Deluxe Sewing Center

This sewing cabinet uses a pneumatic assisted lift to effortlessly raise the sewing machine to working height when you want to use it and lower it gently into the cabinet when you don't.  So we start this day by unpacking the lift and checking it over carefully to be sure it works properly.

Once the lift is mounted in the cabinet, we check it again for proper operation and alignment.  Once I'm satisfied it's correctly installed we move on to the next step.

That would be to make and install the knee hole apron.  Here we're test fitting the joinery of the supporting members behind the apron.

After cutting the apron blank to size, laying out the arch, band sawing to to shape and sanding it, we install it on the support parts.  We glue the parts together into a sub-assembly, but will attach the sub-assembly to the case with just screws for the time being.

Next we turn our attention to making the drawer fronts.  Because some of the drawers are quite deep, the fronts must be glued-up from narrower stock.  This was done previously so they would be ready to use now.  So we mill them to rough size, then carefully trim then to finished size, making sure they are square.

I photo copy a portion of the plan which gives a full size pattern for the drawer pull cut out, then glue the pertinent part of the photo copy to some 1/8" Baltic Birch plywood.  We keep small scraps of the stuff on hand just for this purpose.  We use a spray on contact cement to mount the paper pattern on the wood.

Then we trim the piece of scrap plywood down and remove the excess pattern paper, then cut the template to just outside the lines on the band saw with a very fine tooth blade.  We will bring it to final shape with sand paper glued to a tongue depressor -- or an emery board, if any are on hand.

Next we have to cut a small block of wood and glue it to the back side of the template to act as a stop that will align the edge of the template with the top edge of the drawer.

While the glue dries in the template, I mill out the drawer guides and sand them smooth -- including rounding over the front corners and the sliding edges to prevent anything from snagging as the drawer slides in and out.  We can mount roller bearing drawer slides in this cabinet if a customer prefers, but the usual Blum slides only allow 3/4 extension, which means you will not be able to get to whatever you have stored in the back of the drawers, and full extension slides will add over $120.00 to the cost of the cabinet.  Besides, these wooden slides retain the old-world charm of this design.

Next we have to make a quickie jig to hold the drawer glides in position while we install them.  To do that I'll need to cut a series of precisely sized notches in a pair of rails.  This vicious looking thing is a stacked dado head, mounted in the table saw.  It's great for cutting precisely sized grooves and dados -- or in this case notches -- but it takes a little tweaking, by adding thin steel shims and making test cuts in scrap wood, to get it just right before we start cutting the good stuff.

Placement of the drawer guide rails is critical if the drawers are to fit properly and run smoothly.  The two jig rails have been securely taped together so the notches will be cut in the exact same place on both.  The notch locations have been laid out carefully using an Incra Rule and a lay-out knife.  I run the end of a very sharp pencil lead in the knife cut to make it easier to see, but the knife mark is much more precise than a pencil alone can be.  Next I have to lean over the miter fence and align each lay-out line with the edge of the dado head blade.

After all the cuts are made the tape is removed and the rails separated.  These are ready to be put to work, but first, let's get back to the drawer fronts.

Using the template we made earlier, I lay-out the semi-circular cut outs that will serve as drawer pulls.  Then I carefully cut them out on the band saw and sand the opening to remove any saw marks.  We will add a relief on the inside edge of these cut-outs to make them more comfortable on Paula's fingers, but that is done with the router table and the router table is buried under stuff being used to make the drawer guides, so we'll get those out of the way first.

After very carefully aligning the jig holding the drawer guides, and setting the front end of the rails to precisely 1/4 inch in from the front edge of the side, I drill countersunk pilot holes for the small screws that will hold the rails in place and install the screws.

The really observant among you will notice that there is a munton in the center of this panel that wasn't there before.  That's true, sort of.  It's not actually a munton, but a 1/4" thick strip added only to the inside to help support the middle of the drawer guides.  It's glued only at the top and bottom to the case rails, not to the filler panel and the screws do not pass through into the panel.  It must be allowed to float.

Once it's all done, it looks like this.  I did two, one for each side of the narrow pedestal.  The wide pedestal has only one drawer, so that will be easier.

A note on materials used.  When we were making the casework rails, stiles, and filler panels we logged full boards as being consumed as we pulled them off the stack, but in most cases we did not use the entire board.  The cut-offs that were too small to be used in those steps were set aside, and it is those pieces that we've been drawing upon to make these small parts.  While we are cutting up lumber to make these parts, the lumber being used has already been billed, so we don't bill it again.

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