Cooter, Help! Zambo gets Betty too hot

Swamp Donkey

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Are those Oregon plates really necessary? I'm sure most people just assume.
I was told they taxed it more heavily because it isnt painted green.

Youd think the dude could find a roller or paint brush somewhere.
 

Zambo

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Finally got to work making the cabinet faces today. The hard part is making sure all the cuts are square. I did all the cutting with my table saw. I thought the miter gauge was set up square but I must have tweaked it dropping the damn thing or something because the first couple of cuts were just a hair off. I was able to square it back up so as not to ruin too much of the wood stock I had.

First order or business was to cut the "stiles" which are the vertical parts of the faces. My saw blade was just big enough to be able to cut 3 pieces of the 3/4" stock at once, and since both cabinets have 3 stiles it worked out great for making them all exactly the same length buy just cutting them at the same time. I made the stiles about 1/8" shorter than the cabinet frame to account for the floor being a little uneven. I'll just caulk underneath, plus when I add the flooring it'll cover up the little gap. I just didn't want them to be too tall and have to plane them down to fit.

Next I cut the rails, which are the horizontal pieces. Same deal, just cut all the pieces at the same time. There was only one section that had more than 2 rails so that was easy. The section where the drawers will go had 4 rails so I had to just be careful when cutting so they were all the same. I should have set up the rip fence with a stop on it to make the pieces but I didn't think of that until I was done. In any event I got em all the same so next its time to fasten everything together.

I have an el cheapo pocket hole jig that clamps on to the rails. I used some scrap to make sure the depth was set correctly for the screws I had, then started blasting through drilling all those screw holes. So many things like this where the first one takes forever but by the time you get halfway through the project you're cranking out product like a machine. Once the holes were drilled I marked everything to make sure I didn't screw something together backward and ruin the project. Then I clamped the first two pieces together on my welding table and ran the first screws in. You gotta be careful to get them tight enough to squeeze out the glue, but not so tight you crack the wood. Now that I think about it this would have been a good time to set the friction ring on my cordless drill, but instead I used my little impact driver. I got away with it but the drill would have been better.

My table wasn't big enough to do the whole frames so I did half the frame on the table, then did the other half on the table, then set the halves on the floor to join them together for the final assembly. This part was a little hokey because its harder to make the faces line up perfectly but I got it close enough that a quick sanding made them pretty darn smooth.

I put the faces up against the frames in Betty and slid the fridge in on the one side and used a couple clamps to hold the other side. While I was at it I figured why not cut down the countertop pieces to length and see how it all looks. I actually cut the tops extra long so I can do the final edge with a router. In any event, I think for my first attempt at cabinets they came out ok. It'll be interesting to see how those pine panels on top take a stain but I think they'll come out looking good.

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Zambo

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Just as an aside, here is what the inside of Betty looked like when I bought her home. :lol:

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Zambo

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Hey @crosscreekcooter gotta question for you. See these plywood parts of the cabinet? Obviously I shoulda used a better finished piece of lumber since they show so prominently but now that they are in what options are there for smoothing these parts out? I think I had it in my mind when I did them that I would cover them with a veneer or something but I wasn't really considering it much at the time. I had the idea that I would just skim coat it with that stuff you put over wallboard. Will that stuff stick to the plywood, and if it does will it crack when this thing is bouncing over potholes and such? Any ideas appreciated.

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crosscreekcooter

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I'm assuming you're gonna paint the cabinets not stain. If the irregularities are grain, footballs (patches cut from the same veneer in a football shape) or very shallow knotholes, you can skim with drywall mud that's been thinned or spackling. IMO the better wood filler is made by Borden's, is a pink color and is easily sandable. Then prime and sand out. Do any caulking after priming and wipe the caulk down with a damp rag. A paint that I have had good luck on finish work is Behr Alkyd enamel. If you don't have a HVLP spray gun, use a 4" foam roller. This paint lays down real tight with no roller or brush marks, dries much harder than other enamels and cleans up with water. Schitz looking good Dawg.

PS don't fasten those tops down till you install the drawer guides, much easier access.
 

Zambo

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I'm assuming you're gonna paint the cabinets not stain. If the irregularities are grain, footballs (patches cut from the same veneer in a football shape) or very shallow knotholes, you can skim with drywall mud that's been thinned or spackling. IMO the better wood filler is made by Borden's, is a pink color and is easily sandable. Then prime and sand out. Do any caulking after priming and wipe the caulk down with a damp rag. A paint that I have had good luck on finish work is Behr Alkyd enamel. If you don't have a HVLP spray gun, use a 4" foam roller. This paint lays down real tight with no roller or brush marks, dries much harder than other enamels and cleans up with water. Schitz looking good Dawg.

PS don't fasten those tops down till you install the drawer guides, much easier access.
Thanks coot! Yeah, those tops won't be fastened down until very late in the game. Plus I'm going to use threaded inserts so I can unbolt them if need be to do any big maintenance.

I have an air sprayer but I don't know that its HVLP or even how much different that might be. Just the typical Home Depot setup. I'd really like to be able to mask everything off and just blast the whole interior, at least with primer if not paint as well.

Oh and hey can i put the skim coat right on the plywood or should I hit it with primer first? I've got a big bucket of Killz, I figure that'll work for this but then again WTF do I know?
graco-airless-paint-sprayers-262800-64_1000.jpg
 
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crosscreekcooter

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Do your fills and sand those first, wipe down with a tack rag and then prime, then sand the prime. The primer acts as a filler as well, caulk any butt joints at corners, then wipe with damp rag and then final paint. Don't caulk any nail or screw holes, use the filler as it won't shrink.
Graco is a good spray rig, I would use a #206 or 210 fine finish spray tip, will give more control with a 6" fan. Take some practice shots on some cardboard.
 

URGatorBait

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Do your fills and sand those first, wipe down with a tack rag and then prime, then sand the prime. The primer acts as a filler as well, caulk any butt joints at corners, then wipe with damp rag and then final paint. Don't caulk any nail or screw holes, use the filler as it won't shrink.
Graco is a good spray rig, I would use a #206 or 210 fine finish spray tip, will give more control with a 6" fan. Take some practice shots on some cardboard.
Lol. Butt joints
 

Zambo

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Worked on putting up more wall paneling the last couple days. Decided to put another outlet in the back so had to run wire for that today. I got a lot of respect for dudes that can come in to a project and just start measuring and cutting and nailing, getting huge amounts of stuff done in a day. I gotta sit there, staring at it, figuring out everything that could go wrong, trying to think if I'm forgetting to so thing A before thing B, etc. Plus I gotta google or youtube how to do something, maybe order a part or some hardware, even run to the hardware stuff to get some damn thing I need. By the time in get in a groove, half the day is gone.

In any event, the back wall is done but not nailed up yet. I have to put insulation back there first so that'll get done tomorrow. This thing has rounded corners in the rear that have been giving me fits trying to figure out how the best way to panel it is. I replaced some rotten wood under the curved windows with a big ol' 2x8 that I cut a curve in to fit. After they were in I used a hole saw, vibrating saw, a grinder and a drum sander to make the inside curve. I used an extra piece of cabinet lumber to make a small shelf under the window and cut the paneling that goes against the back wall under the shelf. I made a couple of vertical studs from 2x4 to support the rear shelf and window and give me something to nail the paneling to.

I pretty much finished paneling the drivers side. The fun part is cutting out the windows. I do have to finish the last bit of that wall where it gets to the corner. Hopefully I'll get that corner and finish most of the passenger side wall tomorrow. Also, I cut the hole in the countertop for the new sink and the cook top. The new sink is a lot deeper than the old crappy shallow sink that was in there, so I'll have to get a little creative with the P-trap so it clears the water heater.
IMG_6547.JPG IMG_6549.JPG IMG_6550.JPG IMG_6554.JPG IMG_6561.JPG
 

soflagator

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Worked on putting up more wall paneling the last couple days. Decided to put another outlet in the back so had to run wire for that today. I got a lot of respect for dudes that can come in to a project and just start measuring and cutting and nailing, getting huge amounts of stuff done in a day. I gotta sit there, staring at it, figuring out everything that could go wrong, trying to think if I'm forgetting to so thing A before thing B, etc. Plus I gotta google or youtube how to do something, maybe order a part or some hardware, even run to the hardware stuff to get some damn thing I need. By the time in get in a groove, half the day is gone.

In any event, the back wall is done but not nailed up yet. I have to put insulation back there first so that'll get done tomorrow. This thing has rounded corners in the rear that have been giving me fits trying to figure out how the best way to panel it is. I replaced some rotten wood under the curved windows with a big ol' 2x8 that I cut a curve in to fit. After they were in I used a hole saw, vibrating saw, a grinder and a drum sander to make the inside curve. I used an extra piece of cabinet lumber to make a small shelf under the window and cut the paneling that goes against the back wall under the shelf. I made a couple of vertical studs from 2x4 to support the rear shelf and window and give me something to nail the paneling to.

I pretty much finished paneling the drivers side. The fun part is cutting out the windows. I do have to finish the last bit of that wall where it gets to the corner. Hopefully I'll get that corner and finish most of the passenger side wall tomorrow. Also, I cut the hole in the countertop for the new sink and the cook top. The new sink is a lot deeper than the old crappy shallow sink that was in there, so I'll have to get a little creative with the P-trap so it clears the water heater.
30396

Again, seriously impressive. Looks great.

Also, whenever you’re ready to put those light switch plates on, let me know and I’ll knock’em out for you.
 

Zambo

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Again, seriously impressive. Looks great.

Also, whenever you’re ready to put those light switch plates on, let me know and I’ll knock’em out for you.
Thanks man! I was considering waiting until it was painted and the backsplash was up before the switchplates go on, but now I'm not so sure.
 

soflagator

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Thanks man! I was considering waiting until it was painted and the backsplash was up before the switchplates go on, but now I'm not so sure.

I’m still not very good at this stuff at all, but feel like I’ve learned more reading this thread than I would have taking some kind of course. So I’m becoming tempted to do some small projects around my house.
 

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