Finishing the drawers

OK, it's taken a while but you know, I'm a busy guy...

To finally finish the drawers, all that needed to be done was putting on a nice front and knob. The fronts I made from plywood panels, 4 mm thick. The knobs I bought at the hardware store.

I measured the size quite precise. Then the panels were cut and glued on to the drawers. Use a glue that dries fast so that you don't have to keep it pressed for hours. You wouldn't enjoy that, trust me.

In the picture you can see that I stuck a little piece of paper in between two panels. Like wise I also had one stuck under the bottom drawers at some point. This is to make sure the panel doesn't move down. You know, gravity and such.

After they dried I drilled a hole in the front where the knob would come. Screw the knob on and it's done.

Finally this project gets the status "closed".

A simple monitor stand

When you are looking at a computer screen eight hours a day, it is important to have them at a correct height otherwise you will screw up a few muscles here and there. Mine seem to get a bit unhappy at the moment so I made this monitor stand to elevate my screens. Another benefit is that you will be able to put the keyboard underneath it, creating room for papers and books etc.

Introduction: Meet Ms. table leg and Mr. shelf.

The table leg can (in my case) be screwed apart. That way we have the leg and the leg-plate. "Leg-plate" is probably not the correct name but I don't know what is. If you do, please let me know.

Use the leg-plate to draw circles where it will be screwed on the wood.

After drilling the holes (make sure NOT to drill all the way through!), mount the leg-plates on the wood.

When all leg-plates have been screwed on the wood, screw on the table legs.

And there she is, a beautiful, simple but elegant, monitor stand.

Making a drill press stand

A while ago I found a drill press in our shed, wrapped in plastic. It didn't have a stand or anything though so I put it on the work bench. Recently, a frame became available after the bird cage that it was supporting was seriously upgraded. I quickly put the pieces of this simple puzzle together and hence this blog gets a new entry!

So there were a drill press and a frame. I also found a piece of 4 cm thick wood. Just chipboard but really strong. It had a workable size already, I didn't even have to cut it. How convenient is that?

These are the only things I had to buy: 6 angle brackets and 2 M10 nuts and bolts.

Use the 6 angle brackets to firmly mount the wood to the frame and you end up with a table.

Then use the M10 nuts and bolts to fix the drill press on to the table and you have a nice drill press stand.

Creating a bird cage roof

We got two new bird cages for outside but they don't come with a roof. So we make some ourselves! The roofs are made out of scrap wood except for the panels. I reckon you may have some panels lying around as well though.

The roof is a simple, 90 degree model. Start by making the legs for the frame. Cut one side at a 45 degree angle. You need 4 per roof.

A fancy connection is not required so just put pairs in a vice, drill a hole for the screw and screw the two parts together.

The result should look like this.

Add a few more pieces of scrap wood like in this photo and you got your frame.

Put the panels on. Don't worry if your frame is a bit wobbly. After the panels have been screwed on it will be completely steady.

Paint.

And place on top of the cage.