Outgrew my shelf unit, Build Along

[Brokenolmarine]

Some of you may remember the old shelf I built and expanded a year or so ago.  I have begun to outgrow it.  I also use a table that moves.  UP and Down and rolls around the shop if needed.  I want to anchor the next shelf to the table without damaging the table, so after some thought, I decided not to go a LOT higher, and wider was the choice.  This gave me several advantages.  Here is the old shelf unit.

 

This unit is about 36" wide and 24" tall and currently accommodates my most used tools, but as I added tools I found that some wouldn't fit the slots I had, and some just didn't have slots available.  I didn't have space for the mallets, and the drawers in the work table are full.  I will go wider, to the full width of the table, and up to 36".  I played around with various designs, and came back around to the same concept, just an extra shelf at the top for more storage.  Being wider I could add space for the mallets and lots more stamps in the tool bar, then more slots for additional tools in the second shelf.

[Brokenolmarine]

I spent several days playing with layouts, then finally went to Home Depot and bought the wood.  Today, I cut the cedar  4x4 to length at 50-1/2 inches, allowing for the side panels which will make it 52" when assembled, the width of the table.  Then I began to lay out the hole positions.  Increasing the number of holes for both the thick shaft stamps and the thinner stamps.  With the extra length I took my time and finally laid them all out in pencil. 

Once I got them all laid out in pencil and was satisfied with the positions, I used a center punch to set the positions.  I was going to drill them with forstner bits on the drill press but didn't want to struggle once I started looking for pencil marks.  The punch also made sure positioning easier.

I drilled 33 holes on the left with a 1/2" bit, then dropped down to 3/8 for the remaining holes on the right.  the last five single line holes were drilled with 1-1/4 (4) and 1-1/2 (1) to accommodate the handle sizes of the mallets and shoemaker's hammer.

[Brokenolmarine]

I had to spread the work on the tool bar out over the day.  A man has to know his limitations.  But, I got the holes drilled.  I'll use a countersink to round the edges of the top of all the holes later.  The next step will be to make the new second shelf, cutting the slots and drop holes for tools in the new wider shelf.  The tool bar looks pretty good for an old man...

 

Here is a look at the progress so far... more tomorrow if I'm not too beat up and have to rest for a day.

[PastorBob]

Looking good.  That is the setup for stamps that I had when I started.  Added a second on for a total of 8 feet of drilled holes.  then changed again to accommodate more stamps, etc.

[Brokenolmarine]

Got out this morning and started on the second shelf.  This one, like the old one, will hold the tools that hang by the handles or drop in the holes, like the swivel knives, the bevels, and the stitch groovers, etc.

I marked a center line first, then marked the spacing for the 3/4" holes, the 1" holes and the 1-1/4" holes.

Once I had the spacing marked in pencil, once again I got busy with the centering punch and mallet.

Careful punching of the holes insures that the forstner bits will cut in the correct location and give me a nice line when all the holes are drilled.  I noted the location to change bit sizes ON the line, as the bit will cut away the notations.   Once all the guide holes were punched, once again it was time to move to the press.

 

[Brokenolmarine]

Now that I have all the holes drilled, I'll mark the lines to open the 3/4" holes into hanging slots as the next step when I go back out.

Once that is done, it will be time to move to router work.  I'll route the edges of the slots, and the inside of each of these holes.   I'll save that to the end, just before assembly, as I'll route all the edges of the shelves and the edges of the sides, for aesthetics  Much more to come... hang with me if you are interested.  

[Brokenolmarine]

Afternoon session let me route the sides and the inside of the holes of the shelf, and also knock out routing the edges of the tool bar while I was at it.  I have NOT fine sanded the shelves and may not.  A pass or two before assembly but this will be a working rack and I'm not planning on putting a finish on it.  I routed the edges to knock the sharpness off them, and to ease the movement in with the tools.

Next step on this one was to cut the slots and route those cuts.  I cut all but THREE of the marked slots, deciding that I wouldn't use as many slots as I would the drops in the future.  

Next steps involve making the additional shelves for storage of dyes, paints and finishes; and the side panels.  Then a couple passes with the sander to remove splinters.

I will also ADD the rack for the letter and 3D stamps. 

 

[Brokenolmarine]

Got back at it and knocked out the extra shelves.  Got all the edges routed and was ready to start on the sanding.

First I matched up the edges on the two sides and marked the location of the shelves.  

Prior to beginning the sanding, I set up the homemade downdraft sanding table.  I made this years ago, and I have used it often.  I hook the dust collector to the end and sand ON the downdraft.  It reduces the dust by 95%.  I love this thing.

Tomorrow morning I will check the various aspects of the shelves, make sure the tools fit the slots, the holes, etc.  Then I will drill the pilot holes and countersinks for the screws...

Boom, we'll be go for assembly.

[Brokenolmarine]

I went back out after all the work and decided I wasn't happy with the second shelf with the holes and hanging slots.    Too much time and effort had gone in the build so far to settle, and when I was routing, I had already broken one of the "Teeth" of the slots off and had pinned and glued it back in place.  The job was so well done you couldn't tell, but... I decided to redo that second shelf with some changes to the layout.  To strengthen the teeth, I would widen the spacing from 1-1/2" between the centers to 2"  I had also checked the usability of the original layout, and discovered I didn't need as many of the 7/8" holes.  I marked more points for 3/4" holes, fewer 7/8" holes and only the one 1-1/4" hole.  The layout was completed, and I centerpunched the holes.

Next, I took to the drill press.  I suspected that one of the reasons I had broken off a tooth, was that the forstner bits tended to break out wood on the back of these boards even with the backers, I first drilled pilot holes all the way thru, then set the press to drill slightly over halfway thru on the first passes on the front, then flipped the board and drilled the rest of the way thru.  Worked perfectly, clean passes on all.

The next step was to mark and cut the slots, route the edges and the interior of the slots and drop holes, and then sand the shelf.  Looking good.

[Brokenolmarine]

With the basic pieces done, I needed to drill the countersunk holes for the shelves in the sides of the unit.  careful layout and a forstner bit for the countersink and that was knocked out.  No step was rushed.  The layout.

Center punch the marks 

 

Next drilled the pilot hole for the screws and then the countersink for the plugs.