Here area the rest of the pics. I can only place 5 at a time in a post.... :D
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Here area the rest of the pics. I can only place 5 at a time in a post.... :D
Might as well show you the roll-around racks
Phil,
Those pics look awesome - almost in time for the Cotton Bowl and the Sugar Bowl!
Here are a few shots of the almost finished base cabinet for the fridge. The large cavity to the left is where the fridge goes. the right cavity will get two full extension drawers, if "drawers" is what you want to call them. The design I am going towards on the drawers is a lot like what you find for kitchen cabinets where the drawer is actually a full extension shelving unit; a pantry if you will... the actual face of the drawer will be tall, but when you pull it open the sides will be low.
The drawers will be where the liquor bottles live. I think there is enough vertical height to get two drawers in there with typical bottles. If I get tricky I might put switches on the things with some LED underlighting that light the bottles when the drawer pulls out. We will see.
The stain color for the base is a custom blend I cooked up. I had to mix a special batch from two different colors bought at the big box store combined with some wood boat filler stain the get the results I wanted. Filler stain is interesting stuff; I wish it were more readily available at home stores. I really don't want to do wood work without it and I am about to run out of the stash I amassed.
The top is clear unstained maple. I re-sawed boards to flip them on edge, exposing a harder surface, making it look more like the reclaimed bowling alley that will be the actual bar top. I don't have a power planer large enough to do this size of a board so I hand planed the top flat and then scraped it smooth prior to a light sanding. I feel like Popeye this morning.... The result is beautiful. I built in some flaws on purpose, jst so it looks even more like the old bowling alley chunk I have. Color-wise the two look identical so I am happy.
The first assembled pic shows the top in an un-routered, un-finished state. The last pic shows the top after two coats of finish. I will build to 4, then sand and build to 8, then sand and build to 10. That should hopefully get me the flat smooth deep look I am gunning for.
Here is some update to the detail work going into the actual bar. I had a plywood seam in the front of the main cabinet, and it needed to be covered somehow, so this Deco-inspired detail is how I decided to cover the seam. Also note the apron and cap around the lower portions of the cabinet.
I gotta figure out how to cut the bowling alley blank. Work on the main bar is almost at a standstill until I can get that part figured out. I need real counter-top dimensions to work with to finish out the tops, and I won't have that until the alley chunk is cut.
Looks great............from experience, make sure to keep at least a small amount of your stain custom blend for the occasional scratch, scrape, etc. -- you'll be happy you did.
Looking really good, Phil. Love the custom mix. Nothing like getting something exactly how you want it.
Lunchtime. Quick crude image of beer fridge in cabinet
looks great!
Phil,
Think about going even larger, with the prices of the 70s and 80s now (even the 4Ks are coming down in price). The 55s now look small (I remember when a 4:3 27" was HUGE!)
I had been nothing but a Sony person most of my life until a couple of years ago when I bought a cheap Sharp 60" LED and I still am amazed at the picture quality, after that I bought a JVC PJ for my HT. Just something to think about.
I am sure whatever you end up with will be awesome.
It is a funny thing to say, but I don't want TOO large a TV... :confused:
Let me explain...
The acoustics of the room are paramount, and the viewing distance to the TV is roughly 10-feet only for movie watching. I don't want a TV so large on the speaker end of the room that the wall ends up completely acoustically reflective. I need as much of that wall to be covered in foam to control reflections, so the combination of seating distance and 55-60-inch screen leaves me enough foam around the screen to get the job done.
It still may look kinda funny, as I might need to put a "frame" of deep foam around the TV to keep the smear from the left and right speakers from boucing off the screen...
I like my Sony TVs I own currently and Wife Acceptance Factor says a similar or same remote control will make her more willing to spend time there. It will be a Sony I almost guarantee...
That's why I am blessed with crappy hearing, I am happy with pretty much any decent quality gear and end up feeling sorry for you audiophile types! You would probably cringe in my HT, where me and my kids live in blissful ignorance.
I have a buddy that is an acoustic engineer and when we talk speaker design (I used to make cabinets) I get lost real quick and would just do what he told me to do!
Cant go wrong with the Sonys, Cant wait to see your finished product!
That is looking great Phil! With the bar in the back are you concerned with audio reflection?
To cut my chunk of bowling alley I used a Milwaukee metal saw that we had at work and it worked great. Pricey if you only need it for one project though.
http://i21.geccdn.net/site/images/n-...TS_6370-20.jpg
http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/to...FcpDMgodkzMA_A
The principle for the room is what is called "Live-end-Dead-end". The basic idea is that you want to absorb all reflections from your ears forward towards the speakers. The front of the room where the speakers are is the "Dead-end". Then the back wall is often left completely untreated and is considered the "Live-end". The live end reflects some information back to your ear, but in a mixed and delayed manner.
The reflections behind you off the "Live-end" wall help recreate the ambience of the music recording without resorting to processed surround-sound trickery. The bar will scatter some of the reflections, but I am not going to attempt to damp reflections from the bar-end of the room. I actually want those reflections.
I have already spent a lot of time A/B-ing and I prefer simple stereo. I also think most who will listen to the space will probably agree that music sounds better in this room in simple 2-channel stereo.
I will use surround sound, I think, but just for movies. The Video portion of the room is not done yet and I have not had a chance to listen to some good action sequences both ways. We will see and I will be sure to report back. It might seem funny to you guys, but one of the first segments I want to listen to is the opening race scenes from the movie CARS. I helped dial in a custom surround system in a buddies custom RV and it is crazy-cool surround with the cars going by you and around you.
I had looked into buying a 10" circular saw. Pricey indeed. I will look into renting one for a day.
Brief update, herer are two shots of the start to the drawers fabrication and isntallation on the freidge cabinet, soon the be the "refreshment cabinet". The two drawers are going to be full-extension soft-closers and will hold the liquor bottles that might find there way in there.
Phil,
The entire project looks awesome!!!
To me, especially as you get older, you can never have too much light or too large of a TV screen.
In my upstairs media/family room combo, I sit 13 to 14 feet back (in an arc seating arrangement) from an 80" LED screen. It's a good ratio, especially in consideration of the quality of a lot of the program material viewed.
Acoustically, my biggest concern is killing the reflected sound off the media room side walls (up to at least 30 degrees off axis outside) between the front outside speakers and the listeners. In my case, the room is very wide as compared to the soundstage and the furnishings are dense already. In my downstairs family room, which is two-channel HiFi, the room is also wider than deep and I angle the speakers inward a little to nullify the outside walls.
I flipped through and realized I had not posted semi-final damping material placement yet. David, check this out.
Actually the far wall has only a temporary foam stack. I am not going to mount that wall with acoustic treatment until I get the TV up.
Phil,
Looks awesome. Be careful not to make the room so perfect and comfortable that you can't stay awake.
Refreshment cabinet drawer trays are done. I need to build the drawer fronts, stain and seal them and the thing can then be put together and put in my room.
Love the drawer detail. What/how did you cut the dovetails? I've always wanted a true dovetail jig, but haven't wanted to drop the $$ on one.
It is actually a box joint. Parallel cuts.
A simple jig on the table-saw makes it possible. Here is the jig I used.
Basically, you use a dado set stacked up to dimension X. You cut two slots through a backer board, both X-dimension, with exactly X between them. Use a piece of wood as a pin that is X-wide to fill one of the slots. That board is then fixtured to your table-saw guide so the open slot is exactly lined up with the stacked dado set. You can just make out the guide bar to the very right of my pic.
You press your workpiece against the pin and make your first cut. Then you index your workpiece by moving the first cut slot onto the pin. Repeat as necessary.
The mating piece is started by placing your first piece's first cut over the jig pin. Butt your mating piece next to it and make a pass. Then follow the same process.
To describe it in words is tedious, but that is the very basic of it. Here is the jig I made to do this project.
Go to YouTube and search for BOX JOINT. You will find a lot of videos showing it being done, some on some rather elaborate jigs.
Sweet!
This weekend I'm planning to put my new Kreg pocket jig to use to build an out feed table for my table saw in preparation for building some custom closet systems.
Quick pics update. Drawer fronts built and stained
Here they are stained
Those look great, I would have been tempted to clear them like the top. The whole project is coming together nicely.
ALMOST done with this piece..... I got the beverage cabinet into my office and put together last night. I still need the drawer pulls installed but they are on order. Brushed nickel ones that very closely match the fridge handle.
Time to switch gears and get going on the actual work/play bar...
Looks great, nice job!!
A few updates:
I got the drawwer hardware in and installed. These go quite well with the fridge handle.
I am also starting in hard-core on the desk/bar area. You guys considering using bowling alley wood for tops, know the stuff is NAILED together and not glued. I learned that you need to use a demolition blade on the stuff, and even a demo blade wears out quickly.
I got enough bowling alley surface to at least get 13" of width on each of the three surfaces. This should go good now that I have the bowling alley blanks finished cut. 'Took three days of careful planning and prep to split and then crosscut the stuff. This stuff is nasty to work with as the back side is coated with creosote.
Here are pics of the finished beverage center and the progress on the bar/work area....
Outstanding. Just outstanding. Takes a brave man to work with hardwoods. We aren't worthy.
Phhil - Super nice! God I wish I had the time to be in the shop. I used to before 3 kids arrived. Bravo to you Sir!
What the hell. I was going to wait to post up progress but here are two pics from night-before-last....
Incredible work. Seriously impressive!
Quick Update with Pics. Got the top bar edges installed and the shelving to the left now has a back and adjustable shelves.
The bar mats showed up on the brown truck, and I am getting close to starting stain. I just have two pieces of trim to install on the lower work surfaces....
I might still make doors for the lower two slots in the cabinets....