Sound in a box

Our Church meets in a  local school hall. it is really a lovely venue. the building is fairly new and the facility is well looked after.

the school has some sound equipment that they use for assemblies and events that was sitting on he edge of the stage and really was a bit messy. the problem is that if equipment is left open with lots of hands and fingers around, then it does not last. the the pastor asked me if i can build a box to house all the goodies that was sitting on the side of the stage. something that they could lock to keep the little sound desk and the wireless microphones and other paraphernalia that they had there safe and neat. 

great project. i took a couple of basic measurements to make sure that everything that needs to go in will fit and then designed a little box with a lid and two doors that could lock with just one lock. 

i decided to make it a recycling project (you might have guessed this by now). so everything that was used (except for the fasteners) was recycled from something else. 

at work i once made a jig once for a colleague,we tried to make some dune boards (in lunch times of-course), used the jig once and then it sat, for years. so i cut it up and made some hinges that would allow the door to open up a full 270 degrees. in other words it would be able to fold right back against the side of the cabinet.

here are the hinges and other locking hardware right after i painted it. 

i still had some of old crates left. remember the drawers and the speaker shelves? same material: 16mm plywood. 

i cut it up and shaped it and then assembled the box. here is a pic of the assembled box.

i watched a video on YouTube once where a guy made his own wood stain using vinegar a steel-wool. this seemed to fit right in with the wholes recycling idea and i made some. you basically pour some vinegar into a container drop some steel wool in there and let it sit for a couple of days. it all ferments nicely and TADA!!! a chemical wood stain. works pretty well. here is a comparison with the box coated and the lid of the box still un-coated.

the school is celebrating their centenary year this year and i thought (since it was a gift) that we could celebrate it with them. i hand cut some lettering from the left over material used for the sign that i put up in my garage. these where spray painted (with paint left over from other projects). i then fitted them to the side of the box. i also made a little "recycle" emblem to remind everyone that the entire unit is proof of the worth of recycling. 

after varnish (i used some that i had from the restoration that i'm doing on my doors and windows at home) i fitted the box at the school. i mounted it to the side of the stage where they used to keep it and moved everything into its new home. 

i had made provision for the cables to be routed through the side of the box that was out of general sight. this worked well and there was enough slack in the cables to comfortably reach the new destination. admittedly i lucked out a bit in that last detail...

the locking mechanism was simple pieces of metal shaped to the desire shape that lined up in the front to accept a padlock. the lid fits in behind the doors and at the back, a piece of angle iron was inlaid into the plywood (keeping the back flat so the box would still mount flush to the stage). so the lid slips in under the angle iron and behind the doors. when a padlock is fitted everything is locked together and the bax cannot be opened. 

total time spent on this box from design to final mounting was about 60 hours... 

Framed

so if you read the last blog you might have or might not have been waiting for the update on what i did with my window frames. well i have done nothing with them. it has been an incredibly busy time of year and i have been unable to accomplish anything tangible.

i have been watching a lot of youtube though. i love youtube. i have learnt so much from there. people freely sharing their knowledge, sometimes sharing mistakes that they have made. there is a lot to learn from there. i follow a couple great people on youtube. yes there is a lot of junk there too, but you just filter and then keep what you like. one of the guys i follow on youtube is called steve ramsey. he does woodworking. what i love about his projects is that they show that it is not difficult. he would take seemingly complicated things and make them simple without using complex or other than the normal tools or equipment.

i really liked a picture frame that he had made in the beginning of this year and was really keen to try it. i needed an excuse though... my sister in law got married and i had committed myself to making a wedding gift. she got married last year, so i was really starting to feel the pressure. here was my excuse.

most hand made frames' downfall are the mitered joints. if you get these wrong then the frame looks shoddy. i wanted mine to be perfect. well steve knew that and in that same week uploaded another video showing you how to make a simple jig to get yourself perfect miters every time.

these are the videos i mentioned:

and

having that ammo i made both. my miter sled is not as neat as his and i did not think it picture worthy but it did the job and that matters .

the frames started as a small sheet of plywood that i got from a crate that i picked up for free. yes the free stuff again! i stripped the crate and used its lid. i followed the same process as on steves video. "want to be any good? then copy the masters" they say. so i cut some strips of plywood. laminated them and worked them into the basic frame shape (cutting the rabbet for the picture to sit in etc.) 

then came the careful measuring of the picture. while preparing for the wedding last year, i found some owlets in a tree and took a picture of them. i had this canvas printed and blocked to A3 size. 

i'm known for making a hash with cutting so i measured and remeasured and it paid off! here is the frame around the picture for the first time:

 when i glued it it measured square without any adjustments. that mitre sled is really a neat little addition to a workshop and will be used quite a bit more in the future. i sanded the frame as smooth as i could get it and then beat it with a piece of chain i found in my workshop. making marks in the wood. i used some black spray paint and gave the wood a very light coat of black. immediately after spraying i would rub the wet paint into the wood with a cloth. i then proceeded to sand the entire thing again. all the little indentations where now highlighted by the black paint. it also gave the corners and edges more definition.  the frame then got a coat of raw linseed oil. i love the smell of linseed oil. i gave it that "not-born-yesterday" look. exactly what i wanted. 

to mount the picture in the frame i used some hard board/masonite that also got a coating of linseed oil. these where just nailed in place at 45 degrees. yes i measured each on to make sure. i also fitted some wire to hang the picture. i had to use screws to hook the wire around since the frame is fairly heavy. 

i'm super stoked about how this turned out. hope she likes it! 

i'm now getting closer and closer to being able to rebuild the engine on the honda. a little more shop cleaning and i'll be there. hold thumbs!