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Television Cabinet
Hide the electronics behind ingenious double-hinged doors
by Dave Munkittrick
I love my new 36-in. TV but my wife hates what the glass and plastic
monolith does to the look and feel of our family room. To avoid marital
strife we went looking for something to house the behemoth. No luck.
Sounds like a job for the family woodworker! I love it when I get a
chance to justify my sometimes-controversial investment in the shop.
A cabinet large enough to accommodate a 36-in. TV could look like an
oversized shipping crate. But I used a design with angled corners to
ease the big-box look.
Note: There are a few extra-deep 36-in. TVs that may require you to
cut a hole in the back for the TV to poke through. You could make a
deeper cabinet but you’d have to buy an additional sheet of plywood.
Play it safe; buy your TV first, then adjust the depth if necessary.
The double-hinged doors fold flat against the sides to open up the
cabinet for unobstructed viewing. Plus, they’re a whole lot cheaper and
easier to install than pocket doors. The adjustable, no- mortise,
partial-wrap hinges (see Sources, below) make these doors a snap to
hang.
1. Make all the shelves identical by using one shelf as a |
Click on any image to see a larger version. |
2. Glue edging to the cabinet parts. The angled corner edging |
3. Assemble the cabinet with cauls and shims. The shims help |
4. Create a ledge below the doors with solid wood fastened to |
5. Add a row of nailers below the ledge to create a surface |
6. Screw dividers into the case to create the drawer opening. |
7. Attach the moldings with nails and glue. We used special |
8. Fasten nailer boards on top of the cabinet. These nailer |
9. Rout the ogee edge on the top. Just glue on the edging, |
10. Apply cove molding under the top and against the edge of |
11. Rip the 45-degree bevels on the columns. To avoid |
12. Hang the column on the cabinet. First, fasten the hinges |
13. Attach the door to the column. Make sure the column and |
14. Nail panel molding to the back of the door frame to hold |
15. Cut the door trim on the bandsaw. Tilt the table to 20 |
16. Nail the drawer front to the drawer box. Shim the drawer |
17. Cut the bun feet on a bandsaw using a circle-cutting jig. |
18. Shape the bun foot on a router table with a 1-in. |
19. Measure how much your floor dips away from the wall. This |
20. Screw the bun feet to the foot blocks. The thinner foot Sources(Source information may have changed since the original publication date.) Lee Valley & Veritas, leevalley.com, 800-871-8158, Two Iron Pendant Pulls, 01A60.30, $6 ea.; Two Iron Oval Pulls, 01A60.40, $7 ea.; Twelve Part Wrap Iron Hinges with Minaret Tips, 01H31.50, $4 ea.; One 18" Black Full-Extension Drawer Slide, 02K11.18, $16 ea.; Four 3/8" x 1/10" Rare Earth Magnets, 99K32.03, $0.50 ea.; Public Lumber Company, publiclumber.com, 313-891-7125, Two 3/4" birch plywood, $50 ea.; Two 3/4" clear or knotty pine plywood, $70 ea.; One 1/4" clear or knotty pine plywood, $40 ea.; 50 bd. ft. pine, $4 per bd. ft. Adams Wood Products, adamswoodproducts.com, 423-587-2942, Woodworker's Supply, woodworker.com, 800-645-9292, One pint Titebond wood molding glue, 921-971, $7; One gal. sealcoat (shellac), 119-459, $23. Woodcraft, woodcraft.com, 800-225-1153, One Trans Tint Golden Brown Dye, 128482, $17. This story originally appeared in American Woodworker July 2003, issue #101. |
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