Cyclone Cinema Build - Page 11

Here is a picture showing that 130 BF of red oak...doesnt look like much.



If all goes as planned I hope to transform it into something that resembles 6 columns.

I haven't priced lumber from the woodsmith store, but I am guessing it is really expensive. If I were turning pens on a lathe and needed some exotic wood, I would probably buy that from them - but not regular lumber.

I bought my lumber from Liberty Hardwoods in Ankeny.

I bought 4/4 red oak, had it planed down to 3/4" thick and had one edge straight line ripped. I dont have much more than a table saw and a router in my garage, so I need to pay to have that done.

Even with that additional work completed, it was only $2.25 a board foot...pretty hard to beat if you ask me. I ordered this Tuesday afternoon (about 3:30) and picked it up Wednesday at noon. I think they normally work with businesses (cabinet makers, etc) but they will also sell to individuals.

An update.

Started cutting up the wood for my columns this weekend. Got the exciting stuff done, all I have left is the boring stuff.

Here is a pile of sides and a pile of rails.


Here is a picture showing how I cut all my stiles. Just made a quick jig to make sure all pieces were the same width


Here is the the rest of the wood cut


Here is the jig i used to cut my curved top stiles


Cut with a flush trim bit on my router


Here you can see I have all my top curved stiles cut in the background. In the foreground you can see how I cut the profile in my rails


Profile cut on my top stiles


Good face DOWN!!! Here are the two pieces I messed up, it seems like I can never do them all perfect.


Fronts glued up. I didnt take any pictures of how I cut the plywood curve, but I have a corresponding blue template and used the router to cut it similiar to the way i cut the stiles

Clamps off (I think they turned out pretty good)


Attaching the sides


After the sides were attached I worked out a way to mount the sconces. I wanted to make sure they were supported appropriately, so I cut a piece of wood to fit behind my top panel. This picture shows the sconce center bolt plate attached to the wood block


Attached


This shows the sconce bolt sticking through along with a hole for the power for the sconce


And here is where I am at right now with the 6 columns built


I have the short column sanded and will work on sanding the rest tomorrow. I would have liked to get them hung tomorrow, but I need to press the panels to the front as far as possible, then put some silicon caulk in the gap to keep the panels from vibrating from the bass. I will take some pictures, as its hard to explain. After the silicone is dried up, they will be ready for the wall.

Worked a little more today

Here is the wood dye mixed up. I bought an ebony stain and a dark english oak stain.

The picture doesnt show much, but here are the two dyes mixed


Here is a piece of my flooring with all the different stain samples


Here is a crappy picture of what they looked like at the end of the day

Thanks guys.

Cuzed - I liked using the dye. It made me nervous at first, but turned out to be similar to a regular stain. The water in the stain didnt really raise the grain much, but if I were making a desk or something that you would constantly be running your hands across, I would probably pre-raise the grain and sand it down before the dye application.

I was pretty sure I wanted to stay pretty dark colored, so I mixed the stain with the minimum amount of water (knowing I could add more later if it was too dark). On the test pieces I split the board into two areas - one for a single coat and the other area for a double coat. Luckily they were so close that you couldnt tell a difference. That made the actual application easier.

I think you could add extra water to the dye and do multiple coats if you wanted to work up to a darkness that you were looking for...I didnt have to do that, as I wasnt trying to match any particular color.

My biggest mistake was getting the inside corners dyed. On a few panels, I got some extra dye under the ogee and couldnt wipe it all up. It slowly seeped out into the viewable area of the plywood panel, so I have a few dark spots in a few corners. Its not really noticable, but I know its there.

Now on to the fun part of applying poly. I dont have anywhere clean enough (dust free) to do it right now. I will likely cut my wood trim for the stage and riser, install that, then clean up the theater room really well and poly in there.

The brown dye (mixed dark) stained all the columns and will have enough left over to do the trim on trim for the riser and the stage. I might need to buy a little more to complete the crown and the baseboard. I would say the price difference between the two options is negligible.

If I have any particular questions, just let me know.

Quick question for someone. How much of an overhang should I leave on my stage and riser steps? I want to carpet the vertical edges but still leave a defined overhange after the carpet is installed.

I was thinking of using 1" of overhang, but was wondering if I should kick that up to 1.5".

Any ideas?

That's not a bad idea! Tonight I cut the wood and routed a couple chamfers to soften the top edges. I made the pieces 3" so I have some room to play with the overhang.

I did, however install a step light into the side of the riser already, so I don't need a rope light...good idea to have the option though.

I also stopped by menards and bought the crown molding and base trim for around the columns. They didnt take the dye as well as the oak I built the columns out of. I will need to put on another coat to get it to match better.

I also stopped by the Woodsmith store after work to grab more dye...and they were out...AND they werent planning on ordering more. They said they would special order it for me but will call tomorrow to make sure they can get it.

Couple pictures from tonight

Here are the chamfers I talked about earlier


I hauled the columns downstairs I couldnt help but lean a few against the wall


And finally, just a quick picture showing what my wife has been up to

Thanks!

I bought some water based poly last night, but was worried it would wash out, or bleed, so I first tried it on a test piece. It didnt bleed at all, so I finished putting a coat on my chamfered trim and two of the columns.

Fast forward to this evening after work (24 hours later), there are still some tacky areas on the wood. It was supposedly the 'fast drying' polyurethane, but it doesnt appear to be working so well. I will give it another day and see if they get any better.

Its my own fault for not letting the sample piece dry before digging in, but applying three coats of poly is going to take quite awhile, so I wanted to get going.

I have read that to avoid this issue, you can spray a shellac on the dyed wood and it will dry better and prevent this drying issue. If they are still tacky tomorrow, I will try out the shellac (on a test piece of course).

I would turn on a fan down there, but the last thing I want is a bunch of dust introduced into the air and for it to get caught on the poly.

Oh well, if it were easy, everyone would do it.

I just checked the coat of poly. It is better, but still tacky in a few spots. This means I will need to spray the rest of the columns with a coat of shellac before I start applying the poly. They do seem, however, like they will eventually dry out so its not a total disaster....I knew it couldn't all work that easily.

Also, I ordered another package of dye directly from JW Lockwood, hopefully that shows up tomorrow so I can finish up my baseboard, crown and door.

Not much picture worthy progress this weekend.

-I painted the screen wall support.
-I painted the radon system pipe.
-I hung speaker cloth to cover the insulation/bass traps.
-I spent most of my time putting the polyurethane on the columns.

Here is a picture of the screen wall. In it, you can see some of the columns leaning on the wall. They all have one coat of poly except for the one closest to the stage. I finished that one after the picture - its amazing how much it changes the color.


One thing I should note. I used some Zinnser shellac that comes in an aerosol can. I sprayed each of the columns before I put my first coat of poly on. It is fast drying and sealed up the dye very well. It allowed the first coat of poly to dry much quicker than it did on the columns without the shellac.

I need to apply at least one more coat of poly to the columns. After that is finished I will decide if they need another.

My second packet of dye came in the mail on Friday, so I now have enough to finish up the theater door and baseboard. After that is completed, I can install everything.

Thanks guys!

Tonight I bought trim for around the theater door. I mixed up my new packet of wood dye and put a coat of dye on the remaining trim and the theater door.

Here is an absolutely terrible photo of the dyed door....pictures are usually good, but this one might be the exception.


Other fun news. I lost the refrigerant charge in my condensing unit last summer and got it recharged. It lasted the rest of the summer, but when I started up my air conditioning yesterday it didnt cool. So now part of my theater budget is going to go to a new condensing unit, line set and A-coil. Luckily the air handler portion was replaced a few years ago, so it wont be a total replacement. Oh well.

Quick question on hanging my theater door. On all my other interior doors I used 6 metal clips to hang the door. The theater door is too heavy for me to feel comfortable using those clips, so I plan on using shims and long screws through the door jamb.

My question is regarding where everyone runs their screws? Here is a list of options I have come up with.

-Do you remove the hinges and put your screws behind the hinges (hides one side).
-Do you remove the jamb stop screw, then reinstall the stop?
-Do you counterbore the jamb, screw then plug and restain the plug?
-Screw the jamb anywhere and just use wood filler and try to stain?
-Screw the jamb on the hinge side of the door, so when the door is closed no screws are showing?

Am I overlooking an easy answer? Or just making too big of a deal about this.

Thanks for the ideas/comments guys. I am not using hat channel on the walls, so I can probably go behind the hinges and still hit the jack stud. However, this only works on the side with hinges...I still need to secure the latch side.