I am in the early stages of designing a new turntable plinth. My intention is that it will be basically solid and will have the appearance of a solid piece of wood, probably oak or similar. However, getting hold of a suitable piece of wood some 400mm x 400mm x 50mm would not be easy and there may also be some long term stability problems with such a chunk of wood. Therefore I have decided to glue up 50mm square blocks and then veneer the whole top. Thus I will get the top and front giving a solid look and the end grain will help with the overall solid look. Hopefully, the block construction will not be too obvious on the sides of the plinth, especially as I hope to have a high gloss finish. I do have further questions about this construction but I would be grateful for any comments or advice so far.
Dave - Good afternoon.
I may be way off base here, but go to John Boos | Butcher Block, Cutting Board, Countertops and Stainless Steel Products. They are makers of fine quality butcher blocks, some of them up to 10" (240mm?) thick. Look at how their different boards are designed. You can also Google 'butcher block construction'.
I think this may help if you are going to glue up boards to make one solid block since butcher blocks take a lot of abuse. Im sure there are different techniques that give great results.
I hope this helps a little.
Brian
I may be way off base here, but go to John Boos | Butcher Block, Cutting Board, Countertops and Stainless Steel Products. They are makers of fine quality butcher blocks, some of them up to 10" (240mm?) thick. Look at how their different boards are designed. You can also Google 'butcher block construction'.
I think this may help if you are going to glue up boards to make one solid block since butcher blocks take a lot of abuse. Im sure there are different techniques that give great results.
I hope this helps a little.
Brian
Brian.
You almost read my mind. My original intention had been to use a piece of solid wood kitchen counter top as the basis for the plinth. As you are probably aware, these tend to be made up of bonded strips of wood. This would not be a problem for the top as I would veneer this, (already nicely flat as well), however, the lengths of the strips used meant that I could have a join showing on the front of the plinth. In addition, I want to profile the front corners to a 25mm radius and I was concerned that if the strips were not deep enough, the join between the front strips and the ones behind would show on the corners and spoil the effect.
However, your reply has made up my mind for me and I am going to use the counter top after all, which is good as I have a source of such worktops in the family. It seems that the staves are deep enough that I won't have an issue with the corners and I can veneer the front to cover any join and blend the veneer into the curves. As you say, such items are manufactured far better than anything I could achieve.
You almost read my mind. My original intention had been to use a piece of solid wood kitchen counter top as the basis for the plinth. As you are probably aware, these tend to be made up of bonded strips of wood. This would not be a problem for the top as I would veneer this, (already nicely flat as well), however, the lengths of the strips used meant that I could have a join showing on the front of the plinth. In addition, I want to profile the front corners to a 25mm radius and I was concerned that if the strips were not deep enough, the join between the front strips and the ones behind would show on the corners and spoil the effect.
However, your reply has made up my mind for me and I am going to use the counter top after all, which is good as I have a source of such worktops in the family. It seems that the staves are deep enough that I won't have an issue with the corners and I can veneer the front to cover any join and blend the veneer into the curves. As you say, such items are manufactured far better than anything I could achieve.
I have everything planned now for this build but the one thing that has bothered me since I started is the 50mm dia rounded corners at the front. I was going to make a jig so I could shape the plinth profile but I am concerned about routing against the grain on one corner. Is this likely to be a problem as far as chipping is concerned?
Routing cross grain creates some issues when milling softer species, not so much with the harder ones (provided you're using a sharp bit and correct speed for the cutting depth). Also, softer species require faster feed speeds, and much slower for harder varieties. You walk a fine line though routing harder species @ slow feed rates, you can burn your profile very easily with too high an RPM. A very sharp, even brand new bit and a variable speed router will go a long way to ensure you don't encounter any problems/mishaps.
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