area got really crappy right after I started this project so it took a few weeks before I finally found some that that had reasonably straight grain and few knots. Once I had the wood resawed and milled flat. Cutting the dovetails with the Milescraft system went really fast. It only took a couple of hours to crank out all dovetails for the wide drawers.
Musical instrument Wood Musical instrument accessory Art Folk instrument

I cut groves for the bottoms using my CNC machine and assembled the drawers.
Wood Hardwood Rectangle Publication Automotive exterior


Next step as to make some tool racks for the 2 top drawers to hold my most commonly used tools. I left the bottoms open so that that shavings do not collect in these drawers.
Wood Office supplies Gun accessory Tool Metal


Wood Gas Metalworking hand tool Metal Kitchen utensil


I then mounted the wide drawers using some inexpensive full extention drawer slides.
Table Furniture Wood Drawer Rectangle


I took a couple months off to actually use the lathe while I hunted down some more Doug fir. The Lumberjocks turning swap was a nice diversion during this time. Once I had some acceptable DF, I milled it up and made the the narrow drawers and mounted them, again with full extension slides. After cutting all of the dovetails, I realized that if I made the two top narrow drawers the same depth as the two open bottomed wide drawers, they would be pretty useless so I glued them together to make a single deeper drawer.

Wood Table Automotive exterior Floor Audio equipment


I then made the drawer fronts and attached them.
Wood Musical instrument Table Gas Hardwood


I was careful to make sure that the grain continues across from the wide to narrow drawers. I was going to continue this across to the door that covers the Ringmaster Garage to the left, but I decide it looked a little weird so I decided to orient the grain vertically for the door. At a later date I may add some sort of carving or other pattern to the door to dress it up a bit.

Table Outdoor bench Wood Plant Bench


I applied Tried and True Varnish oil and added some drawer pulls my wife basically got for a few cents each at an estate sale. All that is left is to attached the hinge and pull for the door.

Cabinetry Drawer Wood Audio equipment Wood stain


I still need to come up with some dividers and other organizers inside the drawers to help prevent them from just becoming a tangled mess. I am debating whether to use some Kaisan foam or simply add some wood cutouts and dividers. I may make a sliding tray on the deeper drawer to hold some of my less used chisels. I plan to keep sanding and finishing tools and supplies in the narrow drawers and I may make some removable trays to put them close at hand as I am sanding and finish. I still need to apply a few more coats of the finish but it is basically done and I can get back to turning.
Looking like a very useful piece of shop furniture, Nathan. The drawer fronts look pretty sharp, too!
 

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