Glulam Table / Modern End Table

My latest project is a glulam style end table with square metal tubing legs. For those of you who don't know what glulam is, here's a link

Glulam is traditionally an engineered wood used for spanning great distances and is popular because it looks great and has great structural properties. BUT, glulam is also rising in popularity for tables and countertops

I like to combine wood with metal and stone or concrete because you can get a very modern look, (i.e. clean lines, sharp angles) using these materials.

This project was a learning experience. I went into it knowing what I wanted the table to look like as far as dimensions and style, but I wasn't exactly sure how to execute it.

Here's the basic idea: create a glulam end table top that is supported from the edge faces by 24" high aluminum square tubing. I wanted the table to have the effect of "floating" in between the aluminum legs.

The concept seemed simple: Cut 8-foot lengths of 2 x 4 redwood lumber into shorter 2-foot long pieces for a total of 11 pieces. Glue and screw those 2-foot sections together to make the tabletop you see above and sand the hell out of it with 80 grit, then 120 grit, then 220 grit, then stain with a medium walnut color stain, then varnish with a polyurethane top coat.

And then attach the legs. This part proved a little more difficult. I decided to custom cut four 1/4" diameter threaded rods and drill holes through each piece of wood, then drill holes through the inside face of each piece of square metal tubing then somehow reach inside and thread on and tighten a nut to secure the legs from the inside.

You can see in the pictures above the threaded rods sticking out. I had to drill holes individually into each piece of wood, and then hoped I had been accurate enough for them all to line up so I could put the threaded rod through. That wasn't the case. The holes did not all line up so I had to pound the threaded rods through with a hammer and then use a hacksaw to cut off the ends of the rod to be the right length for attaching the legs.

Another problem I had was getting the table top to be completely flat. It ended up with a slight concavity, so when viewed in a plan view (straight on) it looks like it's "sagging" a little bit.

So there's the lengthy explanation of how I built the end table. Here's a step by step list of the supplies and order of operations to the project:

-Cut 2x4 x 8-foot redwood lumber into 2' sections
-Used hacksaw to cut a 1" wide x 96" long aluminum square tubing (from Crown Bolt) into 2-foot sections.
- Measured out where to drill holes for the threaded rod on one of my 2' redwood sections, then used that as a template to drill all the holes in each of the 11 pieces.
-Used wood screws to fasten all the sections together, starting with the middle two pieces and working my way out, making sure no screws were visible from either the top or outermost pieces of wood.
-Sanded, starting with 80 grit, then 120, then 220.
-Stained with a medium walnut color from Minwax.
-Coated with polyurethane clear semi-gloss, also from Minwax.
-Measured out and drilled holes for threaded rods into the INSIDE faces of the square metal tubing leg sections.
-Pounded the threaded rods through the table top and trimmed ends to size with a hacksaw.
-Fitted on the table legs, then carefully reached in and screwed on nuts to secure. Used wrenches to tighten down. I couldn't get nuts on the lower-most threaded rods because the ones above them were in the way. I predicted this, but didn't think that it would factor that much into the stability of the table. I was kind of wrong, as the table ended up a little bit wobbly.
- ended up getting some small L- brackets (also called corner brackets) and fastening them underneath the table top and into the inside of the legs for extra support and that did the trick and didn't take away too much from the aesthetics.You can see the L bracket sticking out a little bit in the side-view picture above.

Custom Sub Box For 2006 Subaru Outback

I own a 2006 Subie Outback, which should tell you a few things:

1. I am a hippie
2. I am politically liberal
3. I care about the outdoors and having fun in it

Only one of the above is true. It's not the first two, which is shocking seeing as how I own a Subaru. To cut to the chase though, I love road tripping and I love doing outdoors stuff, namely snowboarding and camping.

My Outback 2.5i has 60/40 split fold-flat rear seats. This is awesome because it gives me a ton of cargo space. Problem is, I also love music, especially having nice crisp, punchy bass. The stock system is ok, (it's got decent front components), but the bass was lacking.

So I needed some bass, but I also needed to keep my trunk space intact, and that meant no huge box behind the rear seats.

JL Audio makes an awesome Stealthbox, which is custom-made to fit in the little storage hatch cutout on the vehicle's right rear flank just behind the wheel well. Their box is VERY nice, to the tune of $750.

So I used theirs as a guideline of sorts to create my own Stealthbox on a budget.

Because of the odd angles of the cutout, it was clear that the back of the box would have to be fiberglass, which I had never worked with before.

I read lots of great posts online about working with fiberglass. Here's the process I went through, and some pictures.

1. Mask out entire area that you'll be molding. Use masking tape or painters tape.
2. Cover the rest of the car with sheets or drop clothes. (Plastic will work OK, but fiberglass resin could eat through it if you drip enough of it).
3. Use a Sharpie to line out the area you're going to fiberglass. I used some cardboard templates to come up with a basic shape first too. I determined that the face and top and end would be made of 3/4" MDF and the rest would be fiberglass.
4. The space of the compartment area was nearly ideal for a 10" subwoofer (1.5 cubic feet). Make sure you think about math a little bit when doing any project like this because you want ideal performance when it's all done.
5. Buy some resin and fiberglass cloth at Home Depot or Lowes or some hardware store. You can get other (better quality?) stuff direct from suppliers if you live in a large city, but it's usually more expensive.
6. Do one last test fit with your cardboard template and make sure you've thought everything through because once you mix the resin with the catalyst IT'S ON! You've only got so much time before it sets up.
7. TIP: Pre-cut or pre-tear the fiberglass cloth into strips of varying sizes, because once you've got the resin all over your hands, things are going to get sticky. Having a helper might be a good idea too, but it's not completely necessary.
8. Mix the resin per the instructions. Use a plastic bucket to keep the stuff in. USE LATEX GLOVES!! You don't want this stuff on your hands. Also, you're gonna need several pairs throughout the process.
9. Start layering in the strips. There are varying methods of getting the resin on the strips, whether it's painting on or dipping the strips in the bucket then placing them in the mold area. Either way works in my opinion. I used a paintbrush and my hands to smear the resin where it needed to go.
10. PATIENCE.....you'll have to do at leat 5 layers for a decent sub box. It all depends on how powerful your sub is (i.e. how much pressure it will be putting on the walls of the box).
11. Once you're done with the layers, attach the MDF portion (the front half with the speaker cutout) to the still-wet fiberglass. This will allow the MDF to bond to the rest of the box. MDF is porous and will soak up the resin pretty well. Add layers on the inside edges as best you can to help create a bond between the wood and the fiberglass.

-Time for a 4-5 hour break- (to let it set up).

12. Pop the mold. Easier said than done. Some things I read say to grease the area with WD40 before you put the layers in. I did not do this so it was very hard to pull the mold out. Fiberglass is very strong, so don't worry about breaking it. Keep pulling and tugging from different angles until you work it loose and it will eventually pop out.
13. Sand and Fill. Use fiberglass filler (it's a grey sort of paste that you can also get at Home Depot) to fill any cracks or irregularities. Let it dry then sand away, making sure all the edges and joints are as smooth as possible.
14. Create anchor point. I cut a hole 1" in diameter in the back of the box to match up with a pre-existing screw point on the Subie's body. Using a bolt (which I had to custom cut) and some washers, you can create an airtight anchor for the box. This is important to hold the box in place when you are pounding down dirt roads, etc. I also drilled a small hole in the edge of the box for the wiring.
15. Carpet time! I found some cheap black carpet at Wal-Mart of all places. I think it was $8. Coat the contact surface of the box and the carpet with a thin layer of glue and then start fastening down edges. Carpeting is sort of an art that I haven't perfected, but I recommend starting with a large piece, layin the box face down on it, and then making incisions at the curve points. Do all the cutting and strategic thinking before you start gluing, because that stuff sets up pretty quick too.
16. Run wiring through the small hole, then to make sure box is airtight, add some caulking to the hole from the interior.
17. Hook up wires to subwoofer, install sub, and enjoy!

See pics for details. If anyone has any questions about the process, let me know!

Wall Art from Old CDs

As the media format known as the CD slowly slips into obsolescence, a lot people probably have stacks of dusty CD jewel cases sitting around.

After I had sold back most of my CD collection to Zia Records, I put the empty jewel cases and non-sellable ones in a pile and forgot about them. I didn't want to just throw them in the trash because, hey, there are some great memories connected to those piles of plastic.

Big Willie Style? Epic. Classic. Bienvenido a Miami.

So I decided I would make a picture out of my old CD cases. A lot of designs I saw online just consisted of people taking the actual CDs and pinning them in patterns to the wall. I thought this was kinda lame and junior-high looking. I wanted a full 3'x5', framed collage of all my old CD cases.

Most frame shops will charge around $300 to make such a frame, the main reasons being the weight of the jewel cases and the odd dimensions. So I did it myself.

Let me say up front -- this ended up costing me about $150, but I made a few mistakes and had to experiment with several designs before I came up with something that worked.

So here's how the frame is constructed if anyone wants to know:

Custom-cut Plexiglass sheets: $65 from local plastics manufacturer
Sign Standoffs (the 3 round metallic 'pin' looking things that hold the picture to the wall): $15 at Lowes
Half-inch width C-channel bar, custom cut (with hacksaw. that was fun...): $10 at Lowes
Authentic Zebra wood inserts (also custom cut by local wood dealer): $50, w/ scraps leftover.
Total Cost: $140.

The good thing about this frame is that it allows you to slide the CD cases in and out. You can arrange the CDs however you want or change the pattern to match the room or whatever.

The dimensions are: 45"w x 34"h. It is 8 jewel cases wide by 6 high, totalling 48 cases.
The zebrawood inserts are 2 1/4" h x 45" long x 3/8" thick.

Drawbacks: The signs standoffs must be installed exactly to the dimensions of the frame and because of standard wall stud spacing of 16", will require some heavy duty wall anchors. So remember: measure once, cut twice! Also, it takes a while to install and take down unlike normal picture frames.

The end result will be a modern-looking, one of a kind picture frame. And you can be 'green' and recycle your old CDs.