WHAT I DID TODAY
Hi everyone,
Well I took a day off from the project to enjoy the weather and got back in the shop today, I also hit a roadblock to forced me to change my original plans regarding the middle leg.
- Project Revision
- Middle Foot (Revision)
- More Sanding
- Added the hinges
- Free standing Unit
PROJECT REVISION
When I originally planned my project I thought if I just left the middle leg with just a castor on the base and not make a foot like I did on the left and right sides because all I was using the middle leg for was for pivoting the divider sides, well that didn't work out because too much weight would of been put on the butt hinges that I was using to join the two panels.
So to remedy this I decided to make a small foot and add 1 castor and not 2 castors as I previously did on the left and right sides.
I also needed to add clearance to middle of the two panels to allow for the panels to move on the butt hinges, so I added another piece of lumber on the left side of the right panel and glued and screwed it in place.
MAKING THE MIDDLE FOOT (REVISION)
As I stated in my project revision I needed to make a middle foot to support the weight of the dividers and to move some of the weight away from the hinges. So I changed my joinery from a mortise and tenon joint to basically designing a foot riser and added a castor. The reason for changing the joint was because I needed a lot more wood to insert the castor stem and therefore could not add a tenon because the stem would not be able to be inserted.
So I made 6" foot and centered a mortise that was the same size of the leg since I could not make a tenon. Then I used my router to clear out most of the waste and then used my chisel's to square the mortise. In essence the leg end was a type of tenon but wood was not removed as is traditionaly done to create tenon shoulders. It was the best solution I could come up with. Below you can see pictures of this step
When I was taking a lot of these pictures I thought a 4" foot was long enough and after making the entire foot I had a knot right in the middle of the mortise and it cracked so I had to replace the entire foot so I made it from scratch again and made it 2" longer.
MORE SANDING
After I finished working on the middle foot I had to sand the entire 2 panels again and I also finished rounding over the legs . I used a mixture of belt sander and orbital sander and used from 80 grit - 220 grit. Below you can see my temp sanding station.
ADDING THE HINGES
I added 3 butt hinges to the center of the 2 panels , I placed them at the top, middle and bottom. I secured the left side of the hinge to one panel and then added a little spacer block and secured the rest of the hinges.
I also needed to temporarily prop the bottom left side of the right panel because that didn't have a castor to support it so I just put scrap-wood underneath that side making sure that top of each panel was level with each other, it wasn't pretty but it was very quick way of achieving a level top and bottom, then I finished securing the right sides of the hinges. Oh yea I also used clamps to pull both panels together into the spacer block I positioned in between the dividers that way I was assured the hinges would line up under each other.
FREE STANDING DIVIDERS
It has taken me a long time in getting this far and with so many obstacles on my journey thus far, but today we have a free standing room divider that can move and bend and not fall over. I feel accomplished and whats more important the wife really likes it, but were not finished yet.
NEXT
- Today I came across a broken router, specifically the collet nut on my Craftsman router is stuck so I am trying to either fix it or order a new one, I need the router for the next phase of the project specifically for the herringbone design I need to make.
- I have to prepare the wood for the herringbone, there are a lot of pieces to this, cant get this step done until my router is functional.
- Need to apply a 2nd coat of black paint to the front face(s) of the dividers.
- Need to purchase and install cork-board, and chalkboard paint to the back of the dividers
- Finally need to put 2-3 coats of Poly-Acrylic to the project I am using a HVLP sprayer to do this.
Until then, take care