Building Project: Adding work space to the shop

My shop where I build things is located in my basement and is connected to my garage which is also under the house. It isn’t very big so I’m always looking for ways to get more room for projects and machines. Recently I was told that my 40+ year old oil powered steam boiler was on it’s way out and that I’d have to replace it. I realized that I could solve this problem and reclaim almost 20 square feet of floor space where my oil tank was located if I converted to gas.

Oil tank on top of platform, under platform is a coal pile from 1929…

So, after a long period of dances with electricians, plumbers, removal people, inspectors etc… I have a new gas powered steam boiler ( No really, I wasn’t going to rip out all of the steam pipes and radiators in my 1929 house, I don’t care… ) and unfortunately under the platform and the coal pile was a granite outcropping like others at the back of my basement. If I wanted a flat floor for a work surface I’d have to reduce the outcropping to at least floor level.

I thought “How hard can it be?” and went out and got a hammer drill, a carbide drill bit, a set of feathers and wedges and set about splitting the outcropping into pieces.

This went well for a while, but it is very hard work. I could only do so much and then I’d have to take a break for a while to keep from hurting myself. Then I ran into a very hard section of the granite that just wouldn’t split. I would tap in the wedges and it wouldn’t crack, the wedges would get stuck and I would end up having to drill the wedges out.

I shifted to “Plan B” which was to score the area at about two inch intervals with a diamond wheel and then use a carbide chisel and sledge hammer to snap off pieces. This made the feather and wedges process seem like the easiest thing in the world. I quickly realized that it would also take forever since I was only getting about a 1/2” thickness of rock removed per round of chipping and I couldn’t even manage to do the whole area at once.

Then I thought perhaps I can just pour concrete in the area that I have cleared and then work on the remaining area in the fullness of time while still getting some floor space. I used multiple online concrete calculators to figure out how much I would need and quickly realized that just mixing that amount of concrete let alone wrangling that number of 50 lb bags would kill me.

“Plan C” rapidly emerged. I called up the masons who had helped me with our new retaining walls and garden landscaping. We came to an agreement on price and in two days they had removed the remaining granite outcropping and poured a new floor section.

Rock removed by professionals and new floor poured…

With the new floor in place I wasted no time in starting to build out the new area. I had thought about the layout many times and I drew up some rough scale drawings to make a material estimate and ordered everything to be delivered from Home Depot. In the meantime I painted the walls with two coats of basement paint.

Two coats of basement paint

My plan was to have lower cabinets and work surfaces running into the corner with drawer units and shelf units all painted, with doors, drawer fronts, and cabinet backs to control dust and mildew. There would also be three upper cabinets of similar construction for more shelf storage.

The first step was to screw pressure treated battens to the wall to support the lower and upper cabinets.

Pressure treated battens to support work surfaces screwed to concrete using Tapcon screws…

I then built a 2x4 frame, yes I had considered doing frameless cabinets but I wanted the extra strength to possibly support machines, hammering etc… It also made all of the cabinets modular so if I wanted to move or replace one in the future I could just unscrew it and pop it out of the frame later on.

2x4 frame, yes yes I know it’s unnecessary…

I cut the counter tops out of 23/32” cheap shit sheathing plywood ( which I’m going to top with hardboard later in this story ) and built the boxes, drawers, and shelves out of the same material.

Cabinet boxes 23/32” sides and 1/4” backs… shelf boxes drilled for adjustable shelf pins…

I got a good deal on some cheap drawer slides on Amazon and built and installed all the drawer units with drawer fronts, handles etc… You’ll also note that I’m painting (badly) everything with Zinzer primer to help prevent mildew ( my basement is damp ).

Next was lots of doors, I used simple half-lap joints and some 1” ( really 3/4”) select pine for the frames and 1/4” plywood for the panels. I was able to mass produce the parts since all the uppers were the same doors and the lowers were all the same height.

Doors installed for all of the upper and lower cabinets…

Finally, I built a rolling island with a work surface and storage inside. I found these cool ratcheting leveling casters that have rubber feet that come down and lift up the leg to make the island stationary and it also lets it be leveled pretty accurately.

Rolling leveling work table island with storage…

I’m so excited to have this new workspace finally and I’ve already started building a project with it.

Addendum: A hero tool

I meant to mention a new tool that I got for this project. I knew that I was going to be cutting up a lot of 23/32” ( close to 3/4” ) plywood and other sheet goods for this project. I’ve always been unhappy with clamping straight edges, boards, etc… and trying to follow along them with the circular saw. I watched with jealousy makers on YouTube using lovely Festool Track Saws and doing effortless long cuts. I couldn’t bring myself to part with the money for a track saw. However I found a compromise that only cost a hundred bucks. The Milescraft Track Saw Guide which is an adapter that converts almost any 7.5” circular saw into a track saw. It comes with tracks, clamps, the adapter sled and alignment accessories. I can only say that it works perfectly. It doesn’t do a couple of things that a real track saw can do like plunge cutting and pre-cutting the kerf in front of the saw. I don’t actually need those things, it does everything else. I cut up many sheets of various thickness material quickly and accurately using my 20 year old Porter Cable circular saw and this adapter. Highly recommended.

Building Project: TV Lift Case More Progress

Another twelve days on the project and I’m done with major fabrication. After the last update I built the false back that divides the front of the case where things will be displayed from the back where the TV and the TV lift mechanism will live. I essentially built a floating frame for the removable plywood panel that forms the false back of the case. I cut a 1” by 3/8” rabbet around the inside of the frame and cut really nice miter joints for the corner. I glued it up and then for strength ( since it is a large frame ) I added a counter sunk screw at each corner. I had some nice hook and loop fastener and I cut eight squares and secured the plywood panel in the recess with them. It looks great like a very fancy cabinet back and yet it is removable in case I ever need to get at the lift or TV.

I made some small panels that will get glued to the inside of the cabinet on the sides to hide the back of the side panels making the interior look completely finished. The plywood I’m using is a bit under 1/4” so there’s even a bit of reveal next to the frame members which helps the illusion. I cut them a bit long so they slide behind the divider making a very nice look.

Next I made the electronics shelf for the cable box, dvd player, Roku etc… to sit on. The trick here was to make it removable so that the panel could be removed behind it. I remembered that I had some shelf pins left over from another project and they were just the thing. I cut the shelf out of 3/4” walnut plywood and set the pins to have it be flush with the top of the middle rail of the cabinet. It’s pretty easy to get in and out of the cabinet.

After this I built the top of the cabinet. I rough cut the 5 1/2” walnut boards to one inch over the final dimensions of the top. After some sorting and arranging to get the best general alignment of the boards I glued them up. I used my new Rockler Panel Clamps and one additional home made clamp made from some center tapered 2x4’s cut to the width of the panel and covered in masking tape. The Rockler clamps worked extremely well. The resulting panel was super flat with no twist in it over all and only some local issues at the seams. I didn’t clean up the glue thinking I could just snap it off with a panel scraper later… won’t do that again. It took scraping, planing, and sanding to get rid of it. I used my new jack plane for the rough smoothing then 80 grit sanding. All in all it looks flatter and better than my last panel glue up.

I cut the panel to final dimension on my table saw for the sides and with my circular saw with an edge guide for the end cuts. I used a coping saw to round the front corners of the top. I then routed the edge detail on with my small router and a 3/8” round over bit with a bearing. The top edge has a 1/8” shoulder before the round-over just like the other furniture in the living room. At this point I needed to do a full test installation of the TV Lift, swingarm, and TV in the case so I could figure out the brackets I’d need to make or modify and to plan where to cut the top into two pieces so one of them could rise up with the TV.

I created a couple of brackets to attach the lift to the bottom of the cabinet and I modified the top lift bracket to fit my setup. All I can say is my cheap RIKON 10” band saw keeps impressing me, I was able to saw through 1/8” steel to trim the bent sides of the top bracket off. It wasn’t comfortable, but with a little cutting oil and some smoky moments it worked. I got the lift mounted and attached to the top. I did all of this with the top in one piece because I realized I would get more precise positioning this way. I then cut the top that I’d just laboriously glued up into two pieces. It came out great and it turned out that my modified connecting plate could just stay on providing a perfect alignment guide for re-installation on the lift.

I installed the swing arm and the TV, I had to adjust the height of the TV’s adapter bracket but it just fit… I may actually have to rout out relief in the bottom of the lid so I can raise the TV another 3/8” of an inch because it is just clearing the top of the case when the swing arm is extended. We’ll see.

After confirming all of that would work and that the lift can handle it going up and down I drilled the wire port in the back with my 2” hole saw. I drilled another wire port in the false back on the right side of the electronics shelf. I got some 2” black grommets to dress up the wire ports and help control the wires.

Next it was on to build the doors. I cut all the frame members out of 2” x 3/4” stock and ripped some 1” x 3/4” stock for the mullions. I laid out all the mortises that I would need and cut all of the tenons that I required using my new mortising jig. I drilled out the rough mortises as before and cleaned them up with a chisel. I have 1/8” acrylic for the “glass” in the doors so I put in a 1/8” x 1/4” groove along the inside of the frames and mullions to receive it.

The doors came together quickly and my only mistake was cutting one of the acrylic panels 1/16” too small, I’ll have to remake it before final assembly.

I mocked up the doors and they fit perfectly and I also verified that the hinges will work, fit and look good.

The next step is going to be a lot of sanding and then finishing and then glue up. Some parts like the doors I am probably going to finish them before gluing them up to keep the finish off the acrylic.

I’ll post another update soon.