Project FiveWood - Complete!!

[cc3d]

Project FiveWood

Okay, here comes my first mod/build for 2008.

My last build, PhaseIII (http://www.wizdforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8104) is complete and will be making it's first magazine appearance in about a month.
I'll post the details when I can.

Project FiveWood: While I am a big golf fan (I play 2 to 5 times a week), this project has nothing to do with golf despite the name.

The name is derived from my desire to use as many different types of wood as possible in this project.
The following types/kinds of wood will NOT be used:

-any type of pine
-ash
-MDF
-plywood
-veneers

The wood types I know I will be using include:

-mahogany
-white oak
-red oak
-cracked walnut
-maple

That covers at least five to justify the name anyway. I imagine I'll be mixing in some other types as I go along.
My intention is to use wood in almost every part of the build.
I won't use the waterjet for wood cuts. Wood tends to swell on the waterjet anyway.
This was to be Project Bubinga, but at $14/board foot. I would have to make the case very very small.

Why?

As I mentioned above, I just got finished with the Phase III project.
Lots of metal work there and it was my FIRST project with that much aluminum.
Granted, it utilized the waterjet a lot and I love the waterjet, but I found out how difficult it can be to prep and finished aluminum.
I'm glad I did it, I learned a lot, but I've been missing my wood working projects.

Another thing I'm going to do here is "shoot from the hip" a little more.
I usually do a lot of design planning, but I am going to do what's necessary up front and then let the creative "juices" flow.
This means I'll probably wind up with a book shelf instead of a computer case, but it will be a nice one.

[cc3d]

As I said, I'm doing the bare minimum for design planning.

Here's where things started:



It doesn't look like much, but it let me get thinking anyway.
I used my regular software (Lightwave3D) to get dimensions so that I know things will fit:

mockup A


mockup B


mockup drive bays

These are all mocked up for dimensions and I imagine I will change these as I go along.
I intend to connect the parts together using dowels so that I can 'tack' the parts together without permanently gluing anything until I have to.
This allows a lot of flexibility in the build.

[cc3d]

The good part is when I've got something to do in the shop. Now that I have some idea of what I'm gonna do, I can start making saw dust.

Here's some of the wood I'll be using for this project:





It looks like a pile of scrap until I get it cleaned up.

rough plane it:



Split it up:


Here I have the frame parts cut up and planed down:


Here's one of my favorites, the cracked walnut.
This wood comes in bricks that are 5" x 5" x 10".
These are pieces too small to use for gun stock so I can get them for about $4.
This one I have planed on four sides to clean it up:


then split it up:


I'll use this for accents and decorative parts of the front panel.

[cc3d]

I then started to get the frame pieced together so that I can get the marks for the dowels so I can start drilling holes.

What I'm going for here is just the frame itself:



Here I'm just fitting stuff together to check the cuts:



I've got the bottom and top pieces framed up:


Here I've got the frame "framed up":


Here it is just pieced together using dowels with NO glue. I'm avoiding glue as long as I can.
If you look here, the frame has verticals that are mahogany and horizontals that are white oak.
I plan to keep the wood selection mixed up this way.

Well, I've caught the build log up on this project. As I progress, I'll keep posting updates.

[Crunch]

New project! Nice to see you straight back to work! Great start. Looking forward to this one.

[wallydogking]

I love wood builds! Great to see one on here!

[Pug]

Love that cracked walnut too. Hope it's getting pride of place somewhere.

[jokkos]

nice start...another fan of the cracked walnut here

[cc3d]

My plan is to keep the frame in "mock-up" form and work on the inside structure for this case. So I've started with the 3.5" Drive bay.

The rough design is as so:



I started with a mockup. I cut 2 different side panels and cut single slat rails for the drives.



After the glues dries, I cut the side panels apart and trimmed the edges:



I then put it together with quick clamps to test the concept and measurements:



This will work. So I started with the mohogany:



Here I've got the walnut worked into the center:

I've still got to do some trimming and sanding and add more accents of walnut.
Here, I've got maple rails rough cut and placed to check measurements.

I'm going to go back and work on the side panels a little more before gluing these in.

More later....CC

[cc3d]

Thinking some more about the final look. Here's Some updated concept images.









More work on the 3.5" Drive bay as well. This build is going to take more time than I originally planned and this is okay. I just need the extra time to be able to spend the time necessary to make everything right. With wood projects, I always take a little longer. I'm pushing the expected completion date (ECD)out to 3.15.08

Here I am cutting the top and bottom pieces to fit on the 3.5" drive bay.



I'm using the old technique of cutting plastic templates to cut the wood by.











While working on this, I also started on the 5.25" drive bay. Same deal, just wider and shorter.



Here I've got the parts rough-cut and pieced together.



Once I have the sides of the drive bay ready, I make the rails twice as long and glue them to both the sides sitting next to each other. This way, I can cut between the two side panels and the rails will be better aligned.



Here I've got some stand-in optical drives to check measurements.



more to come.....

CC