Grid Studio
goal was to make a unit to hold my mixing desk and rack gear, while sitting on top of the subwoofer to save on space, it features a drawer to hold a laptop and a shelf for cables and other doodads.
Notes
cross threading bolts
The most anoying thing about putting it together was having cross threaded nuts.
- hard to know if it is cross threaded or just tight
- some bolts worse than others
- can get bad when slightly unaligned holes are present
types of nut
- I was initially confused as to the uses for short and long nuts and bolts assuming that the short nuts were for the long bolts led to joints that would not tighten. Perhaps that is useful sometimes but clearly the best way for a tight fit is to use short nuts.
structural (join 2 beams) : short nut, long bolt
panels (join 12 - 15 mm thick accessory) : long nut, short bolt
moving joints: long nut, long bolt
Useful accessories
- levelling feet
- castor feet
- hooks, friction fit
- drill press jig, drill holes along an edge by lining up
Panels
- I made my own panels from 12mm plywood
- cut panel to a multiple of 40mm using table saw
- mark a line inset 20mm down both sides
- measure hole centres at 40 mm intervals starting 20mm from the edge (taking care the measurement aligns when changing to the other a side)
- punch hole centres
- drill holes with drill press
- surform plane and sand edges
could be done with handsaw and an electric drill.
panels are made with many holes for reusability and aesthetic but just along 2 edges for having to drill not so many holes.
panels could be designed to be flush with the edge that they are mounted to or overlapping, I decided to go with flush so the holes are along the edge
19" Rack panels
- rip floorboard t&g
- thickness to 15mm
- drill holes as per panel
- 320 mm = 8 grid u = 7 rack u
- rack rails attached with 12mm 7g screws
Theoretically you can only make these panels recessed or protruding from the support verticals to make it flush the rack mount rails need to be attached over the bolts,
offset legs
- the stand is in a corner straddling a step and therefore two of the legs are shorter, you would never build some furniture with offset legs but with grid beam I know if I want to move the unit I can easily adjust the leg heights later.
Sliding drawer
- the drawer is made from a 12mm panel with a block attached to the end I found that if the panel is cut to exact dimensions it is too tight it needs to be 2-3 mm narrower to slide.
-the block at the end cannot extend the full width I removed about 5mm from each side so it can move around the bolts - the height of the block must be such that the drawer can sit flat when levered out that is ideally the panel width + block width = 40mm but this is also too snug so a block height of 26mm is ideal
- the panel edges were sanded and waxed for a smooth slide
