To Build A Dominator

By Mike Charon

Let me start out by telling you that this is not a build for the weak of heart. This will take time and dedication and a love of building great cabinets.

Alright now if your still here let get started.

When following my progress here please remember that with every cabinet that you build there are many ways to do the same thing. For example I used dovetail joints for the sides but you can use butt or finger joints as well. Also keep in mind that you should cut your wood as you progress not all at once.

04/04/07
The first thing I do is cut the top and bottom pieces and before I make the angled cuts I make the dovetail cuts with a dovetail jig. Then I make the dovetail cuts on the side pieces.

Next I use a sliding compound miter saw to make the front angled cuts.

I sand down the areas that will be the inside of the cabinet. Then I use a high quality oil based stain and rub it into the wood grain. I put as many coats as needed to make a nice even black cover.

This photo shows the wood after one coat of stain. Let this dry overnight or longer.

04/05/07

Once dry, we can assemble the four pieces to test the fit without applying any glue.

Notice how the sides are wider then they need to be. We are about to fine tune the size and use the scrap that we cut off for the center support. I used 3/8" Baltic Birch for the two front "V" panels. I am going to make a 1/2" wide 1/4" deep rabbit cut on the top and bottom of the panels so it over laps the bottom and top pieces of the cabinet. So I need to cut the sides 1/4" away from the edge of the front.

I make a mark 1/4" away from the front and as close to the edge as I can get. There are other mathematical ways of doing this, I just like this way.

Take the cabinet to your table saw and adjust the fence till the blade is inline with the mark.

But don't cut the cabinet, we just want to set the fence and the angle of cut which is somewhere between 20 and 30 degrees just eyeball the blade with the angle of the front. Take the cabinet off the saw and dissemble the four pieces.

With the black side up and the front edge of the wood towards the blade make this cut with care to save the cutoffs.

The photo above is one of the cut sides with cutoffs of both sides.

Next lets just make sure that the cut was make right by putting the cabinet back together. (no glue yet)

And this cut looks good! OKay lets assemble the middle support.

So put glue on both pieces and spread it out so its not real thick.

press them together till you see small beads of glue coming out.

Now clamp and let the glue set overnight.

4/14/07 Alright now we are ready to glue the body of the cabinet together. Apply glue to the edges.

And assemble the body of the cabinet and let the glue dry.

Now we need to begin work on the front panels. My cabinets that I am building here are 24" wide and 20" tall so I will cut my front panel 20" tall and wider then I need at 15" wide. This way if any mistakes are made with the angle cuts I have to make I don't have to cut a new front panel. Also I use 3/8" Baltic Birch for the front panels.

The first angle I cut will be the one that meets at the tip of the "V" and I set my table saw at 28.5 degrees and set the fence at about 14.75" and make the cut. I move slow to make a nice clean angle cut. Now I test the fit of the angle after cutting both panels.

As you can see this will match up well!

Next I set-up the 1/2" dado and set the fence at 19.5" and make a dado cut on the top and bottom of both panels. The depth of cut is 1/4" the same as the distance between the side and the top/bottom of the cabinet. (see next picture)

After making the dado cut to the top and bottom of both front panels they should slide into place like a puzzle piece.

4/15/07 Today I am going to cut the openings in the front panels so the baffles will have a place to go. I have a template that I made with a jigsaw and a 2.5" hole cutter below I include a photo of the template with the hole cutter I used to get the curve of the corners.

I am going to use a 1/2" guided spiral bit here is what it looks like.

SO I drill a hole near a corner on the area of the panel inside the template and center the bit in that hole.

Turn the router on and slowly follow the template around.

Be sure to wear a dust mask if you do this along with goggles. Alright I remove the template that I brad nailed to the front panel and do the other panel once both are done I sand the edges of the cutout and I check out how my work turned out.

Looks good to me!

I will add more soon!

Copyright 2006, Charon Designs