The TV console project

RetiredUSNChief

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Story behind this is we got a 52 inch flat screen a while back for $50.

Buddy at work's TV quit working and we both agreed it was probably the power supply. I said we could probably find one cheap online and he said "Nope, this excuse to get a 4 K!"

Told me I could have it if I wanted. So I did some Google-fu and found a power supply for $50, and it was on the porch the next day. 45 minutes of "how do I get the back of the TV off and replace this" later and I was the proud owner of a like-new 52 inch flat screen.

Told my wife, took it home (with a nice wall mount bracket) only to find out she didn't want to mount it on the wall. BUT our existing TV stand wasn't meant for this.

Off we go shopping for a new console. And predictably we both can't agree on something. Spent hours online shopping, still nothing.

Finally she said "Why don't you and Marshall just make one?" (Marsh is my oldest brother.)

OK, what do you want it to look like and what kind of wood do you want, I ask.

"I don't care, just not pine."

Oooohhh...a blank check!

Told my brother, who asked what kind of wood she wanted. When I said "not pine", he laughed and said "tell her I don't do pine!"

And indeed he does not.

Anyway, we finally got started a few weeks ago (it's a weekend project, whenever I have time to come up... so far, two weekends this past couple months). I had ordered mahogany plywood earlier last year, and found some lizard drawer pulls (lizard stuff being something my wife collects), and we sketched out something I liked.

The top is 60 inches long, plenty big enough for our flat screen and to allow for larger if we get another... without the console being too big for where it's going.

Six drawers, each of which are sized to hold two rows of DVDs (about 40 or more), so my wife can organize some of the DVDs we have.

Center part will have at least the top shelf on a drawer slide and another adjustable shelf behind smoked glass.

The console is framed up now, in the pics below. Next visit will get the drawers cut out and assembled and drawer slides in. Shelves made, too.

The top will have to be routed, the baseboard trim cut and installed, and the glass door installed.

Then the final sanding and finish work. That alone will be at least a full weekend... maybe a couple.
 
Wow, excellent work.
Im always amazed at how well some of yall can complete these tasks
 
Looks great. I did the same thing a couple months ago. We couldnt find anything that we liked, and it was all overpriced chinese MDF stuff anyways. So I picked up a pocket hole jig and materials and built a x-brace style stand for a couple hundred bucks.
 
Had some time last weekend to work on this some more.

Got the drawer boxes made and two coats of fast drying water based finish on them. They're birch plywood.

Routed the edge on the top. Got the first coat of semigloss polyurethane on the top and the cabinet.

Polyurethane really brings out the color and grain of the wood. No staining was done. Mahogany will naturally darken over the years as it's somewhat photoreactive.

Drawer spaces will probably not get a second coat, since drawers will be installed there. The center section will have at least two, maybe three coats. Back will get a second coat so it'll be smooth enough to wipe down for dust and such occasionally. Top, sides, and all other visible portions will have at least three coats.

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Gotta get the drawer fronts and shelves made and finish work started on those.

Install drawer slides.

Get the trim cut and finished for the toe space.

Get the glass cut for the middle.

Plenty of work to do yet.
 
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Wow looks great! Congratulations on the TV find too!
 
Thanks!

Next up on the list, when this is done, will be a couple matching bookcases. My wife will have plenty of room to get all the DVDs put up properly with plenty of room to clutter it all up afterwards.
 
Had to work today, so I only got in one day at my brother's on the console.

Spent time sanding the first coat down and applying the second coat. That should make it ready for installing the drawer slides and drawer boxes on my next trip. If it's a full weekend, I hope to get the drawer faces and shelves made and the first coat of finish on them. Also, cut the trim for the toe space and get the first coat of finish on that as well.

I'll also have the third (and final) coat on the exterior portions of the console then.

The second coat is really making the grain look goooooood!

TV Console 24.jpg

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TV Console 27.jpg
 
A little more work done this last weekend. Late Sunday, actually.

I would have had a full weekend, but Beth sent me on a mission to see if I could pick up some Saturday Morning All Day at a local brewery. The beer is supposed to be based on Lucky Charms and made the news down home...but it's only available up here in Virginia. The brewery premiered it Saturday, after which it's supposed to be available at some locations (beats me which, at this point).

So Saturday morning at 6 am I got off work, then took a power nap until 10:30 am. Got up and headed downtown Norfolk to the brewery...and by the time I got there and in line, the line was 3 1/2 blocks long and growing. People came down the line checking IDs and distributing wrist bands to help speed things along.

2 hours later, in 42 degree weather, I was about 2 blocks away...and word came down the line by the brewery people that there were no more cans available...just on tap.

*sigh*

I should have gotten up earlier and gotten in line at 10 am.

SO...I wasted 8 hours of my time that I could have spent making the 4 hour trip to my brother's house to work on the TV console Saturday. Turned out I needed to help him with a couple other projects first anyway.

SIDE NOTE:

My brother is scheduled for surgery on the 13th of this month. Doctors have been tracking something in his right lung for a while to see what's going on there, and it's evidently produced a sign in the last PET scan that makes them think it needs to come out. So he's having a lobe of his right lung removed this month. Other than that, they tell him he's in excellent health for 69 years. More to follow on that at another time. This might slow down my console project, if I end up having to help them out on other things when I visit over the coming weeks/months. We'll see.

ANYWAY...got the slides installed for the drawers and the component shelves and the trim cut/installed for the toe space. Light sanding done on the cabinet face, sides, and top in preparation for the final coat. I would have put the final coat on yesterday except I didn't get started until late in the day. Not that it's going to slow the project down any...I'll still have to put three coats on the drawer faces and component shelves when I get them made.

Here are a couple more shots of the latest:

TV Console 28.jpg

TV Console 31.jpg
 
No time to work on the project this weekend, but I did get some time in last weekend.

I'm in the home stretch now. Shelves and drawer faces are cut, edged, and first coat of finish on them. Marsh will have the smoked glass cut for the door later.

Two more coats of finish on the shelves and drawer fronts, then install them and put the drawer pulls on. Shelves will require the front drawer slide latches for installation. Glass door will be in by then, and that only takes a few minutes.

Ran out of satin finish polyurethane just before getting to the tops of the shelves. Pulled another can of the shelf and finished them up... and noticed the finish on the last shelf was significantly lighter.

Hmmm... identical cans... but I forgot I was using high solids polyurethane for a darker contrast and to bring out the grain more.

No worries... I'll just shift back to the high solids for the 2nd and 3rd coats. It'll darken up and any differences won't be noticeable because they're the shelves and not the drawer fronts.

The cabinet itself only requires two more costs for the toe boards.

Here are the shelves and drawer faces. The grain is lined up for the drawer faces, but the pictures are shown upside down. The cathedral in the grain will be pointing up when they're installed.

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Well...done with the last coat of finish on the drawer faces and the shelves. No new pics of the drawer faces, but I put the shelves on the drawer slides. Next trip should see the console finished. Whenever THAT is!

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Later, when it's finished, I'm going to install a strip of LED lights inside towards the back to assist in connecting cables to the electronics. Combined with the sliding shelves, it should make hooking things up really smooth.
 
Drat...

Got it home, no problem. Forgot to take some pictures.

I had the glass shipped home, so I wouldn't have to pack it up for the trip from my brother's house. It was delivered earlier than expected, so it was there by the time I got the console home. Yea!

The den was a mess (not unexpected, don't get me started), but my son had things cleaned enough for us to pull everything out and carry this in.

Getting this home was a long-planned event... my oldest brother lives in Virginia, and my job is in Virginia. Home, however, is in South Carolina. A couple years ago I had a trailer hitch installed on my car and another brother of mine had found a small trailer suitable for my use for a couple hundred bucks. He lives in Indiana.

So this involved me taking last Friday off so I could leave right after work Thursday, head up to Indiana to pick up the trailer, then back to Virginia for the console, then home.

Jeff (brother in Indiana) told me the original trailer he found for me ended up being too troublesome for a variety of reasons and gave me the trailer he had designed and built as part of his CAD degree in college a few years ago. (Designed and modeled on computer to analyze weld stresses under load.)

It's 12' X 7', all aluminium frame. Only the axel is steel. Weighs about...500 pounds!

He also gave me the extra axle mounts, in case I ever want to make it a double axle trailer.

My LeSabre had absolutely no problems pulling this, even through the mountains. Obviously, I'm not going to use it to pull more than around 1,500 pounds total with my car (we've got my wife's Expedition for that). Got about 27 mpg before getting to the mountains, everything stable at speeds as high as 75 mph (stayed at 65 to 70 most of the trip). About 23 mpg through the mountains.

Light enough that acceleration and maintaining speed was absolutely not a problem. Almost couldn't tell I was pulling anything.

Bet I had more than one double-take from people with this behind my car! If it was painted black, there probably would have been more!

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It's 12' X 7', all aluminium frame. Only the axel is steel. Weighs about...500 pounds!

He also gave me the extra axle mounts, in case I ever want to make it a double axle trailer.

My LeSabre had absolutely no problems pulling this, even through the mountains. Obviously, I'm not going to use it to pull more than around 1,500 pounds total with my car (we've got my wife's Expedition for that). Got about 27 mpg before getting to the mountains, everything stable at speeds as high as 75 mph (stayed at 65 to 70 most of the trip). About 23 mpg through the mountains.

Light enough that acceleration and maintaining speed was absolutely not a problem. Almost couldn't tell I was pulling anything.

Bet I had more than one double-take from people with this behind my car! If it was painted black, there probably would have been more!

View attachment 150994
Damn nice trailer, does he want to go into a side business building them?
 
And all this started with a $50 TV?

That's like buying a cheap condom and finish paying for a kid 21 years later....

Hah! Good point!

But... considering I would have loved to have bought a new flat screen that size when I retired from the Navy in 2005, but didn't because it would have run me an easy 5 grand at the time, I'd have to say this is a pretty good deal!

$50 for the TV, less than $300 in mahogany plywood and glass, $200 for the trailer, and even figuring the gas for the trip and I still came out ahead.

Heck, I would still have invested in the console construction even back then.

Of course, I put a lot of time into this, but still!
 
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