Projects

Nice Rack! I decided to build this after much searching for a gear rack that had an angled front. I decided to build mine with both a flat and an angled part similarly to how a lot of studio gear racks are set up. The bad part about this is that it ended up a little bigger than I had anticipated, and once fully loaded it was heavier than one person could carry. It is a very cool rack and is much better suited to a semi-perm placement. It is mobile, but you really need to have 2 people. I used 1" MDF on the sides and 3/4" on everything else. This was serious overkill. If I make another one I will use 1/4" thinner material. Hopefully that will take off a few pounds.

Thursday September 4th (Day 1, 2 hours)

I have the left side cut out and the bracing glued into place. I didn't get the correct length screws so that will have to wait till tomorrow so I can go to the store.

Right side cut out with braces, looks like I only have 4 clamps, hmm, I better get more tomorrow.

Friday September 5th (Day 2, 5 hours)

Glue is dried, let's see how everything will fit, looks good.

Got the braces screwed down (after a trip to Home depot). These things have to hold a lot of weight, no 6 screws is not overkill.

My first Route ever!!! I think I did an OK job, it's not like you'll see it anyway. This is a route for where the recessed handles will go.

And it fits!! YEAH!

I had to get a chisel just to do this. A cross member will go here.

Everything is starting to go together nicely. Oh yeah, I got more clamps and stuff at home depot and finished the right side too.

Glueing down the braces for the top and bottom panels.

screw those bad boys down so they don't come off (notice that everything is done with screws, there's not a single nail in this entire project.)

two more routes for the anchor pieces of the latches for the back and front panels.

and they fit nicely!

Ugh, this sux, there has got to be an easier way to attach these.

Think it's square enough? How many clamps do you think I need?

Ah, but it's all worth it, look how clean that is! Every hole is pre drilled, counter sunk, and then screwed. That's quality.

Two sides on, one to go.

And we're done!!! notice the cross brace, it's perfectly flush with front of the other brace pieces.

A view from inside the back.

Saturday September 6th (Day 3, 4 hours)

Got the front and back panels cut.

Cutting 2 pieces is faster than one, and this way they are perfect.

Um, looks like I measured wrong, I need to cut a 1/2" off these.

Putting the back panel together. Got clamps?

Back panel done. Here's the bad news. That mis-measure I did before, was very bad! I had to cut 1/2" off of 3 of these pieces. Oh, and the reason the front isn't going to be done today is that 3 pieces need to be 1/2" shorter and 2 need to be 1/4" longer (I mean trashed and re-cut!). Ugh, I'll finish this tomorrow.

Sunday September 7th (Day 4, 2 hours)

OK, I've remade the top and bottom that I screwed up yesterday and made 1/4" too short, and we're going to put the side pieces on.

nice screws.

And we're done. Isn't it purdy? It's still kinda naked though. I didn't get the carper to cover it with yet, hopefully I'll get it sometime this week.

Front panel.

Rear panel.

All 3 pieces.

Monday September 8th (Day 5, 2 hours)

OK, I finally got the carpet late this afternoon and I'm going to try to get at least the main part wrapped.

This isn't as easy as it looks.

The spray adhesive is very aromatic, beware the fumes!

OK, I got the whole thing wrapped and the back part folded in. This is not easy.

a half hour later this is what I have. This sux. These corners are no joke.

Why must I suffer for my art? this was by far the hardest part of the whole project so far.

that wasn't so bad, no weird corners to cut.

Tuesday September 9th (Day 6, 6 hours)

Testing the positioning of the rails. Pretty much exactly how I planned. plenty of clearance.

Rails are in, piece of cake. using a piece of wood I test the flatness of the rails in relation to each other. both bottom rails are perfect. The top rails have about 1/8" difference across all 4, which is no big deal since it's going to hold 4, 1 space units.

Mounting the handles is pretty easy, good thing the router hole was big enough, I didn't think about compensating for the carpet thickness. No worries.

Suki, crawling out of the port hole on the back of my SWR 18" sub. She was scared of the drill for some reason.

OK, time to wrap the back cover. This process ended up significantly easier than the main part, probably because there wasn't any weird angles, maybe I was also getting used to working with it.

Checking out how the latch is going to fit, very nicely actually.

Attaching the protective corners.

This was kind of intimidating at first, it needs to be very precise for the latch to work good.

That wasn't so bad, it actually fits pretty good.

Lift off hinges go on the bottom, so after you unlatch the top, it comes back a bit then comes completely off.

OK, getting weird again, the pressure is on to mount the latches perfect. I think it's more psychological than anything else.

bah, that was easy, look, all done.

Ah, a work of art, now to pack it full of toys.

OK, all loaded up. OK, one thing I didn't plan on. This thing weighs a TON and a half. The amp itself weighs 45 lbs. so all loaded it probably comes in nothing short of 60+ lbs. I'm starting to reconsider this whole project.