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Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - Freija - 05-03-2023

You were warned! The first thread where I started this project is here

Because it was asked for! Note: I hosted these pictures on my defunct website and saved them as jpg and not png so the quality isn't the best but I tried to keep the file sizes down and limited to 1000px. Native pic size is 4032x3024 so it took me a whole day to process them and put this together. I wrote most of this last night and didn't proofread it before posting. I'm hoping for the longest and most obnoxious thread evar award!

OH CRAP - No warning when previewing but error posting with more than 10 pics so I am going to have to break this into multiple posts.

Where to start catching up?

Last update ended with our intrepid wannabe woodworker getting setup with a jointer and discovering indeed, some sort of dust collection was going to be mandatory.

Enter The Dustopper – a cyclonic dust separator that attaches to a bucket powered by a shop vac that was connected to my ex-husband’s machine lathe in the kitchen that I snagged for my own use. The jointer makes a nice cole slaw and practically nothing ends up in the shop vac. It smells delightful!
[Image: dust.jpg]

I had only used a jointer once before 100 years ago but did not realize how physically hard it was going to be especially trying to joint 8’ 2x4s and 2x6s. I had to pick up a couple roller stands to even do long boards but it was a good investment because I’ve needed them for other things more than I imagined.

[Image: jointer1.jpg]

Trying to force 8 foot long crappy Home Depot lumber flat against the jointer table absolutely killed my noodley old lady arms. With one side milled flat and one edge milled square, I really wasn’t looking forward to trying to flatten the other side. It was exhausting.

I knew I needed a planer but balked at the $780 for a Dewalt so I spent days researching alternatives and watching videos and settled on something closer to $400 with stellar reviews a Wen (with 13” w/ spiral cutterhead) I’ve always wanted a planer and I’m not getting any younger and was fortunately in a position to act so I clicked the button and had it the next day with free delivery. I was lucky to already have an isolated 20-amp circuit available but had to buy a quality $30 14ga extension cord.

But damn, the planer weighs 80 pounds and getting it unboxed and on a table liked to kill me. Not having the luxury of an indoor working space, the ability to move things to a secure location in case of weather was paramount so I scrounged around through my redneck surroundings and found a rusty old metal cart with busted wheels.

[Image: rusty.jpg]

It was quite the effort sanding it down, mounting new wheels, painting it and cutting a piece or ¾” plywood, then getting the mounting holes marked and drilled (I had to lift the damn planer again twice) but it came out great and is super functional. With a couple laminate flooring planks on a steel table that weighs about 900 pounds (The 900 Pound Bench™), the outfeed lines up perfectly.

[Image: planer1.jpg]

This is absolutely fun to use and my favorite thing so far. With boards milled flat on one side, running them through the planer makes the other side flat and parallel then running them through on their one flat edge makes the other edge perfect. Between the jointer and the planer, I used up five 55 gallon black trash bags for shavings with about as much as they could hold without bursting. The Dustopper thing works great but the bucket requires emptying more often than I would like.

After 3 bags of planer/jointer shavings, I checked the inside of the crusty old Rigid shop vac and found this much. The Dustopper really surprised me at its effectiveness. It’s kind of a pain to empty it all the time and I have to move the hose to each machine as needed but I can only imagine the mess I would have made without it.

[Image: waste.jpg]

I milled (jointed & planed) eight 2x6s and six 2x4s. It took me a long time because I could only do a few at a time due to being old and puny then it came time to cut everything to length which presented the next problem.

I had made an oversize cross-cut sled for my old cheapo table saw I thought would help but it didn’t. Eight foot boards were just too long and unwieldy even with trying to use the roller stands or that metal bench for support. I probably could have jigged something up and just used a circular saw or gasp, even a hand saw but I wanted square and perfect cuts and got frustrated for a while thinking I was out of my mind to try and build something so big.

With hours and hours watching YouTube woodworking videos, the answer was clear, I needed a miter saw. I used to have an ancient Sears radial arm saw but I donated it to Goodwill when I moved because it sucked and was limited in what it could do. With more time spent researching options for the features I wanted and the price, I again went with a WEN 12” dual bevel sliding compound miter saw. Couldn’t see spending $550 to $850 for the name brands just to get my foot in the door and the WEN was just the ticket for a hobbiest. I also got an 80 tooth blade for finer cuts but haven’t used it yet.

Of course, it had to weigh 55 pounds and of course I needed some sort of a mobile base for it so I got busy making one. The result was functional but the design is unfinished. I plan to make fold up extension wings on either side for supporting long boards and I was going to put some drawers in it until I got a new router table (used to have one of these too but sold it about 15 years ago to buy drugs) that fits neatly underneath. Sorta killed two birds with one stone there and moving the router table off to a bench when I want to use it isn’t that hard. For those 8 footers, I still needed to use those handy roller stands and I am so glad I bought them

It is super cool to make a bunch of cuts and have them come out perfect

[Image: mitercuts.jpg]

I finally got started on building things. The four 86” long legs consist of a 2x6 connected to a 2x4 for each leg. My idea was to have the legs be smooth and free of fasteners and I thought about dowels but decided to go with sunken screws and plugs.  This part was pretty fun.

I had purchased an oddball set of countersinks, hole and plug cutters that worked super perfect. I marked things out in the 2x6s, drilled a pilot hole then a hole for the plug. Then I cut the plugs from a piece of cutoff scrap and was tickled how well they came out and how fun it was popping them out.

[Image: holes.jpg]

Then things were glued up, clamped and the screws tightened. Then I glued in the plugs I had cut.
[Image: glueup.jpg]

After sanding, where the plugged screws are, nothing is visible. I didn’t bother to line up the grain because everything was being painted but was really happy how this came out.
[Image: plug.jpg]

I used my palm /trim router to put a nice round over on all the corners. Then on the inside of each leg, I added 2x4 stops that will serve as under supports for the three layers and assist in keeping the layers level. Next came my adventure in priming.

It has taken me forever to get things done because I keep stopping to research stuff and this time it was what primer to use.  I had always used something like Kilz but wanted to make sure what variety because I wanted something that would seal any knots and prevent any sap leaking through this crappy lumber and ruining my paint job.

I found a product all the pros were raving about, Zinsser B-I-N, a shellac based primer that covers and seals anything. It dries to the touch in 15 minutes and can be top coated after 45 minutes and everyone was raving about its capabilities but it cost an absolutely ridiculous $75 a gallon but I decided YOLO, right? It indeed is special but a little tricky to work with as it dries so fast. I applied it with a short nap roller and ended up with more texture than I wanted which frustrated me and I took a couple days off to sulk but then I sanded it and went over it with a foam roller and it turned our really nice.

[Image: legs1.jpg]

-continued next post

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - Freija - 05-03-2023

I had used a piece of scrap wood to connect the legs in pairs but they were hard to manipulate to paint the other side of so I devised some spinners I just nailed into the ends so they would spin freely. I ended up making more and using them for all the other long boards. Angle cuts with the miter saw, some glue and staples in my 18ga brad nailer did the trick. I felt clever.

[Image: spin.jpg]

With the legs assembled and primed, I stored them back into the house before moving on to the three layers – the bed layer and middle and top layers.

I knew for joinery that I wanted to use dowels because I didn’t want screws interfering or running in to each other when the frames were screwed to the legs so I made a little jig for even hole placement and used my wonky old benchtop drill press to do the drilling, again with help from those handy roller stands. These boards had already been filled, sanded and rounded over with my hand router. The frames for the bed and middle shelf layer use 2x6s

[Image: drill.jpg]

I was stumped for a few days and didn’t do anything because I didn’t know how I was going to drill the corresponding holes in the end pieces but then I had an epiphany. I propped the long boards up on a tall bench at a level where the end piece was touching the ground then I used some 90º clamps to square things up. With a stop collar on my 3/8” brad point drill bit using my at least 25 year old Craftsman corded drill, I just drilled through the holes I had already put in each board and into the ends. I practiced on the top layer as it is 2x4s and I figured if I screwed up, it would be cheaper to buy new ones than 2x6s but it worked perfectly. Because normally dowel joints are hidden within a joint I had to make longer ones to go in from the outside.

This method was so successful, I went ahead and glued and doweled the other two frames.

[Image: dowels.jpg]

Once everything had dried, I used my ancient oscillating multi-tool to cut the ends of the dowels off and then sanded everything flush. Came out nice and very solid.

[Image: joint.jpg]


With my legs done and my three frame layers ready for the next step, yet another side project distracted me for a bit. Of course it did.

Finances lately have been unexpectedly good and with this woodworking thing starting to move forward, I had the desire to kit out my “shop” a bit more. The things I had purchased so far, the jointer, planer and miter saw were quite adequate for an intermediate level hobbiest but I wanted my next purchase to be more pro grade stuff.

Although it had served me well for many years, my old Skill table saw was a piece of shit even though it was an upgrade to the one I had before it. The fence wasn’t square without fiddling with it and checking it with every cut, the blade was too close to the leading edge of the table, there was no dust collection of any kind and it didn’t have a riving knife so I started looking for replacement. Because I still needed something mobile and a huge cabinet saw wouldn’t work, I found a couple of hybrid options in the $1000 to $1250 range I seriously had my eye on. I knew I didn’t want a jobsite saw but I knew I wanted something with a rack and pinion fence and every day was a debate if I really wanted to spend this much money or not then an offer came up that was too good to pass up from an unexpected source – Harbor Freight.

Now I’ve always been kind of leery of purchasing things from HF but they have really stepped their game on some of their newer stuff. They had a recently redesigned Hercules model comparable to a $650 Dewalt for $399 and I had a 3-day only coupon for $312 so I jumped on it as a way to not spend over $1000 on something else and so far I am really happy with it. Annnd then came another side project. I need a home for it.

So, I started out making a cart so the bed of the saw would line up with my 900 Pound Steel Bench™ beginning with more jointing and planing crappy lumber. The jointer wears me out but the planer is like a carnival. It was nice having the miter saw to cut the pieces but I had to use my also ancient circular saw to cut the ¾” plywood top. Nothing fancy here, just deck screws and glue.

[Image: stand1.jpg]

Rather than normal casters, which on my miter saw stand are kind of hard to lock, I decided to go with workbench casters so I added some extra reinforcement to the legs that also added a bit more style. This type of caster allows the stand to sit solidly on the ground when not engaged. Then I hit the whole thing with that million dollar B-I-N shellac based primer. It was looking decent. I used some scrap ½” plywood for a bottom shelf but had to make it in two pieces.
[Image: stand2.jpg]

Somewhere along the way, I had purchased a much raved about electric handheld HVLP paint sprayer but I was afraid to try it with this weird primer fearing it would clog it up since it dries so quickly. I love painting and already own 5 or 6 paint guns (plus 2 airbrushes) and have painted 4 cars but those guns aren’t meant for spraying latex and I didn’t want to move my big compressor to my back work area.

Here’s a picture my daughter took of me at least 36 years ago painting a Volkswagen fender.

[Image: painting.jpg]

I’ve owned 5 different VWs of different types, love them and wish I still had one. In 1971 at 16, I took my first time driver’s license test in a 1967 VW bus so they’re in my blood but back to the story.

But, with my new little saw stand, I decided to give my new electric spray jobbie a go. With a couple quart cans of Rustoleum and a stir stick, I don’t know what I was thinking but I was wanting to go with something close to orange and obviously red and yellow can’t get there.

[Image: mixing.jpg]

I don’t know what this color is but the new sprayer worked a treat. It came out pretty good.
[Image: sawstand.jpg]

I was finally able to use my new saw and it is awesome! Haven’t done anything fancy with it yet but ripped some 8’ 2x4s into 3 pieces and it works great, has a very effective dust collection port and is so much quieter than my old saw. And that fence! I can rip something up to 24½ inches wide. That’s a 4x8 sheet of plywood right down the middle. The toylike little miter gauge that comes with is, like even on expensive saws was junk so I picked up an aftermarket one (not shown)

Here’s the whole family. Planer, new saw, miter saw & router table, jointer and my old saw. Eventually, I will build an actual base for the jointer rather than a garbage picked sawed down entertainment shelf on a dolly and paint the miter saw stand after I finish adding the fold out extension wings.

[Image: family.jpg]

Then I had yet another side project. Is it any wonder I’ve been 5 months working on things? Once a month, my city has uncontained refuse pickup and they take most everything – cut down trees, old furniture, junk, broken toilets and you name it. It looks pretty ghetto for a few days but if one is so inclined, it is scavager city.

-continued next post

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - Freija - 05-03-2023

On the next street over, I found a cabinet someone had made and no longer needed. It’s built out of birch ply with oak trim and is heavy AF but I managed to get it home and sanded down.

[Image: cabinet1.jpg]

Not sure what I was thinking but I threw on some legs and added some casters. I decided to try the fancy primer in my sprayer and it worked with no problem except cleanup with this product is unusual and unpleasant. Not soap and water, not mineral spirits or paint thinner but ammonia and man those fumes kill me.

Got ‘er primed and painted my not red, not orange and not pink color and began to load stuff into it. It is pretty packed now with more tools and so handy. I have another melamine cabinet with doors that I am going to attach to the top of it for even more storage

[Image: cabinet2.jpg]


AND THEN I STARTED WORKING ON MY PROJECT AGAIN!

I began putting the cross bracing on my top layer. Didn’t go overboard as this shelf will be above my head and I’m likely to not load it with heavy items. Then I put the top plywood on my bench and lined it up with the frame, marked the edge and ripped it off with my trusty dinosaur circular saw.

[Image: frame1.jpg]

Then I flipped it over, drilled pilot holes and a countersunk them and screwed on the top. Then I put a round over edge on the top and sanded the whole thing down with my belt sander.

[Image: frame2.jpg]

All together, it is pretty heavy and not easy to move around. I used a furniture dolly to transport from one place to another then I got to work and did the same thing on the middle shelf or what I’ve dubbed, The Big Dog™ as it has more cross members and the frame is made from 2x6s. With the top on, I’m guessing it is about 90 pounds?
[Image: frame3.jpg]

After discovering I can spray the fancy shellac primer (AND BUYING ANOTHER $75 GALLON OF IT) all three layers needed to be primed and that presented what was probably the biggest physical challenge so far. I actually didn’t even go outside for few days dreading it.

I determined I would have to do it in stages. Do the plywood tops then flip things over and do the sides. How I managed to wrangle things into this position without killing my wee self I don’t know but with the help of a little step stool, I was able to get the first layer of primer done.

[Image: upright.jpg]

Not sure what day it was but I happened to look up in the sky and saw triple Xs. Cool huh?

[Image: sky.jpg]

I was able to get the top layer on a couple of saw horses. The bed frame layer is the lightest and I was able to place it on my tall skinny bench with a couple 2x4s underneath and then there was The Big Dog™ middle shelf to deal with. I managed to get it tipped over and laid on the ground then with more strength that I thought I had, I got one edge lifted up on The 900 Pound Bench™ and managed to balance it on top.

[Image: paint1.jpg]

At that point, after resting for a day, I was able to apply the first coat of paint with my trusty new sprayer. Now all I have to do is a light sanding and shoot another coat of the high gloss black… oh, and I haven’t painted the legs yet. They’re still in the house on the kitchen floor.

[Image: painted1.jpg]

Too windy today to do anything so I made this ridiculous thread.

Once the paint is done, it will be ready for assembly although I’m still lacking a 4x8 sheet of ½” plywood that I’m going to have to wait until my ex-husband decides to take me to Home Depot in his giant Sprinter van to get. This will go over the slats on the bed layer to place my mattress on.

I haven’t decided if I will paint the tops of the two shelf frames or just leave them white primer? Nobody is going to see them anyway

Getting these pieces in the house and down the hallway to the room this is all going in will be a task in itself and former hubby is going to help whether he wants to or not! My one nice room will have to be rearranged so the double doors into the hallway can both be opened and then everything, which is a LOT will have to be moved from the target room to my nice room. It’s going to be a mothercluster!

From the hallway, the frames won’t go into my target room because they can’t make the bend so they’ll have to go into my nice room first to get the right angle to go into my target room.

Gawd, there is so much left to do! I am tired of my mattress being on the floor. I know what I want to make next and can't wait to get this monster finished.
Oh, in case anyone was wondering what this monstrosity will be, I am calling a storage unit with a sleeping pod.

[Image: theplan.jpg]

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - EndtheMadnessNow - 05-03-2023

Holy woodworking you been a crafty busy bee. Super impressive work!! Love it 
I could not do this myself, not even close. If I were nearby I'd definitely help ya move stuff around.

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - Freija - 05-03-2023

I am super lucky to have these skills and the ability to figure things out but I grew up with this stuff.

My mom was one of 6 sisters with no brothers who was raised on a farm in rural Ohio and no quarter was given when it came to the work that needed to be done. I too was exposed to this environment as a child and my grandpa cut me no slack for being a sissyboy that would have rather been inside playing with dolls and doing needlepoint. I fed animals and milked cows and helped give sheep haircuts and was part of building and maintaining barns and such. Heck, when I was around 7 or so because I hated bugs and stuff, gramps threw me into the hopper of his combine that was filled with wheat and grasshoppers and while I'm still not a fan, that's just the sort of thing I was exposed to - the same stuff his daughters were exposed to without regard to gender.

My mum was a woman of many talents, quite a few some would consider non-traditional for women as are many of my mine. As far as building things, my mom was a superintendent of construction for a custom home builder and I went to many jobsites with her ,while she did inspections and yelled at contractors. She knew her shit.

When I was in high school, we had a slab poured and her and I completely built an entire room onto our house by ourselves except for the electrical she had a friend do. Framing, roofing, setting doors and windows and generally everything you could do. She made me tear down an old wooden fence we used to panel one wall decades before the distressed wood look became popular. So I have been pounding nails and sawing wood like forever and being a boy or a girl didn't make a difference.

A lot of men find this rather intimidating.

Here's a pic of mom (in the middle) just for good measure and to say thanks for learnin' me how to make stuff

[Image: attachment.php?aid=660]

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - EndtheMadnessNow - 05-03-2023

Freija - Thanks for sharing your interesting back story! As a man I don't find it intimidating at all. Actually, I find it rather refreshing and inspiring. I dunno, call me weird I guess. Probably back in my younger days when I had a low regard for women in general I would have found it very intimidating.

That is an awesome photo! Your mom looks very similar to my late grandma way back (dressed the same too) and she was raised on a farm and her expertise was gardening when I was growing up.

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - Antisthenes - 05-04-2023

Amazing, but in no way unexpected. Nothing she does surprises me anymore.

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - Freija - 05-04-2023

(05-04-2023, 07:45 AM)Antisthenes Wrote: Amazing, but in no way unexpected. Nothing she does surprises me anymore.

Hey friend, nice to see you back!

Yes, it is true. I can do anything... EXCEPT MATH! Big Grin

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - Antisthenes - 05-05-2023

You are quite welcome. You've been busy! Love, love, love the attention to detail. ♡

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - Chiefsmom - 05-16-2023

Just...
Wow!

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - Freija - 05-22-2023

Another update!

Little has been done the last couple weeks. First there were days where I wasn’t motivated and spent too much time online screwing around. Then there was a $13,000 software install and deployment and training on that I was responsible for that ate up a week then there was this past week where it rained or threatened to rain almost every afternoon.

Seeing as how everything is outside and couldn’t get wet, I managed to get my three frame layers – the top shelf, The Big Dog™ middle shelf and the bed frame layer into the house. Because they’re so heavy and unwieldy, it took me an hour and I was completely exhausted when I was done.

Yes, this is what used to be the living room in this house made into an auto/machine shop. Where I live is not “normal” but I love it!

[Image: insideparts.jpg]

Outside, everything is buttoned up and ready for weather.

Here's my main workbench and new storage cabinet. Beside the stuff on pegboard and multiple hand tools and doo dads on the bench proper, my disk/belt sander and drill press are stashed under cover too. Not shown but the back is covered in plastic.

[Image: coveredbench.jpg]

On the other side of the space is the big stuff. My jointer, planer, miter saw & router table and my new and old table saw plus shop vac.

[Image: coveredmachines.jpg]

Even though most of my entire backyard is covered with a massive awning, the bench is pretty close to the edge and if it is windy, as it tends to be around here, I didn’t want to take a chance of it or my big power tools to get wet so things have stayed covered and even though most mornings have been nice, I didn’t want to go through the effort to drag my big layers out to work on them only to have to drag them back in later.

[Image: wideshot.jpg]

Here’s a better shot of the awning/roof thing going on back there. I really wish I could move that dead Suburban.
[Image: roof.jpg]

But now there is good news and I can get back to work.

[Image: forecast.jpg]

It is starting to feel like AZ around here (100º F is 37.77º C) It'll be 110-115 in a few short weeks. Yay! (not)

The 3 layers need a 2nd coat of paint and then the legs, that are still in my kitchen need painted and I’m ready to assemble.

Had a good talk with ex-hubby about helping and how heavy this is going to be. He said if we can’t lift it, we can use a cherry picker/engine hoist. I didn’t think it would fit in the room but he says that’s how he got his gun safe out when he moved 15 years ago.

I’m looking forward to making progress on this monster because I have other things I want to make next.

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - ANNEE - 05-22-2023

Call me quirky -- I love it.

I'm going into a similar situation.  Not quite as cluttered.

I have to build a "kitchen" on a long workbench that sits just behind a lift up garage door.

Prefer it to "living in a picture".

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - Freija - 07-02-2023

Progress has been made so here is another update!

When I last left off, I needed to paint the legs and give the 3 frames another spray of paint. Well, I got all four legs finished and they look decent

[Image: legsdone.jpg]

I stashed them back in the kitchen where I’d already been stacking things taken from the room where this monstrosity is going.

[Image: legsstored.jpg]

In spite of the weight of the frame layers, with the help of two furniture dollies, I found I could manage to get them where I wanted them so I moved them back outside for a few final tweaks

I drilled and countersunk pilot holes for all the places the frame layers were going to be attached to the legs.

[Image: pilotholes.jpg]

Then I cut the bed slats and tacked them into place using staples in my nail gun.

[Image: bedslats.jpg]

I had to move a few things to get the frames around the corner and into the hallway and there they sat until I could empty out the room in order to assemble everything. This was a major operation.

[Image: hallway.jpg]

The living room in my abandoned auto/machine shop house is the large master bedroom. It has double doors leading into the hallway but one of them was closed giving me a long enough space for the huge dresser inherited from my mom I’ve carted around since 1980 so the dresser had to be moved, which was a project in itself to get both of the doors open.

In order to get the big shelf layers into the room where they were going, because they wouldn’t fit around the corner, they had to go into the big room first so with the dresser moved and the double doors open, all the crap from my sleeping room/office got lugged over. Without thinking, I blocked my dresser and getting to my underwear drawer required the skills of a contortionist and a mountain climber.

[Image: bigmess1.jpg]

You can barely see my sofa hiding in the back

[Image: bigmess2.jpg]

With most of the stuff out of the way, all that was left was a lamp, my 9mm, my modem, router and WI-FI access point with my network switch that goes to my other three computers temporarily disconnected.

[Image: lanbits.jpg]

I moved the 3 frames into the room and stacked them against the wall but didn’t take a picture.

I unexpectedly got a call from my ex-husband letting me know he was in the neighborhood, just a couple houses down in fact helping a neighbor rebuild an old Jeep engine for a project car so even though I wasn’t really ready, I told him since he was here that he could come and help me. I scrambled moving more last minute things, like the mattress and my network stuff not knowing when he would show up.

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - Freija - 07-02-2023

I got the legs moved into the room and emptied out the metal cabinet on the wall that had to go. It was full of gun cleaning stuff and gun parts and I found 2 boxes of 9mm ammo I’m sure he didn’t know were in there so I squirreled them away into my own stash.

[Image: build1.jpg]

Because of parts too heavy to lift, I knew this thing would have to be built lying down on its front side so I started putting things where they were going to go.

[Image: build2.jpg]

A few hours later, former hub came in through the garage and poked his head through the door to the kitchen where I happened to be and asked if I was decent? Suspecting he might not be alone, I said I was decent for him but not for company but he barged in with Jerry the neighbor anyway but I soon put these boys to work and forgot about looking like the bag lady that lives behind the Walmart. They started by removing the cabinet on the wall and then got busy.

[Image: build3.jpg]

The frames were screwed to the legs and the thing was built. Then came the task of trying to get it into an upright position. As it was lifted it also had to be moved away from the wall and this thing was damn heavy. It took all three of us using everything we had with a lot of grunts and curse words required. Both the guys estimated it weighed 350 to 400 pounds but we did it.

[Image: upright5.jpg]

I had removed some of the slats to make driving the screws in easier but put them back in place. Before the guys left I had them help me move a 93 pound 4x8 sheet of ¾” MDF outside and on top of the 200 pound metal bench so I could cut it. I used my new track saw to cut the MDF sheet to size and my two furniture dollies to get it back inside where I laid it on top of the slats.

Then I put the mattress in place and slept in my new creation for the first time that night about 10 days ago.

[Image: mattress.jpg]

I’ve started to move a few things back in but only temporarily and haven’t put anything except my network gear on the shelves yet because I still have a few things to do and need to be able to move the thing away from the wall so I can access both sides. Surprisingly, I can scoot it out a few feet which will be handy because I need to route some cables and wires and I am putting LED strips around the underside of the middle layer for atmosphere.

All I can say is it is a joy not having my mattress on the floor. Sitting on the edge of the bed, my feet are 9” from the floor and my head is 5” under the middle layer and it is perfect. This thing is absolutely rock solid and a huge life upgrade.

Taken today

[Image: today.jpg]

I am so happy this is done and proud of how it turned out. Now comes the hard work of cleaning out the other room and loading the shelves and the under bed area with storage stuff. Eventually I will get or make curtains as envisioned in my plans and add a television but at this point, it is a relief to have the big stuff out of the way and no more excuses for not moving on to other projects which I have already done. The last two days I was outside sweating my ass off making sawdust in 110 degree heat and working on plans for the next thing I am going to make.

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - EndtheMadnessNow - 07-02-2023

Impressive work! I'm exhausted just viewing all the pics of the work. If a bomb is dropped in your backyard that bed is not moving! Looks rock solid & can tell it's damn heavy.

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - Freija - 10-29-2023

I did finally finish this darn thing and have to say I am quite pleased with the results.

It absolutely dominates the room and grabs your attention when you walk in

[Image: overview.png]

I added a headboard with a little cubby and a footboard.

[Image: verticle.png]

To which I mounted a 42" TV on a tilt and swivel bracket and a Samsung sound bar with a separate subwoofer under the bed.

[Image: FlatScreen.png]

Watching TV in bed is really amazing

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With the lights out, the soundbar sounding and the sub vibes reverberating through my whole body, it's like being in a theater.

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There are boxes and bins on the floor under the bed. The top shelf is pretty full but the middle shelf is still half or more empty so function wise, it is doing exactly what I wanted it to do.

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - EndtheMadnessNow - 10-29-2023

(10-29-2023, 11:15 PM)Freija Wrote: To which I mounted a 42" TV on a tilt and swivel bracket and a Samsung sound bar with a separate subwoofer under the bed.

So, that's what ya been busy doing these past months...watchin the Rogue & ATS sites from bed. lol. Do I dare ask, does the bed vibrate? Judging by the structure I'm sure the frame can handle it.

Looks very nice! Walnut brown color?

RE: Project Update - CAUTION! Mega Huge Picture Thread - ANNEE - 10-30-2023

I'm incredibly impressed.

A lot of work, but you seem to be enjoying yourself.

Thanks for sharing.  ANNEE