10 Plywood Projects[1]

8/13/2019 10 Plywood Projects[1]

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10 Easy-to-BuildPlywood Projects

All content in this document August Home Publishing. All rights reserved.

Ten shop projects ten sheets of plywood.These rock-solid essentials take just a couplehours to build and will help you make themost of the space in your shop.


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As much as I enjoy woodworking inmy shop, I nd that I spend almostas much time working on projectsaround the house. And because thatusually involves carrying tools to

where Im working, its nice to havesomething to carry them in. Thatswhere these tool totes come in. Eachtote is open on one side to make iteasy to load and unload your tools.And a narrow cleat along the frontedge of the opening prevents smallitems from falling out.

Not only does the tote hold anarmful of tools, but its just theright height for sawing the end offa board. In fact, you can make a pairof them to use as mini-sawhorses.And when you want to take a break,the tote makes a great little stool.

The tool totes are so small thatyou only need half a sheet of 3 4"plywood to build a pair of them (seecutting diagram below). To buildthe tool totes, start by cutting theends to size, as shown in Figure 1.The feet can then be cut out on theends using a band saw or a jig saw.

After youve nished making theend pieces, you can set them aside

while you cut out the bottom, back,and front cleat of the tote. Theresnothing out of the ordinary here

I simply cut the pieces outaccording to the cutting dia-gram shown below.

ASSEMBLY. The tool totes areassembled with yellow glue

and screws. To make sureeverything was lined upaccurately, I dry clampedall the pieces together rstand then drilled the pilotholes for the screws. Then Iremoved the clamps, gluedthe pieces together, andadded the screws. I started

by screwing the bottomand back together, and thenadded the front cleat.

The bottom/back assembly gets sandwiched betweenthe two end pieces. Again,I used screws and glue toattach the ends.

TOP. The last piece to addis the top. The top also dou-

bles as the handle for thetool tote, like you see in the photoabove. So after cutting this pieceto size, youll need to cut out anopening in the center. I made thisslot by simply drilling a starter

hole at each end point of the open-ing and removing the waste in between with a jig saw. Then for a

b.Corner Braces.These metalcorner bracesprovide a quickand easy way ofsecurely attach-ing the top ofthe tote.

a.

more comfortable grip, I eased theedges by sanding them lightly.

To attach the top, I used somemetal corner braces (see photo inmargin). These are just screwed to

the inside faces of the end piecesand then to the underside of the top,as you can see in Figure 1b.

www.ShopNotesSpecials.com 2

1 FIGURE

Step-Stool Tool Tote


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b.

Dealing with short cut-off pieces oflumber is a problem that just aboutevery woodworker has to face. Nomatter how neat you try to stackthe cutoffs, it doesnt take long for

a small pile to turn into a mountain.And this makes it almost impos-sible to sort through the cutoffs tond a piece that you can use.

Which is exactly why you needa storage bin like the one you seehere. Its fairly small, so it doesnttake up much space. But it holds alot of cutoffs. And dividers insidethe bin allow you to sort the cut-offs, making it easier to nd the onepiece youre looking for.

CONSTRUCTION. To build the cutoff bin, start by cutting the front, back,and bottom pieces to size (see thecutting diagram below). After cut-ting out these pieces, you can glueand screw them together. The bot-tom is trapped between the frontand back to create a U-shapedassembly. But when youre doingthis, make sure that the ends of thepieces remain ush.

DIVIDERS. The next step is to addthe dividers. These three pieces areall identical. Theyre cut to t in

between the front and back of the bin. After cutting the pieces to size

and cutting the taper on the frontedge of each piece, the two enddividers can be glued and screwedin place so that theyre ush withthe ends of the front, back, and bot-tom of the bin. The center dividerseparates the space inside the bininto two equal sections. Its centered

between the two ends and thenglued and screwed in place.

INTERIOR DIVIDERS. The last pieces tomake are the two interior divid-ers. These pieces help to separatelong and short cutoffs by dividingthe bin into smaller compartments.The interior dividers are centered

between the front and the back ofthe bin. After cutting them to size,theyre attached with corner braces,as shown in Figure 1a.

Most of the time, this cutoff binwill probably just sit in a corner ofyour shop. But you may want to

move it occasionally to clean behindit. The only problem is that once itsloaded up with lumber, moving it isno simple task. So, I screwed somecasters to the bottom corners, as yousee in Figure 1b. (I use two xedcasters and two swivel casters.)

a.

Casters. Tomake the cutoffbin easier tomove around, Iadded casters tothe bottom.


1 FIGURE

Roll-Around Cutoff Bin


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This wall cabinet project is actuallytwo cabinets one with a door andone without. You can stack them orhang them side by side on the wall.

CASES. The cases of the two wallcabinets are identical except for theirdepth. One of the cabinets is 3 4" shal-lower than the other, to allow for thethickness of the door.

You can start by cutting all thesides, tops and bottoms, and backsto size, as shown in Figure 1 below.When it comes to cutting the sides,youll notice that the cabinet withthe door has one side thats 3 16"narrower than the other. This is toallow for the door hinge that will

be added later.The next step is to drill some

holes in the sides for the shelfpins that will be used to supportthe shelves. I did this on the drill

press. After youve nished drill-ing all the shelf pin holes, you canassemble the two cases. The sides,top, and bottom are all wrapped

around the back panels and thenglued and screwed together.

With the cases assembled, you cancut some adjustable shelves to tinside them. There are three shelvesfor the open cabinet and two for thecabinet with the door.

DOOR. At this point, the open cabi-net is done. To complete the othercabinet, all you need is a door. Thedoor is just a piece of plywood cutto t over the front of the case. Itsattached with a piano hinge. Then tohelp keep the door closed, I added acouple magnetic catches one atthe top of the cabinet and one at the

bottom. Finally, I mounted a handleto the front of the door.

a.

b.

Door Hardware.A window sashpull makes a low-cost, yet practicaldoor handle. Anda pair of magneticcatches ensuresthat the door staysshut until youreready to open it.


1 FIGURE

ModularWall Cabinet


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Its easy to see why this router tableis such a shop workhorse. For start-ers, theres the simple, rugged con-struction. This means you wontspend much time building it. Thentheres the large top and fence thatare capable of handling just aboutany project. Finally, theres a rack forkeeping your bits within easy reach.

STURDY CONSTRUCTION.The router tableshares some rock-solid constructionfeatures with the workbench (page4). Its made up of a center box sup-ported by four legs, and a pair of

braces. This assembly is then sand-wiched between two end panels.

Bit Rack. With an angled bit rack,you can quickly see and pick out theone youre looking for.


1 FIGURE

Router Table


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15 "

15 "

CASE. The center box consists ofa shelf and two sides. A brace isscrewed to the sides of the box nearthe top. The brace serves two pur-poses. First, it prevents the routertable from racking. Second, it sup-

ports the tabletop and keeps it fromsagging, as shown in the side detailon the previous page.

A second brace is located justunder the box at the back of thetable. Its screwed to two legs thatserve to beef up the end panels thatare added later. At the front of thetable, another pair of legs are added.But instead of a brace, I screwed anangled bit rack between them, asshown in the detail on the bottomright of the previous page. Not onlydoes it help strengthen the table, butit keeps router bits close at hand.

Now, the end panels can be cut,glued, and screwed to the centerassembly. Like the workbench, acutout at the bottom of the end pan-els forms the feet that give the routertable a rm stance.

THE BIG TOP. With the base complete,I turned to the top which is whereall the work takes place. Basically,its just a large panel thats cut to

shape. But there are a couple impor-tant details I want to mention.

The rst detail is a slot near eachend of the table, as you see in Figure2. The slots are used to adjust thefence and secure it to the table.

The other detail to note is thehole for a router insert plate. (Youllwant to size the opening to t yourinsert plate.) The hole is cut in twosteps. First, cut a rough opening forthe router to drop into. It should beslightly smaller than the size of theplate. Second, rout a rabbet aroundthe edge of the hole thats sized tohold the insert plate ush with thetop of the table. The top can then beattached to the base with metal cor-

ner braces, like you see in the sidedetail on the previous page.

SIMPLE FENCE.The nal part of therouter table is the fence. As you cansee in the drawing below, this isntyour typical L-shaped fence. Its asolid beam built up from four lay-ers of plywood. Its attached to thetable with a pair of ratchet knobs,washers, carriage bolts, and pinch

blocks. To prevent the fence from binding, I cut a short slot in oneend of the fence base. This gives thefence a little wiggle room.

At the top of the fence, I addedsome T-track. This makes it easyto attach stop blocks, bit guards,and featherboards, like the ones

you see in the main photo on theprevious page.


2 FIGURE

(20) #8 x 1 1 2" Fh Woodscrews (4) Corner Braces w/Screws (1) Router Plate (2) Ratchet Knobs (2) 5 16" Washers (2) 5 16" x 2 1 2" Carriage Bolts (1) 32" T-Track (w/Screws)

Hardware


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b.

a.

Hdbd.

There just never seems to be enoughplaces to put tools, parts, or acces-sories. Thats where this multi-toolstand comes in. For one, it has alarge work area on top thats bigenough for most benchtop tools,

like the planer you see in the photo.Second, theres an open shelf

below the top to hold parts at theready. And a drawer at the bot-tom holds often-used supplies andaccessories right where you needthem. Finally, a set of heavy-dutycasters means the cart can go any-where without getting hung up onchips or extension cords.

BUILDING THE CART.The stand consistsof two sides supported on the bot-tom by a pair of shelves and a backpanel that will house a drawer, asin detail b. The upper shelf alsoserves as a second worksurface

The top of the stand is braced bysupports to form a core that canstand up to anything. To this core,I added a top and bottom panel.The top is slightly bigger to giveyou a worksurface as large as pos-sible. Its attached to the sides with

metal corner braces, as shown inthe drawing below and detail a.

The base serves to support thestand and provide a place to attachthe casters. Its glued and screwedto the lower shelf.

A BASIC DRAWER. I added a drawerto the bottom of the stand to holdfrequently needed items. Since itsfully enclosed, the drawer keepsthings clean and dust free.

The drawer is built using simplerabbet joinery. Its sized to t theopening below the shelf, as you

can see in the drawings. To keep itoperating smoothly, all you needto do is rub a little bit of wax on the

bottom of the drawer sides.


Hardware (32) #8 x 1 1 2" Fh Woodscrews (4) Corner Braces w/Screws (1) Sash Pull w/Screws (4) 5" Locking Casters w/Screws

Multi-ToolStand


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There are plenty of good reasonswhy every shop should have apair of sawhorses. They provide astable platform for cutting boards

to length, theyll hold a full sheet ofplywood for cutting out pieces, andtheyre lightweight and portableenough to use anywhere.

In addition to these traditionalroles, this design also includes astrong worksurface (cut from thesame sheet of plywood), to spanthe horses. And the extra-sturdystretchers can be used like a smallscaffold to hold the platform inposition at different levels.

TAPERED SIDES. A goodsawhorse should havestrong, stable legs (or inthis case, side pieces) to

prevent it from tipping.So I began by laying outand cutting one of thesides. This way, I coulduse it as a template for the remain-ing three pieces.

To make the tapered cuts, I useda circular saw guided by a straight-edge clamped in place. After mak-ing the round cutout at the bottomwith a jig saw, I sanded the edgessmooth. With one side complete,

Mini-Scaffold. Byplacing the plank

on one of the lowerstretchers of the

sawhorses, you canuse it as a platformwhen you need to

reach high spots.

all you need to do is rough cut theother pieces and use a ush-trim

bit in your router to make dupli-cate side pieces.

After cutting out and cleaningup the sides, I clamped each pairtogether and drilled pilot holes forthe screws that hold the stretchers.


Adjustable Worksurface and Sawhorses


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makes them even more usefularound the shop. And the platformshown here is plenty strong. Itsmade by sandwiching a series of 1"-wide spacers between two piecesof plywood for extra strength. Thisarrangement makes the platformrigid enough to hold the heaviestloads without sagging (Figure 2).

Assembling the platform is

pretty straightforward. All youneed to do is attach the spacers to

the underside of the top, and thenfasten the bottom to the spacers.This way, you wont have screw-heads visible on the top.

The easiest way to do this is toplace the top upside down onyour workbench. Now lay out thespacers and predrill holes for thescrews. Add glue and screws andyoure halfway home.

The next step is to mark the loca-tion of the spacers on the bottom tomake sure you make solid contactwith the screws during the nalassembly. Finally, glue and screwthe bottom in place.

I nished up by adding cleats tothe bottom of the platform to holdit securely on the stretchers. Then I

chamfered the edges and added acoat of clear nish.

Without thePlatform. Thetall sides providea handy placefor a clampwhen cutting aboard to length.

This way, I guaranteed uniformplacement of the screws (Figure 1).

STRETCHERS. Now youre ready toglue up the stretchers from twolayers of plywood. After youvenished that assembly, completingthe basic sawhorse is just a matter ofattaching the stretchers to the sideswith a few screws (Figure 1).

THE PLATFORM.The addition of a workplatform that spans the sawhorses

a.


1 FIGURE

2 FIGURE

Hardware (48) #8 x 1 1 2" Fh Woodscrews (69) #8 x 2 1 4" Fh Woodscrews


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One of the challenges in any shop

is nding a good place to store thelumber for your woodworking proj-ects. Its all too easy to stack boardson the oor or lean them against awall. But that often leads to mois-ture damage and bowing.

A better solution is to build alumber rack like the one you see inthe photo at left. It holds plenty ofwood and, more importantly, keepsit all at and dry.

The rack consists of three verti-cal assemblies, with ve lumbersupports on each. These assemblieshang on cleats attached to studs inthe wall of your shop. A short dowelplaced in the cleats prevents thevertical assemblies from moving, asshown in the inset photo below.

START WITH THE SUPPORTS. The rststep in building the rack is to cutout the lumber supports (Figure 1on the following page). Then youcan use a shop-built tapering jigto make the angled cut on the bot-

tom of each piece. To nd out moreabout this jig and how to makethese cuts, take a look at the shoptip on the following page.

Alignment Pin.A short length ofdowel in the cleatskeeps the hangingvertical supportsin position.


Wall-MountLumber Rac


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Shop Tip: Taper Jig

THE VERTICAL ASSEMBLIES.With the sup-ports cut, the next step is to makethe uprights. As you can see in Fig-ure 1, the uprights have an anglednotch that ts over the top cleat, anda square notch that provides clear-ance for the lower cleat.

Its important that the notchesare positioned identically on all sixuprights so the lumber supportshang at the same level. The easi-est way to do this is to clamp themtogether and make layout marks.Then, remove the clamps and cutthe pieces one at a time. A jig sawmakes short work of these cuts.

Now attach the supports to theuprights with glue and screws.

WALL CLEATS. As I mentioned, thevertical assembly hangs on wall-mounted cleats. The top cleatrequires a beveled cut on the topedge to match the angled notch inthe vertical assembly.

The next step is to drill holes forthe dowels. Its important that they

be spaced uniformly on both cleatsso the vertical assemblies align.

MOUNT UP. The last step is to attachthe cleats to one of the walls in yourshop. Since the rack will be hold-ing a lot of weight, youll need tomake sure the cleats are anchoredsecurely. After identifying the screwlocations, predrill holes and attachthe cleats with lag screws.

a.b.

1 FIGURE

To make the angled cut on the lumber supports, I used thetable saw and a simple tapering jig. As the drawing belowshows, its just a piece of plywood with a couple cleats tokeep the workpiece in position. The plywood base ride

along the rip fence, leaving a consistent cut every time.


Hardware (120) #8 x 1 1 4" Fh Woodscrews (8) 4" x 1 4" Lag Screws (8) 1 4" Washers (15) 5 8" x 3" Dowels


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A storage cabinet on wheels is one ofthe handiest things you can build to

make working in your shop easier.It not only gives you a convenientplace to store a wide range of items,

but also allows you to keep themclose at hand wherever youre work-ing. And youll appreciate the extraworksurface on top of the cart.

CONSTRUCTION. The construction ofthe cart is pretty straightforward.As you see in Figure 1, its simplya pair of U-shaped end assembliesattached to the base and top. Eachend assembly features an adjustableshelf for convenient storage.

Each assembly is made up of twoends fastened to a side, with shelfpin holes drilled in all three parts.The holes drilled on the inside ofthe side pieces also allow you toplace an adjustable shelf in the cen-ter storage compartment. This isa great place for larger items, likepower tools and cases.

START WITH THE ENDS. Istarted by laying outthe four ends and clearlymarking the bottom edge of each.This way, youll make sure the shelfpin holes are measured from thesame reference edge. I used a simple,shop-built jig for drilling the holes.

The box at the bottom of the follow-ing page has all the details.

You can use the same techniqueto drill the shelf pin holes in theinside faces of the two sides. Then,all you need to do is attach theends to the sides with a little glueand some screws.

a.

b.


1 FIGURE

Roll-AroundUtility Cart


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2-in-1 Shelf-Hole Drilling Jig

THE TOP. Now that youve com-pleted the end assemblies, yourealmost ready to add the top. But

before you do, youll want to cuta couple of slots to use as handholds. Then you can attach the endassemblies to the top using corner

brackets and screws.THE BASE. With the assembly rest-

ing on its top, you can add the base. I predrilled holes for screws,making sure to screw into both thesides and the ends.

As you can see in Figure 2, the base also acts as the lower shelf.To prevent things from falling out,it has edging on both ends. Thesepieces are attached with screws.

Now you can complete themain assembly by adding casters.I selected 5" locking swivel cast-ers to make sure the cart would beable to handle the heavy loads, andso it would stay put when the cast-ers are locked.

ADD THE SHELVES. Three adjustableshelves (one on each end and one inthe center compartment) completethe cart. The center shelf doesntrequire any further treatment. Butyoull want to add a piece of edg-ing to the end shelves just likethe one on the base.

When youre faced with the taskof drilling evenly spaced holes forshelf pins, the most sensible solu-tion is to make a jig. After all, a

jig ensures consistent spacingbetween the holes. And by reg-istering against a reference edge,it also places the holes a uniform

distance from the edge.As you see in the drawings, this jig features an adjustable fence.It can be used to position holeseither 1" or 1 1 2" from the edge.This comes in handy when build-ing the utility cart shown here orthe storage cabinets on the fol-lowing page. To change the spac-ing, all you need to do is removea couple of screws, reverse thefence, and replace the screws.

a.

I made the fence by cutting a groovein a piece of hardwood to match thethickness of the plywood jig.

a.

a.


2 FIGURE

1

2

Hardware (38) #8 x 1 1 4" Fh Woodscrews (12) #6 x 3 4" Fh Woodscrews (16) #14 x 5 8" Sheet Metal Screws (4) 5" Locking Swivel Casters (12) 1 4" Shelf Supports (6) 3 4" Corner Braces


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Two Stacked Units. If the space in your shop is really tight,you can easily stack the storage units. All you need to dois add a couple of alignment pins.

Add a Worksurface. To create a worksurface, just puta little distance between the units and add a benchtop like the platform from the sawhorses on page 9.

for the top and the dadoes for the

drawer divider and bottom shelf,as shown in Figure 1.

The next step is to cut a rabbetfor the back along the back edge ofeach side. You need to make twosets of mirror-image sides. So itsa good idea to mark the right andleft pieces to avoid confusion asyou make the cuts.

SHELF-PIN HOLES. The storage com-partment has an adjustable shelf,so now is a good time to drill theholes for the pins. To do this, Iused the same method and jig asdescribed on page 14.

ASSEMBLY.With the holes drilled, youare ready to assemble the cabinet.Start by fastening the top, bottom,and drawer divider in position inthe dadoes. An easy way to do thisis to rst glue the joints and clampup the entire assembly. Then, afterdrilling countersunk holes, simplydrive in the screws.

A common theme for all these proj-

ects has been adding storage spaceand worksurfaces to your shop.And the compact storage unitsshown in the photo at left are noexception. They provide a handystorage space with an adjustableshelf and a small drawer.

Each unit takes up just over asquare foot of oor space, so you canplace them just about anywhere. Andsince you can get two units out ofone sheet of plywood, you can placethem side by side or stack them.

I kept construction pretty simple.Dado joinery keeps things aligned,then glue and screws secure the

joints. And by adding a solid back tothe units, you guarantee they wontrack under a heavy load.

DADO THE SIDES.After cutting out thepieces, I set up the table saw witha dado blade adjusted to match thethickness of the plywood. Then allyou need to do is cut the rabbet

b.

a.


1 FIGURE

CompactStorage Cabinets


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Cutting Plywood with a Circular Saw

DRAWERS. A small drawer com-pletes each cabinet. And like thecase, it goes together quickly. Thedrawer sides simply t into rabbetsin the front and back.

You can begin by heading to thetable saw. Use a wide dado bladeto cut the rabbets on each end.

Then, adjust the width of the dado blade to cut the 1 4" groove for thedrawer bottom in the front, back,and sides. (I used 1 4" hardboardfor the bottoms.) To completethe assembly, just add glue andscrews, as indicated in Figure 2.Then attach a handle or drawerpull. Finally, rub a little bit of waxon the bottom of the sides to keepthe drawers moving smoothly.

ALIGNMENT PINS. As I pointed outearlier, to save oor space, you maywant to stack the units. To keepthem from shifting out of position, Iadded a couple of simple alignmentpins. The alignment pins are justshort pieces of dowel that t intomatching holes drilled in the casetops, as shown in Figure 2a.

All the plans in this series start by cutting out partsaccording to a cutting diagram. Now you could makemany of these cuts at the table saw, but working witha full sheet of 3 4" plywood, especially if youre by your-self, can be difcult. But theres an easier way.

I often use my circular saw for this kind of work.Its easier than trying to maneuver the plywood on thetable saw, and it can be just as accurate if youfollow a few simple guidelines.

To set up to make a cut, I clamp a straightedgeguide to the sheet of plywood. This way, all I have todo is ride the edge of the saw along the guide to geta straight cut. Then, I place the plywood on a sheet of2"-thick, rigid foam insulation, as you see in the photoat right. The foam insulation works great to supportthe full sheet of plywood, and I dont have to worryabout cutting into the oor.

b.

a.

2 FIGURE

Hardware (42) #8 x 1 1 4" Fh Woodscrews (4) #8 x 3 4" Fh Woodscrews

(2) Drawer Pulls (2) 1 2"-dia. x 1" Dowels (8) 1 4" Shelf Support Pins

Documents

10 Plywood Projects[1]