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Thread: Floating Maple TV Shelf

  1. #1
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    Floating Maple TV Shelf

    I've referred to this shelf off and on here on SMC and so I finally went over to my friend's house to snap some pictures of it since he agreed to buy a couple of pizzas for dinner while I hung chair-rail molding in his baby's room.

    The shelf is made up of 3 sheets of laminated 3/4" plywood. The upper and lower sheets are A-1 maple and the middle sheet was some cheaper birch. I used Gorilla Glue throughout.

    The curved edged (radius ~5') is banded with maple and the whole thing was finished with a hand-rubbing of Velvit Oil (natural).

    The alcove this shelf fits in is horribly out of square and plumb so I had to make a careful template and hand-sand it to match nicely. It came out pretty darn close!

    I attached it to the 3 walls of the alcove with plywood runners secured to the studs with #10 3" screws. I am now thinking I should have used some hardwood but oh well. As added support, I cut pocket holes in the bottom of the shelf to secure to the studs in the wall--again, with 3" screws designed for pocket holes.

    When I was done sanding and ready to apply the finish, I realized that I spaced cutting a hole/groove into the top for fishing of wires! After cutting the grooves for the runners and the slot for the wires with my handheld router and fence, I have to say that I thoroughly love my up/down spiral cutting bit. What an amazing finish it provides and it clears chips so nicely. It is an expensive bit to have but it is wonderful to use.

    There will be two additional upper shelves as well as a lower cabinet to house the electronics. The upper shelves will only be 2 sheets laminated and I think I can get away with only the bottom sheet being the more expensive maple ply.

    I am doing this for a material's charge only as this is my gift to them for their new child.

    Perhaps the biggest challenge for this project was how to cut the arc since I don't own a bandsaw and my crappy Craftsman jigsaw would make a horrible mess of the arc. You won't find many straight bits long enough to route out the arc to my template so I had to do the arc cutting in two stages: once template route with 2 sheets laminated and the final arc cut when the third sheet was laminated.

    Next, I had to figure out how to used these wonderful edge-banding bits from www.burgessedge.com to work on 2 1/4" of plywood! It was a matter of slowly and carefully plowing out the center of the plywood and then taking apart the matching bit to cut the maple to fit the groove. Glue up to the arc couldn't have been easier. I saved the arc cut-off plywood and used it as a caul to clamp the edge-banding right into place.

    Thanks for looking and I'd only be too happy to answer any questions.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Chris Padilla; 02-12-2004 at 3:59 PM.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

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  2. #2
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    Thumbs up Very nice

    Hi Chris,

    Great piece!

    I would like to see a review of the Burgress edge system.

    Thanks
    Chuck

    When all else fails increase hammer size!
    "You can know what other people know. You can do what other people can do."-Dave Gingery

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
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    Quote Originally Posted by Charles McKinley
    Hi Chris,

    Great piece!

    I would like to see a review of the Burgress edge system.

    Thanks
    Thanks! I really enjoyed building this rather simple yet complicated piece. The next couple will be cake now!

    Well, I happen to love the Burgess Edge system. I've chatted about it in bits and pieces here and there.

    Let me start by stating the 3 methods I've used before I stumbled across these beauties:

    (1) Just glue a piece right to the edge, clamp, wait, and then trim off the excess length on the TS and flush it up with a bit on the router table with an extra tall fence. Works great and is relatively fast. You gotta be mindful of your dimensions due to trimming later and if you need all 4 sides, mitering can be difficult. Not too easy to hide the glue line unless you rip the edge real close to the glue line. Works nicely for a piece that will be painted.

    (2) Use the TS to cut a v-groove in the end of the plywood to accept a mirror hardwood piece. PITA to set-up and, well, I only tried this once. I think there are matched router bits that will do this now but set-up time can be consuming regardless.

    (3) Use a matched roundover and cove bit. Again, this works well but set-up is difficult and time-consuming as in (2).

    Then along came (4) The Burgess Edge

    Since their sole purpose is to easily and quickly edge-band 3/4" plywood, they do it exceedingly well. The glue line is practically invisible since you can literally shim the bits to cut right up to the 1/32" veneer on both sides of the plywood. The matching edge-banding piece is self-aligning and glues right in with no fuss, no muss. That was handy on the arc I glued to on the shelf...no slipping around.

    I like them alot. If you do a fair amount of edge-banding, these bits will save time and if you are careful, they will save on wood, too.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
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    Grand Marais, MN. A transplant from Minneapolis
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    Thumbs up

    "It floats before your very eyes" Nice Magic trick Chris!
    Your friend needs to cough up some coin and levitate the rest of his tunage off the floor. He's found the right magician!
    Last edited by Tyler Howell; 02-12-2004 at 6:29 PM.
    TJH
    Live Like You Mean It.



    http://www.northhouse.org/

  5. #5
    Chris, like I always say, nothing like pizza, woodworking and Chinese subtitles.

    Seriously, I like the simple design. The curved front adds a nice touch as well.

  6. #6
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    Knoxville TN.
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    Chris, looks great. Keep them coming...
    Dick

    No Pain-No Gain- Not!
    No Pain-Good

  7. #7
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    Jason,

    You need that mantra in your sig file! Yeah, the gentle curve made it tougher on me but it really adds a nice touch to the piece...makes it just a bit more interesting.

    Tyler,

    He'll coin up the material cost. I keep telling him I am just practising my ww'ing with his stuff so I can make some really nice stuff for my family!

    Dick,

    I have two more shelves and the cabinet below the TV coming but the LOML says I need to work on her stuff for a while or I can just move in with my friend and his family...and I don't think his LOHL wants me there that much!!
    Last edited by Chris Padilla; 02-12-2004 at 7:59 PM.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

    Did you know SMC is user supported? Please help.

  8. #8
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    Dec 2003
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    Laguna Beach , Ca.
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    Chris,
    Very nice ....Great details! You did a great job hiding the shelf support ledgers...
    "All great work starts with love .... then it is no longer work"

  9. #9
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    Tyler,
    If you submitted it I would have guessed it was "frozen" between the walls...since Chris is San Jose...he must be another one of us tricky Ca. boys!
    "All great work starts with love .... then it is no longer work"

  10. #10
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    Mark,

    I recall a pic from you detailing that very technique to float shelves. Due to the overwhelming thickness of the shelf, it was pretty easy to rout out a nice, fairly wide groove for the ledgers (I think that is a better term than runners).

    For the other two shelves that will only be two pieces of lamintated ply, I am a tad worried about the size I should use for the ledgers. I won't have as much material on top that will rest on the ledger. So how deep and where within the thickness of the shelf should I route the groove? Appreciate your thoughts here.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

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  11. #11
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    Laguna Beach , Ca.
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    Chris,
    The load is down...if the others have a TV or heavy weight it could be difficult to do....I would rout to 1/4" of bottom (no load) and 3/8" of top ofthe shelf. That is a net of 7/8" for the ledgers.... That should be strong if you hit each stud in the wall. Make the ledger at least 3/4" thick. Did you check 6speedon line.com ?
    "All great work starts with love .... then it is no longer work"

  12. #12
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    Mark,

    Thanks...sounds good to me. The two upper shelves won't have anywhere near the weight the thicker TV shelf has so this should work out just fine.

    I just took a look at the site...I don't own a P-car so I won't be able to hang with that crowd. I hang out at www.bimmerfest.com. I am a moderator on the 5-series board.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

    Did you know SMC is user supported? Please help.

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