Another stand build thread

OK, I've commissioned to build another stand. If you know who it's for please remain silent. He will disclose the build on his own time. Stand will be similar as the one I built for Nikecivic.

So on with the show.

100+ board feet of poplar. That's equal to 1 inch thick, 12 inches wide and 100+ feet long. This will be the 'skin" around the main 2 x 4 frame. I'm using Poplar as it takes stain nicely and this one is going to be a dark stain.



The plan. Laying out the different pieces.



Cutting the lumber down to manageable size. This is all the wood for the doors and the 8 vertical column's.

Running the lumber thru the planer to make it all a uniform thickness of 3/4 of an inch.



next step is to make sure I have a good straight edge so time to trun it thru the jointer.



Now that it's all the same thickness and has one straight edge, it's time for some tablesaw action. I'll cut them to a rough width here. I'm not going to cut them to length just yet as I want to run the door rails and stiles thru the router first to cut my inner door edge. Then I'll cut them to length. this helps avoid tearout or rounding over a edge.





All the rails and stiles cut to width. There are 10 doors total.

My nest step was to gang plane them to the final width. I do this so that I know for sure they are all the same width. I think it works better than using the tablesaw. maybe if I had a high dollar saw, I might think different. One day.



That's all for now.

OK, I got some more machining done today. First up was to work on the profile for the rails and stiles.



First pass looks good.



4 passes later, I'm done.

Next I started working on a design for the upper molding/shelf.



Then I started making the various parts for a mock up.








I got all of the parts put together and it looks good. But I don't want to spoil the surprise so you'll have to wait.

Next I did some work on the fluted columns.

Set up test run on some scrap.



And after several passes, they are done.

Nice!

Very nice. I wish I had the craftsmen ship and patience to build something like that.

Looks awesome! Very similar stand to one I've seen in person, lol :-)

Thanks everyone. Believe it or not, I'm self taught. Took woodworking in middle and high school. Other than that reading and trial and error over the years. And a lot of watching Norm Abrams on PBS.

And yes, the base design is like yours. But it will look different once it's completed.


Ok, I worked on designing a lower trim piece. Here's some teaser photos. Now I just have to wait for the buyer to make a decision so I can start making it. Between the 3 pieces, I came up with 4 different designs when they are assembled.

OK, I've made some more progress. The tank has arrived and so I got some exact dimensions from the tank. So now I can finalize my drawings and dimensions and start building the frame. I'm building it out of 2 X 4 and 2 X 6 Douglas fir. I ran the lumber thru my jointer and planner to get the exact dimensions I wanted and to make sure it's all square and the same size. makes my life easier when I start assembling it. Here are some pictures of the bottom frame and top frame. I've still got some more work to do on them before they are ready for assembly with the post. They are glued together and have screws in them as well. Plus I still have to make the post. The bottom will be covered with 2 sheets of 1/2"' ply to get the height I want and the top will be covered with 1" maple ply. More work to follow.

Base bottom.





Base top. The notches you see on the middle cross braces are for the vertical post to fit into. this will make it sturdy as well as give extra support to the cross bracing. You'll see how it all fits later.

And this picture is for the new stand owner. I had built this one as well. One of my other hobbies. The corrugated tin is actually aluminum soda cans made to look like rusted metal. the wood base is an old cedar picnic table. The water tank is a PVC fitting and the boiler is mostly a PVC pipe Tee with some stick pins for rivets.



And a Howe truss bridge I designed and built from scratch. It's all bolted together, no glue.

Keep the updates coming please. Awesome work.

Thanks and I'll do my best to keep it updated.

Had some family stuff to take care of but finally got back in the shop Tuesday. Got the base of the stand about done, or at least as far as I can go for now. I also got the 8 vertical supports built. Next step will be to start setting things up and get the vertical supports installed, add the rest of the bracing inside the base frame, and then put the top frame on making sure everything is square. Then it's time to skin starting at the bottom.

So here's the base frame, upside down so I could put on the "skids".





And the 8 vertical post. you'll understand more when I start putting it together. They are doubled up 2X3's glued together. There is a "notch" on each end to sit on the base frame and the top frame.

OK, been busy and got some more work done on the stand. I finally have the foundation for the stand done. Top and bottom and vertical post. next step is to build up the base to the correct height and put on the plywood shelve and base trim.

leveling the base.





Notching the vertical post.





Installing and leveling the post so that it's all square.

Installing the top and the center post.







Now to let it all dry good.

Well I ran into a minor setback. Seems that the long 2X6's on the top frame were bowed more than I thought. Even though the height was correct, top to bottom, there was about 1/8" positive bow in the middle of it. I could have continued on and I'm sure once the tank was on and full of water it would have leveled out. But I was worried about the fit of the doors once it did that. I actually ran a string line from one end to the other and that is how I found it, even though it measured square and the height at each post was the same. The string doesn't lie.

So OFF with it's head! I mean top. Once I removed the top from the vertical post, it all snapped back into place and was fine. So I had to build another top frame. I didn't take a bunch of pictures so trust me on this one. You'll see that the frame looks different once I fix it and take a picture.

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Well I had a major set back. Seems that tolerance stacking has caught up on me and now I've got issues that I can't overcome. So I've cut the whole stand up into fire wood and will be starting over. I'm going to try a different approach at the stand base that I think will be a lot easier to get everything where it needs to be. Stand by for changes. I'll probably deleet a bunch of the pictures from here.

OK, I finally have made some progress and have some new ideas that seem to be working out. Work has gotten in the way and I am not able to take my 2 week vacation and go to Baja for the Baja 1000. I really wanted to go as we have what people are calling the "Dream Team" with our 3 drivers so baring any major equipment failures, we will win the race.

I got another sheet of 3/4 maple and have decided to build some "I" beams for the bottom. They will be lighter and stronger. I've taken each piece of wood and joined it and then planned it so that they are all square and the same dimension. Then I assembled the "I" beams, and again jointed them and planed them to square and all the same size. It's a bit more machining but it will pay off in the long run as I'll know I'm starting with square beams. I've got the base laid out and am working on how I'm going to install the post which I have built up the same way as I did the "I" beams.

OK, got some more work done. It's taking a lot more labor due to the machining required to make the pocket holes in the I beams for the post, but in the long run, it should make things that much better and more precise. I machined each pocket to each post to make sure of a perfect fit. The numbers keep me in check so that each matching pocket and post can go together correctly when the time comes to install the post.





Laying out everything for fit check.





glue and clamp

Not a whole lot of news to report. I got all of the I beams for the base built, machined pockets for the post, and glued to the plywood base.

I've got all of the I beams built for the top platform as well and am in the process of machining the pockets for the post. next step once all of the machining is complete is to glue all of the I beams to the top plywood. Then I can assemble the base, post and top.

This process is a lot more time consuming but will be a better built stand once its assembled and built to withstand anything except maybe a hurricane. But it would have to be a big one.

I'm still working on the stand. Just machining the upper I beams to fit the various post into. It takes me about a day per beam to machine all of the different pockets. And there are 4 major beams I've got to do, plus the 2 end beams. So yes it's time consuming.

OK, got some more work done. Got the beams all built and machined for the post. Glued the beams to the top plywood. Did a test fit of the post to the top and the bottom and made necessary adjustments. Then started gluing and clamping everything together. So now the base is built. It weighs at least 150 lbs, probably more. Next step will be to start to put on the nice "skin" and the start making doors.

OK, got some more work done. That and just saw that I had 666 post so guess its a good time to up my post count. Got the base trim all cut fitted and glued on. Just a little finish sanding to do later. next phase is the up right fluted columns.

The round over top is first.



Nice tight corners



Then the face boards with a tight fit under the round over.



All glued up and drying.

amazing stuff, can I intern for you.

Thanks. I'd say yes but I just do this in my spare time and so don't really have a set time each day that I work on it.

I got the columns on the front done. Next will be to cover the rest of the front post. Then I'll stand it up and do the remaining back post/columns.

Ok, I finally got the stand upright. YEA!. All of the front columns are on and I've started covering the post on the inside with some good wood. That way even with the doors open, it will have a finished look to it.

Got the columns on the rear post mounted up. Finished off the corner front columns. And then started filling in any gaps on the base and sanding them smooth so that you can't seem them. Once all of the post are done, I'll do the same on them.

Damn fine work

Thanks.

Well I finally got all of the columns wrapped in poplar. Now to do some finish sanding on them and then on to the upper molding.