Today in the Shop "Building a steam box"
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 9:37 pm
Got a later start then I hoped for and didn't finish it today. The good news is that I almost finished. I should be able to drill the holes for the dowel and install them and then add steam to see how bad it leaks. If it too bad then I might have to tape the joints with duct tape or something.....
So I took a few pictures to share. I decided to use my tried and true setup, I have really enjoyed using my two centipede tables, this one for smaller project and the large one for full sheets of plywood projects.
I found it is much nicer to have a plywood base to work on for almost all the projects. I have this left over sheet of plywood from my last storage rack build that is a really good size for it.
When I want to cut on it I add this sheet of pink foam that is also sized to fit pretty well. I use the plywood good side down so the rubber feet hold good and then the ruff side of the plywood is up against the foam so it holds well.
I went with the cheapest pine I could find. As you can see the length of 4 feet can vary a lot. The other ends are lined up and this is what the results are:
Now there are many ways to get them all the same length but since I have a festool saw and rail I love doing it that way. I start at the "even" end and cut the boards all together and get them both even and square. I took off just a little bit to preserve the most length I could.
Then I went to the other ragged end and again make a cut to even them and to get them square.
BTW in case you missed it I had clamped the boards together so they stay together like a single board. A single clamp in the middle worked for that.
Then it was time to figure out where the screws were going to go and mark the locations. Since I was on to assemble I pulled the foam off to preserve it for a bit longer. I also didn't want to drill into my plywood so I put some scraps under the work pieces.
After pre-drilling I started to assemble the box connecting two boards together twice. This picture shows that:
Then I took the two sub assemblies and made the box:
At this point we going to take a short intermission while a get a snack. I'll be back and we can see how it goes together.
Ed
So I took a few pictures to share. I decided to use my tried and true setup, I have really enjoyed using my two centipede tables, this one for smaller project and the large one for full sheets of plywood projects.
I found it is much nicer to have a plywood base to work on for almost all the projects. I have this left over sheet of plywood from my last storage rack build that is a really good size for it.
When I want to cut on it I add this sheet of pink foam that is also sized to fit pretty well. I use the plywood good side down so the rubber feet hold good and then the ruff side of the plywood is up against the foam so it holds well.
I went with the cheapest pine I could find. As you can see the length of 4 feet can vary a lot. The other ends are lined up and this is what the results are:
Now there are many ways to get them all the same length but since I have a festool saw and rail I love doing it that way. I start at the "even" end and cut the boards all together and get them both even and square. I took off just a little bit to preserve the most length I could.
Then I went to the other ragged end and again make a cut to even them and to get them square.
BTW in case you missed it I had clamped the boards together so they stay together like a single board. A single clamp in the middle worked for that.
Then it was time to figure out where the screws were going to go and mark the locations. Since I was on to assemble I pulled the foam off to preserve it for a bit longer. I also didn't want to drill into my plywood so I put some scraps under the work pieces.
After pre-drilling I started to assemble the box connecting two boards together twice. This picture shows that:
Then I took the two sub assemblies and made the box:
At this point we going to take a short intermission while a get a snack. I'll be back and we can see how it goes together.
Ed