Stereo Cabinet
Everyone who has a stereo system knows that a stereo cabinet or similar item is necessary to keep all the components in an orderly fashion. Storage space for the records, CD's, 8-tracks, cassettes, and what-not is also a must. When first starting out back in 1972, only had a stereo receiver and head phones. Later that year borrowed enough money to buy one speaker from my future wife so two cabinet speakers could be purchased. On November 19, 1972 we were married so her joint venture did pay off for her.
Later in the year we purchased a turntable and were really happy to play records. Both of us had a fair number of 45's and LP's, so our collection was fairly large before we started purchasing records together. Later on we purchased other stereo items and had no place to put them in an orderly fashion. The units sold in the stores was build cheaply and would not stand up to the wear and tear our family would place on the unit, or the good ones were outside our budget. So the idea of building a stereo cabinet was born. Carter Lumber Company had a store in Terre Haute, IN that was going out of business and a lot of their stuff was on clearance sale. We found a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of 3/4" 5 ply oak plywood at a good price and purchased it for the project. So except for the back and top shelf, this project was constructed from new materials directly purchased from a lumber company. Originally only four shelves were built into the cabinet but a fifth was added near the top later to support a cassette deck.
Materials
2 - 3/4"x16"x32" 5 ply oak plywood for top and bottom.
2 - 3/4"x16"x60" 5 ply oak plywood for sides.
4 - 3/4"x15"x31" 5 ply oak plywood for shelves.
1 - 1/2"x15"x30-3/8" 4 ply plywood for shelf.
4 - 3/4"x3/4"x15-5/8" corner rounds for corner support.
1 - 3/8"x30-1/2"x58-1/2" 3 ply plywood for back.
All four sides were cut from the plywood sheet to size with both ends mitered to 45 degree joints. The sides were slotted with 3/4" grooves at 13-7/8", 21-7/8", 30", and 38-1/4" positions measured from the outside bottom edge of the side to the bottom of the groove. The top, sides, and bottom were glued together and held in place with pipe clamps. The four 3/4"x3/4"x15-5/8" corner rounds were cut and glued into each corner to help support the stereo cabinet.
The back piece was cut and glued inside the top, bottom and sides. Then the four shelves were cut to size and glued into the slots with Elmer's Wood Glue butting the back edge of the shelves to the back piece.
Later a top shelf was added. Since the cabinet had already been constructed, it would be very difficult to slot the sides to accommodate another piece of plywood shelving. So a support rail system was devised. Across the back a 3/8"x7/8"x30-1/2" rail was glued and nailed with brads to the back. Then two 3/8"x7/8"x14-1/2" rails were glued and nailed with brads to the sides. The bottom of the three rails were 50-7/8" from the outside bottom of the sides.
The cabinet was sanded and finished with min wax golden oak stain and coated with five coats of polyurethane.
This is the first project that was finished with care. The oak plywood was a premium grade and it was going to be seen in the living room so it was decided to finish this project with pride and care.
