[Hack]

Well the kitchen in our house is original (1979) and is showing it's age. I refaced it back in 2000 and it has held up pretty well, but now the cabinets themselves are getting to be in pretty rough condition. as a result, it's time to replace them and perhaps upgrade just a bit. Our current kitchen is just blah!. Current kitchen is made of pressboard cabinet boxes (faceframe), oak doors, laminate countertops, and cermic tile flooring. It is very inadequate on storage and countertop space as well. New kitchen will be made with 3/4" birch plywood boxes (frameless), walnut wood, most likely solid surface countertops and not sure on the flooring (not ceramic though).

So to begin, I am going to make a kitchen island. This will help solve a bit of the previously listed problems of lack of storage and countertop space. It should also add a bit of design to the kitchen.

I am starting with the decorative back and side panels (raised panels) as I have the walnyt on hand and doing this takes up little room. You can see in the pics below, the old kitchen, the wood for the new kitchen, some of the processed wood (joined and planed) as well as the mach-up of one of the panels. The next step will be to put a little custom touch on them with a carving (design not decided yet - but something from vectric 3D is likely), sand everything and apply a cout of finish before assembly. I like finishing the panels before assembly as solid wood shrinks and at times can expose an unfinished portion of the panel if not careful. Final coat of finish will come after glue up.

You can also see what it is like machining the parts in 95 degree heat. The wood chips and dust have a tendency to stick to you

[Pplug]

God that's gorgeous wood! I just love the color and grain of walnut! The panel looks great too! Good job!

[slowlearner]

I am a walnut fan myself. Dont like the smell but when finished its all worth
it.

[Hack]

Well I spent the majority of my day sealing my ashphalt driveway. It hadn't been done in a few years so it was due. Not a fun job in my opinion, but luckily I have this neat little tool called a cnc router that worked WONDERFUL when I am not around. A perfect opportunity to do some 3D carving on the panels.

The design is from Vectric Art 3D website and I used thier software for the programming. Works very well. Roughing tool path was done with a 3/8" ball nose and the finish with an 1/8" ball nose. Roughing toolpath was approx 40 minutes and the finish was approx 65 minutes for each panel. I did 2 panels today (all that I am going to do at this time) so it was alot of watching the machine run or be productive, hence the driveway project.

Picture is of the panel before routing, after the roughing path, and a couple of pics after the finishing pass and before sanding. I also added a short video for everyones enjoyment. Nothing fancy, but it makes it nice for some people.


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QY8icgC-9o"]Video of Carving[/ame]


Thanks for everyones interest.

Dan

[Pplug]

Nice panel carving. Did you slow down the router for the video or is that the speed you normally carve at? Just wondering because I do similar carvings at upwards of 150 ipm.

[Hack]

Actually, I roughed it in a 150 IPM, but slowd it down for the finish pass as I was concerned about the 1/8" bit - it was the only one I had and did not want to take a chance of snapping it off.

Dan

[ger21]

I finish at 175ipm with a 1/16" ballnose.

With a small stepover (around .003-.005), it's barely cutting anything.

[Hack]

Yesterday I was able to get the 3 panels glued up. Nothing real fancy to show, just a picture of the panels after glueup and before sanding. These will probably set for a short while as I begin cutting cabinet parts for the island. When I go to finish the cabinet boxes (before assembly), I will sand and finish these panels as well.

Dan

[Pplug]

What finish are you using?

[bill south]

Nice Job Dan!
It was actually remodeling my kitchen that got me into this mess (cnc). I built a 48 X 48 inch machine to do new cabinet doors but once I had it finished a friend of mine who runs a cabinet shop volunteered to make new doors for me (much better quality). So, the investment in the machine and the cost of the new doors was about double what I had expected. But, I got a new toy out of the deal!
I kind of wished I'd planned better and made the design a bit more detailed as you are doing. My kitchen is updated but alas, just another kitchen.
Keep us posted.
Bill

[Hack]

I have had good luck in the past using a laquer from M L Campbell, but not sure if that is what I will use or not. I brushed a bit of poly on the panels in areas that may get exposed if they shrink a bit, but that is not what I really want to use for the entire thing.

The laquer I mention has a quick drying sealer that compliments it as a first coat and then the topcoat dries quickly as well making the entire process move along fairly well.

Dan

[Hack]

I am sure it is more then "just another kitchen, don't sell yourself short.

This will not be overly fancy. I don't have enough space to make one of those "Extreme Kitchens" (nor the deep enough wallet). Below is a PDF depicting a bit of design and layout - Done in Alibre.

Dan

[Hack]

Made a bit of progress this evening by cutting the cabinet box parts for the island cabinets and also made the toe kicks for those cabinets - 3 of them total. I am waiting on some walnut veneer edgebanding before applying finish of any sort. Also, I will be line boring the 5 mm holes for the shelves, hinges, drawer slides, etc. I will most likely do them on the cnc as I sold my line boring machine about 8 years ago. I know that cnc is not the most efficient method, but it works well. And I can:banana:

Hopefully get the holes drilled tomorrow or Thursday evenings and then we are at the mercy of UPS for the edging.

Dan

[Hack]

Well i was able to get the holes drilled in the cabinet sides. Went really quick. Should have done it this way more often. One of the convenient things I like about putting the holes in with CNC is that you can put only the holes you want to, not a complete line of them like you would with a line boring machine. For example, one of the cabinets for the island area is going to be a basic 4 drawer cabinet. For each end panel (cabinet side) I only drilled 8 hole (4 front, 4 rear) to screw the drawer slides to. Makes assembly really easy and simple. If I got a hole, it must get filled.....that sounds strange.

On cabinets with adjustable shelves, I drill a series of 6 holes for the adjustments. Holes at the extreme top or bottom of a cabinet just do not get used. Also, I drilled holes for any hinges that will be needed for the cabinet doors.

I also recieved tracking information for the walnut edgebanding, that it will not be delivered until next wednesday. Not wanting to wait til then to continue progress, I picked up a few more sheets of ply and cut the remaining base cabinet parts (less shelves and drawers) so that progress did not stop. Getting quite a stack of parts.

I will probably drill the holes in the additional base cabinet parts on Sunday and then patiently wait for the edgebanding. If I get real bored, I will start on the wall cabinets.

Also, the wife has now informed me that she wants the flooring replaced in the dining area at the same time......don't you just love that?

Enjoy..Dan

[aarggh]

Great job on the doors Dan! They look brilliant! It'll be a very nice build when it's done.

cheers,
Ian

[Hack]

You can see from some of the pictures that there are quite a few parts to cut for the toe kick. Most of this is made out of drops from the cabinet parts making it inexpensive to make this way. Also, with the repetitive cutting, it goes quickly. Lat summer I made a station for my mitersaw complete with fence and flip stops. One of the best things I have ever done for my shop. Works very well. I have included a couple fo pictures of it for others to see.

Dan

[Hack]

It has been a busiy few days. I recieved the edgebanding this week as stated earlier and took a few hours to band all the appropriate parts. Takes quite a while to do them all by hand. Need to con the wife into letting me get an edgebander - yeah like that will happen! -. Once the parts were edgebanded, I was able to get a couple of coats of finish on them this week as well. I hung up a couple of sets of shelf standards and brackets to make for some makeshift drying racks. Worked pretty well. I have room to set about 33 pcs on them to dry. Helped out alot in this case.

I had my daughter (9) help me put them up and showed her how to use a level to make sure they were plumb. I think she learned something. I also let her use the cordless drill to put the screws in. She did a good job. Whether she took anything from it or not, I am at leat trying to teach her how to use some basic hand tools so she can fend for herself a bit when older.

Coming soon....Assembly!

[Hack]

This past weekend, I started to assemble some of the base cabinets. They are looking pretty good. I have also laid them out to sort of show how they will be going once installed.

Next task is to finish off the back of the island. I have to make a couple of more panels, and will look for some sort of decorative turning for a "post" to support the countertop overhang. The little alcove created on the back of the island will have a couple stools nested into it.

I will also be cutting the wall cabinet parts soon.

Enjoy the pictures.

[Hack]

Just a quick update of the cabients. I was able to get the wall cabinets cut out, drilled and edgebanded over the past few days. I am headign out to the shop in a few minutes to put the first coat of finish on them. I have also finished up the remaining parts for the island and will be putting finish on them today as well (1st coat).

No pics today.

Dan

[Hack]

Sorry I haven't posted much lately, but there hasn't been a whole lot to post about. I did get the wall cabinets pretty well done, but that process is pretty similar to the base cabinets so i didn't figure there was a need to duplicate the information.

I also have been busy making drawers for the base cabinets so I thought I would post those pictures. Since I do not have a dovetail jig, I needed to come up with a good solid method of making drawers. I contiplated box joints, but didn't want to make a jig. What I came up with was something I could do on the tablesaw with minimal setups. It provided me with alot of glue area and a solid joint with no fasteners.

The parts are made of 3/4" plywood - cheap -with 1/2" bottoms. Seems to be a VERY solid drawer box. This morning I put the finish on them and they look good (enough).

Pics below.