Ric's A/V Cabinet Build

[My_Two_Cents]

I've been wanting a new A/V cabinet for awhile, but have yet to find one that meets all of my criteria (wood type, color, style, functionality, size and price). I thought I found the perfect cabinet last week at Costco, but after getting it home I quickly realized it was 1) too big, and 2) too dark. As this was the closest I've ever seen to my "perfect cabinet", I decided to use it as a model for my current build.

As I enjoy browsing through other members' build thread and getting ideas, I decided to start my own to document how this thing progresses from start to finish. While I'm not even close to being any sort of professional carpenter or cabinet maker, I have built various pieces over the past 20 years or so. Some have turned-out well, others not so much, so here's hoping this project falls into the former category.

After taking pictures and measurements from cabinet I "borrowed" from Costco, I drew-up some rough plans for mine to have a better understanding of the sizes of the major pieces (base, supports, top, etc.). Most of this will be designed and built on the fly, which is not the ideal way to things, but in this case I have a pretty good idea in my head how all of this will come together.

Enough rambling, time to start. I went to Lowes yesterday and bought a couple 4'x8'x3/4" pieces oak plywood for the large surfaces and several lengths of 1"x2" and 1'x3" oak solids for trim and facings along with some oak crown molding and other shaped decorative oak pieces. I'll show how all of this comes together through the course of this project.

We'll start with the first sheet of oak plywood:

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Time to cut out the base first. I've found the best way to cut 4'x8' sheets is to first make yourself a circular saw jig out of plywood and MDF. Once built, all you do is clamp the jig onto the plywood sheet, aligning the cutting edge on the line you wish to cut. You'll end-up with a perfectly straight cut, which is virtually impossible to do freehand. Once the sheet is cut-up into smaller pieces, these can be handled easier on my table saw.

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Out of the first sheet of plywood, I was able to cut the base, both side supports and both center supports, with a piece remaining big enough for a shelf. Next I connected the side and center supports using screws through pocket holes. This photo shows how the holes are drilled using a Kreg pocket hole jig. This is probably the best $100 I ever spent on a tool, and I've used it for many projects in the past year or two.

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Once the main supports were attached to the base, I began cutting and dry-fitting the solid oak front facing pieces. These pieces serve two purposes. First, they cover the ugly edge of the plywood. Second, they frame-out the front of the cabinet, giving it a more professional look and allowing doors and drawers to fit better.

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Another shot of a pocket hole joint, which is hidden inside the cabinet.

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Continued in next post.