cutting diagram 3-ft bookcase

7/g"41a.
Forstner
bit.
Size opening so feed tube
fits with about %0" play
Mark feed tube
outllne on cap.
-5
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GAPPING IT OFF
Making the feed tube cap (M) is one
of the easiest parts of this project. It's
just a cap for a 4x4 post.
The one I bought from a local
home center is 5"-square, with a
pyramid-shaped copper cap.The flat
bottom on the cap means it has to
be hollowed out to fit over the feed
tube, as you can see above.
The home center I visited also
had post caps with moldings applied
around the bottom. These create a
recess so the cap will slip over a 4x4
post. But the mitered corners on
these moldings were pretry lousy. If
this is the only rype caP You can
find, simply remove the moldings
and recess the underside ofthe cap.
Making the recess isn't tough.To
start, slip the feed tube into the
feeder and measure how far it sticks
above the roof. [n my case, this was
about /2".
\ Depth equals distance.-
J; tube sticks
abovg roof.
- ----
Now
you can lnark the recess
area on the bottorl underside of the
cap.The cap's copper pyranrid should
come o{1, allowing you to lay the cap
upside down on your bench. Place
the feed tube on the cap to make sure
the cap overhangs the tube evenly on
all sides.Then trace the tube'.s outline.
Now drill out the bulk of the
area inside the layout lines trsing e
Forstner btt (Fig. 9). This lets you
drill overlapping holes. Then clean
up the edges with a chisel (Fig. 10).
To complete the feed tube caP,
mount a small screw eye in the
recess.This will hold a string tied to
a weight that rides inside the
mounting post. See the photo and
margin drawing on the next page.
SUPPORT THE FLOOR
To hold the Geder in place on the
mounting post, there are four suPports
under the floor.You can t]lake
them from lx stock, or again plar-re or
resaw stock frorn a piece of2x cedar.
Once you've got stock that's t/0"
thick, go ahead and cut four floor
supports (N) to size as shown in
Use a chisel to
waste and square up ed$es.
Figure 11. Using a jigsaw nakes
quick work of the angled cuts.
The four supports need to fit
tight around the mounting post. To
determine tl-reir positions, start with
a short (3") length of the coPPer
pipe. Then position the suPPorts
snug against the short post sectiolt
(Fig 12). Putting double-sided carpet
tape on the suPPorts holds them
in place while you flip the feeder
over arrd drive in the rrrotrnting
screws, as shown in Fi,4trc 13.
ADD THE FINISH
llefore doir-rg the final assenrbly, it's a
good idea to protect all the wood
surfaces with a few coats of finish. I
used an exterior varnish made bY
Olympic. Spar varnish would be a
good choice, too.Just be sure to use
a finish with ultraviolet inhibitors to
keep the cedar looking its best.
And I mean cort all the wood
surfaces.That includes the underside
of both the floor and roof. These
surfaces wort't cvcr see rrin, but
they'll still be affected by changes in
moisture and temperature.
,r""-7-1tr
#8 x l1/2" Fh screws
70
woRKBENCH tr NovEMBER I DEcEMBER 2000