Thursday, April 19, 2007

Wall Cabinet Progress

No pictures tonight, I'll try to post some tomorrow.

I've finished the hinge mortises.

Next step was to adjust the fit of the doors, which were too wide. In the grand scheme of things this is a much better option than too narrow.

While taking a break at work this afternoon, I'd read a discussion on the LumberJocks website about jointing the edge of a board with a handheld router as an alternative to doing it with a split fence on a router table. I've never done either but the fence which came with my router table has a split fence option. So, I decided to give it a try. I started on a piece of scrap. That went well, so I took a deep breath and ran the first door through. It wasn't perfect but it's pretty good. The second door looks even better. So now I have a new technique I can use.

After reattaching the hinges (while listening to, of all things, Donny Osmond on the radio!) I began work on the mechanism to hold the doors shut. I'm going to use rare earth magnets and magnet washers (basically thick washers that are attached with screws. I marked the doors, and drilled the holes for the washers with a forstner bit, and attached the washer in the first door. Amy came down while I was working on this and while I was explaining what I was doing I discovered that I had put the washer on the wrong side of the door. This wouldn't be too much of a problem except I'd decided to use a little super glue to help hold the washer.

I finished up the washer on the second door and the second washer on the first door. Now I just have to figure out how to mask the second washer on the first door.

The construction phase of this project is almost complete. I need to finish trimming the shelves for width (they're a little wide), ease edges on the doors and the case, and attach the block with the magnets which will act as the latch. That's it - the end is in sight.

No comments: