Austin Texas Woody TD Build

[WitsRUs]

Thanks JePorter25 and StarSeeker for the encouragement! I do hope to be at the new Kyle Field next fall Aggie79! I was in Colege Station last weekend and couldn't believe how much Kyle Field was torn up!

I am at the cabinet making time in the build. I did not own nor have used a router table so I went and bought an entry level table. I spent lots of time reading articles and watching U-tube videos on the different techniques that I thought I might use in building the cabinets. I made quite a few mistakes (and will make more I am sure) but I have learned a lot. I started with the cabinets in the front of the Wyoming Woody design using the tongue and groove method that Ryan used in his build. I did make some small modifications to the base design with the big change being that I will have three cabinets instead of two. I will have two small ones on the sides and one larger one in the middle.

Here is a picture of the first completed tongue and groove headboard-side support on the drivers side of the cabin. Ryan was right, the pieces just friction-fit together so nice.





Here is the headboard with both the drivers side and the passenger side supports in place.



I then made the center supports for the top shelf. If you are familiar with the Wyoming Woody build you will see that I decided to make the support run from the floor to the top shelf instead of from the lower shelf to the top shelf. I am then going to add an opening shelf like in Wyoming Woody but for each of the three compartments. You can see that I also used tongue and groove for these supports as well.





I will be working to complete this cabinet in the coming week along with starting the galley/back cabinet structure.

Thanks for your interest and comments!

Bob

[Junkboy999]

It is turning out great.

Biggest thing about doing cabinets is just keeping it all square. Also check the outside dimensions of your wall from time to time. You do not want to suck in or push out your walls from an ill fitting part interior part.

[WitsRUs]

It has been very cold here in Texas since Thanksgiving and my garage is not heated so not much work has been done in the last couple of weeks. I was able to work on finding some things I was curious about. I really wanted to have three way switches for the outside porch lights. I wanted to have the ability to turn them on from the outside and the inside. To do that I needed to find a single pole double throw mini rocker switch. That was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be. I looked at Radio Shack, Frys, and a RV dealership. With no luck local I went online and did find a source; they will be arriving tomorrow!

Even with the unheated garage I finished all of the front cabinet pieces yesterday and dry fit them together today. Here is an update of my progress since the last post.

Working on the upper part of the cabinet.


Here I am gluing on supports for the hatch that give access to the storage area on the lower part of the cabinet. I am using one continuous piece across the back of the cabinet which the piano hinges will be attached. You can see the notch cutouts in some of the pieces.


Here is a top view of the hatch with the continuous cross piece. The piano hinge needs to be fitted between the the two.


The picture shows the side piece with tongue and grove as well as the cut out for the hatch cross piece.


Here is a view from the backside of the cabinet. It shows the continuos cross piece, a pocket screw hole that will be to hold the piece in place, a corner of the hatch support piece, and the hatch.


Here are some picture with the cabinet dry fit and clamped.








And here is a couple of pictures with the cabinet clamped to the inside profile template.




Yesterday I was able to pick up the 3/4" and 1/2" plywood for the back cabinets! I will start working on those tomorrow!

Stay warm!
Bob

[KCStudly]

Looking good!

Best not to be getting any glue on the table or carpet, you might find yourself banished to the unheated garage!

[aggie79]

Here in Texas, we're not used to cold weather. Give me 100 degrees in the shade any day over weather below 40 degrees.

Best not to be getting any glue on the table or carpet, you might find yourself banished to the unheated garage!

You have a lot more latitude than what I was allowed. The interior of our house could be used for the occasional overflow storage of supplies, but there was no way any construction or assembly was going to take place!

After freezing my tail in the garage, i bought a Mr. Heater Portable Buddy heater. It does a really good job of quickly raising the temperature of a cold garage to tolerable.

Looking good!

I agree. Those cabinets are looking really nice.

[WitsRUs]

Looking good!

Best not to be getting any glue on the table or carpet, you might find yourself banished to the unheated garage!

I agree that the garage could be a cold place to spend the night! ! The cabinets on the carpet are only dry fit! No glue there!

On the pieces clamped I kept the glue indoors and warmed the wood as well. I then took them outside to glue and before bringing them back inside I made sure there was minimal squeeze out of glue!

Gig em Aggies!
Bob

[KCStudly]

Wise man say, you will keep mate happy a very long time!

[capnTelescope]

I'm borrowing your cold weather excuse. Round Rock is farther north, so it must be a tenth of a degree colder, right?

Your build is looking good. I'm glad to see another Aggie build close by.

[WitsRUs]

We had some people over last night for a Christmas party. They were all aware of my project so I dry assembled the sides and the front cabinets to show off the progress. Here are a couple of pictures of what is done so far.

[KCStudly]

I'll drink to that! Looking good.

[WitsRUs]

I am currently working on the galley cabinets. I got all of the main pieces cut and the tongues cut into them. I started to cut the grooves but found out that the large size of some of the pieces made them unwieldy on my small router table. Some of the groove cuts needed to be plunged onto the router bit. Having never done that and the unwieldy nature of the large pieces I have given some thought to not joking some of the pieces with tongue-and-groove. I have thought about using pocket screws/glue instead of the T/G. I would use these on the bigger pieces while keeping the T/G for most of the joining. Any thoughts on this problem or my solution of using pocket screws would be appreciated.

Here are some pictures of the main work space of the galley with the beginning of the cabinet being dry fit.

This the upper bulkhead mated to the main galley work table


The is the 1/2" tongue on the bulkhead and the 3/4" groove on the galley work table.


The ends and top for the upper galley cabinet.

[Loader]

Great progress, the tear is looking fantastic.

[KCStudly]

Why not remove the router from the table and use a ball bearing rabbeting bit for the tongue, and a guide with straight bit for the groove? Clamp the work to the bench.

Edit: The reason I mention it is that the pocket holes can be hard to "hide" and aren't the most architectural feature to my eye. If they will be well hidden, or your preference is different than mine, then go for it. They are a very good fastening method. I've used them a lot, but I try to make sure they are hidden.

[WitsRUs]

Why not remove the router from the table and use a ball bearing rabbeting bit for the tongue, and a guide with straight bit for the groove? Clamp the work to the bench.

Thanks for the tips KC! I did not know about the Rabbeting bit but, after looking it up and reading about it, I wish I did! I used straight bits to cut all the tongues and the vertical/horizontal adjustments took me a long time!

I went ahead and used a guide like you suggested for the full width cut of the top shelf and it worked great! Here are a couple of end on pics of the full width cut ( one from each end). They are about a 1/2 ply to deep but I am happy with how that method worked. Not sure why I didn't think about that but it just shows my Newb-ness I guess!






Regards,
Bob

[KCStudly]

Sometimes it's the forest, sometimes it's the trees. Glad I was able to help.