Mr.Tim's 15x27 Theater - Page 3

Ah, I thought it should be filled solid. If it doesn't need to be solid, I can cut up scraps of drywall and stick them in there. Thanks!

Tim

Todays progress wasn't remarkable.. I started working on the stage:


^^Joining 12" wide pieces of MDF for the step in front of the stage. That's the bottom of the tread.. the cleats are temporary for glue-up




^^Here I'm using pieces of 1/4" masonite to trace the front edge of the step. The curve will be cut out and the masonite will be laminated to the bottom of the 3/4" MDF tread, giving an overall thickness of 1" (and hiding the seam where the tread meets the first riser)




^^Bottom side of the masonite, after I traced the curve. I will be using the piece to the right of the line.




^^I placed the glued-up tread on top of the riser and traced the line. That will be where the back of the tread meets the second riser.



Wish I had more to show. Unfortunately, the curved tread is now 3 baffles for my Stentorians. After I cut the curve and test fit the tread, I found that I had miscalculated. Instead of a 1-1/4" overhang, I only had 1/4". I was... upset. Anyway, this is why I didn't cut the pieces for the Stens yet.. I already have a dozen or so pieces for them just from scraps


However, I did get my router table assembled, so the day was not a total waste:


It's a Rockler table/plate/fence, Triton 3-1/4HP router and cabinet by yours truly. I'm dado'd for a shelf, but I didn't cut it yet.. I figured I may have a piece of scrap at some point (ya think??).

Tim
Edited by Mr.Tim - 9/3/12 at 1:31pm

Good progress today. Routing. Painting. Carpentry.

Routed the rails and stiles for my wainscoting:


Back-primed and face-primed everything:




Got most of the furring in place for the wainscoting and columns:





I bought the "noname" HVLP sprayer from Gleem. I found out about it from Mississippi Mud Man in the DIY screen forum. Some people were shipped a 2900; mine is labeled 3900. Best friggin $50 bucks I ever spent. I ordered a finer needle direct from Earlex, so I guess I'm into it for $75. The thing works freakin awesome. I sprayed the General Finishes waterbase black underbody (ALSO freakin awesome) with absolutely no problems whatsoever. The gun is plastic, but the needle is brass. I was leery of the plastic gun, but honestly it is so light I think I prefer it over a metal gun. Highly recommend it.

I am so glad I spent a few bucks on equipment and good paint.

Tim

For $50+shipping it is definitely worth it. Compared to all the other expenses of a theater, this is a no-brainer. I highly recommend the GF waterbase underbody as well. It has a lot of solids in it but sprayed exceptionally well, even with the smaller 1.5mm needle. Granted I got shipped the 3900 turbine (bonus!), which is a bit beefier than the 2900.


Good to hear. A lot of guys in the DIY screen section have them.. nobody really has anything bad to say about it. I mean for $50.. if you do one job with it, it's basically paid for itself. After using the GF waterbase product, I will never use an oil base again.. the finish is phenomenal. I ordered a gallon from homesteadfinishingproducts. They were good to deal with. I called and got a real person who knew exactly what my order was. Struck me as a mom-and-pop type operation, but who knows. A lot of the woodworking forums reference them.

Tim

Gleem Paint

I was fortunate to get the 3900 turbine, not the 2900. I ordered it about a month ago, so who knows.. Hopefully they are shipping 3900 turbines now.

Tim

I present to you.. Tread 2.oh:


Not bad, for a second attempt. I went with a 1" overhang. I have to laminate the 1/4" masonite to the front lip, roundover and prime before final install.



While laying out my columns I found the first riser was off by about an inch. Not a problem to move, except I only had 1/2" to the strapping on the wall. Had to break out the recip saw and cut the furring back. Moving the riser was easy, as it is supported with 6 vibration isolators. I used 3/8" equipment legs threaded into the isolator, which made it real easy to level the platform (and move it when it's off by and inch!):


A little trick I used on the stage.. I didn't want to miter the MDF (just being lazy, really), so I used 1/4" masonite thusly:


Doesn't seem like I got much done.. but that tread was a several hour affair. I also got some more MDF from big orange. I cut the door jambs from it (had to make smaller pieces, I do not want to carry a full sheet of MDF down.. then back up.. a flight of stairs).

It is puzzling how some things take so long. After the last debacle, I took my time with this step. I rough cut the backside, installed, scribed a new mark on the top, then used the belt sander to get up to the mark.

For the front edge, I secured a 1" wide piece to the riser below and used a flush trim bit to route the tread to the curve. I still have the top of the stage to do.. and I'm not looking forward to it. Borrrrr-ingggg.

Report back after you get your sprayer. I'm curious to find out which turbine you get.

Tim

Got a delivery today via UPS "heavy freight". The driver was really nice, and he had a lift gate!




What ever could it be? Well, the temps are dropping now and the house is nice and cool, so it must be:









Yes, the CAC finally arrived. I will probably back-burner that until I'm further along in the theater. I did head over to the HVAC supplier and picked up a few miscellaneous things. One thing I did not pick up was Sil-fos. $143 for brazing rods! (I didn't buy them) I only need a few, so I guess I'll just pick a couple up on the 'Bay.



I did some more work on Tread 2.oh:



Those are the pieces that I will laminate to the bottom of the 3/4" MDF to make it 1" thick. They'll also hide any gap between the riser and the tread.




Clampin':




I also did a little more work on my columns. The bottom half of the columns will be 1" wider on each side (2" wider total) than the top half:





I used a layer of 1/2" GWB and a layer of 1/2" CDX plywood to make up the inch. I could have used furring, but on such small pieces this seemed like a better idea. All layers Green Glue'd, of course.

I also have to say that the CDX plywood from big orange is total crap. I have used a lot of plywood in my day, and I have never seen anything so horrendous. If there are grades of CDX plywood, this must be the lowest grade they make. I have never seen knots so big. It doesn't lay flat. After I screwed that little 24" piece to the wall I could hear it cracking for about 3 minutes afterward as the plys flattened out.

Tim

I'm debating on the design of the bottom of the columns. Here's the wainscoting layout against the foundation wall:


And here's what I working on for the opposite side:



The dilemma is whether or not to raise the rail at the bottom to the red line or not. I don't think that anybody will notice, although it would be nice to have the rail the same height all around.

But if you look at the opposite (foundation wall) side, you can see why I drop the rail down-- so it lines up with the base molding. If I raised it up, it would be at the height of the dashed line, which wouldn't look as good, imho.

Right now I'm leaning towards the lower rail.

Tim

Thanks, you understand correctly. I am sure a 3d view would work better, but I tried ortho modeling in autocad.. needless to say it is not easy (nor well designed).

I think the lower rail is the choice, since you will be looking at the foundation wall when you walk in. I think that making that wall look a good as possible would outweigh a minor rail deviation on the column, which you probably won't even notice.

Tim

Picked up the nosing for my risers:



Around here it's called "landing tread". 1" overall thickness, but 3/4" on the narrow end. Big orange sells it in red oak, but it was over $5/ft. I got this from the lumber yard, it's NC pine. Ordered 40 feet and it was about $100 for that.. but they gave me 48 feet for the same price. I also got 8 feet of NCP tread (ordered 6).

Red oak is fine and dandy.. but for something that is going to be painted.. and not abused every day, the NCP is a great alternative. BTW the oak landing tread was less than $4/ft at the lumber yard. Big Orange doesn't always have the best prices. Although typically cheaper on sheet goods (plywood etc), trim is usually cheaper at the lumber yard.

Tim

Awesome, Nick. Having used it already, I do not think you will be disappointed. I looked up the specs and the two turbines seem similar except the 2900 is 450W and the 3900 is 550W. Din sec rating is larger, but I'm not really sure what that means.

I did not get a spray pack.

Tim

That's great that the owner contributes to the trade. I didn't know much about the site, other than I saw it mentioned several times. As I already mentioned, he was pleasant to deal with. Would not hesitate to order again.

The black undercoat is real nice. Lots of solids, but sprays well. I haven't sanded yet, but it looks like sanding will be a breeze. I got the black vivitone to tint the poly. Just experimenting, really.

Worked on the stairs down to the lowest level of the theater. It took a lot of cyphering, because I have the wainscoting abutting on the left side, and a column will be abutting on the right side. I think I got it worked out, but we'll have to see if it works as planned. I started drawing it in autocad and ended up just mocking up scraps to see what looked best.

The flat work was pretty good, but there was a little hump in the concrete. I used some flat washers to shim the treads up By moving the washers around I could get them to sit flat. I'll be using the PL premium to glue them down.




I decided to construct the steps as a unit. I'll prime the entire thing and then set it in place tomorrow:




I also fixed an issue I had with my outlets. These were installed when the house was built. Then I added a second layer of drywall, and I will be adding another 1-1/2" of wainscoting. You can see where I started from, with the receptacles flush with the original first layer of drywall (set back 5/8" from the finish face):


Cut a scrap of masonite to 4-1/8" x 4-1/8":


Use the masonite as a template for my cutout tool:


Voila!:


The pieces we'll use to fix the problem: a 1-1/4" extension and a 1" raise mud ring:


Extension installed, the box is flush with the GWB now:


Mud ring installed, the height will work out perfect:




Glad to get that out of the way. It really was only a few minutes work, but it's one of those things I've been putting off for a long time. Tomorrow I want to get the HVLP sprayer out and prime a bunch of stuff. The stairs pictured above, the curved treads for the stage (which I finished shaping today), my ported subwoofer and the F-20 folded horn are all due for painting.

After that's done, I hope to start mocking up the columns. I spent an hour today looking for my lock miter bit to start the mock-ups.. but apparently it's MIA. If I have to buy another one I am gonna be.... upset.

Tim

Isn't that frustrating? I used to know exactly where my tools were. Where I left them, who borrowed them etc. Now I can see a tool and a week later I can't remember where the heck I saw it. People return tools that I totally forgot I loaned to them; it's like Christmas when they return them. Heck, I opened this plastic tool case and found a laminate trimmer that I forgot I even had. I think I need some of those memory enhancing vitamins.


I know, and that's what I dread more than actually spending the money; spending the money only to find that I didn't have to spend the money.

Not much to report today. Although I did get a lot done, not much on the theater. I got the risers/stringers for the stairs painted. Then I decided I am going to completely finish them (paint & poly) before I install them, which prevented me from actually installing them. I did make progress on my subwoofers (links in my sig). Next weekend should be a productive HT weekend.. not that this weekend wasn't, but there should be some photo-worthy progress next weekend.

Tim