My new DIY Center Channel Stand....

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The idea of building a custom stand for my center channel has been floating in the back of mind for a while now. In fact, the idea came from Twitch9. I noticed a custom stand he built in his gallery pics about 8 months ago (more of less) and thought his idea was different and it looked damn cool. So I figured I'd try and get one done eventually and with the living room/ht room almost finished I felt this was a good time to get it done.


Building time :

I used part of the orignal stand that came with the 42" Samsung Plasma I purchased for the bedroom a few months ago. Since the screen was meant to be wall mounted, I had no need for its base. The minute I pulled it out of the box I knew this would become my stand. My original idea was using the Panasonic stand (also wall mounted) since I prefer the shape of it, but the way its made wouldn't allow for an easy upgrade.

The Samsung's stand came in two premounted pieces... the base & the upper piece connecting to the screen. The two parts are connected at the bottom of the base with a 2 1/2 inch metal plate. So once the screws are removed this thing comes a part real easy. I didnt have my camera at this time so no pics for the moment.

Here comes the fun!

I purchased a Pine shelf (10" x 36") that ill cut and use for the top shelve. The center channel speaker is approx 8 1/2 D x 19 1/2 L, the pine shelve will be cut at 10x20.




A little work went into the shelve... sanding her down and rounding off of the corners. I didnt have a jigsaw or anything to cut the extra on each corner so I did it old' school... sorta... I used an exacto knife to cut off the edges and then used a sand paper to even it out. The result isnt perfect, but does the job I think! I also predrilled the pilot holes for the 2 1/2" wood screws.



NOTE: The other piece you see below it was my testing sheet... I tried out different ideas on this one and tested the stain also.




To connect the base to the top I needed to cut out some 2 1/2" disc's. I needed this to be about 3 1/2" high so I cut out 3 pieces out of an extra piece of pine I had to build the middle part. I needed 2 x 3/4" pieces and 1 x 1/2" pieces. And heres another small issue i ran into... I didnt have any 1/2" pieces of wood kicking around. So once agian, I had to do it old school. Using my hole saw I cut half way into the 3/4" piece of pine then shizzled out most of it with a flat head screwdriver then continued cutting the rest. I then had to even it out with the exacto knife then sand it down. In the 2nd pic you can see the 1/2" piece at the top...






I used a level to make sure I was sanding it down even. I didnt want to have a half assed tilting stand But Everything came out nice and straight so I went a head and screwed in the discs to the shelve.








By this time I was pretty much ready to start the stain job. I used a Walnut colored stain to match the MA's and the new TV stand (espresso). I went with a water based stain from a place called Saman. This product is made in Canada. Also used the clearcoat made by the same people.




This is the result I had after the first coat was dried up... I found it a little to light... for some reason the wood filler I used just stood out and wouldn't dissapear. So I sanded down the top a few times before getting the 2nd coat on and it was almost all gone.



So I added another coat... I found this to be a little better but I still wanted a different effect to it...



So on went a 3rd coat... after I applied a coat I always cleaned off the extra stain.



This is after two coats of clear added to it... the pic is a little dark but you can see the results.




Heres what It looks like once finished...


















Overall time from start to finish... about a day and a half. At a slow, relaxed pace. I'm happy with the overall look. The stain came out nice and blends in well with the TV Stand and Center Channel.

Just wanted to thank Twitch9 for the inspiration!!

BTW, I wasn't sure where to post this DIY project... if it isnt in the right spot can a mod please move it! thanks.