A double chair. Again, maybe could be used for a prop, or just lounging about:
Something a bit more practical for the Scenic studio. Probably a fair bit smaller than in this picture:
...If we get to take the projects back with us I think this is something me and my dad would like...:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hj_VBFoZfc
Chronicling Progress on Project Modeling:
Since the Object for the most part is made of entirely 90 degree angles and relies on uniform pieces (since it is entirely 1x4 and 2x4), modeling posed no major issue. To defend myself a bit, I don't believe I've chosen an easy project, the amount of separate pieces of wood that need to be screwed together means this will be challenging in the construction phase, but Modelling was fairly simple.
What was an interesting dilemma was deciding how to deal with the boards that cover the walls on the side of the cooler as well as the top of the lid and the floor to the rack that will be added underneath. Since they are in rows, and the length of each part being covered does not divide evenly into 3 1/2" segments, only a portion of 1 of the 1x4 boards will be used. I could have cut off the overflow and simply left it at the end of the row, but that would mean the walls would be asymmetrical. What I found as a solution was to cut the runoff in half, and attach each half to either side, as shown below:
This is not entirely necessary as the chest will function the same regardless, but aesthetically it is much more proper, and as this is a item for parties and the like aesthetic I feel this is a much better solution.
Screenshot of Final model:
Front View:
Side View Active Cut:
Side View Inactive Cut:
Top View:
Chronicling Progress on Project Construction:
12/6: Was unable to purchase wood on Thursday and Friday because of work for another class and thus had to wait until Monday to purchase and bring it in. This did not interfere with work schedule however. What did end up interfering was attending a study session for another class's final (the time for this study session was not made clear until Monday, after I had originally set the schedule) and thus could not work on the project on Wednesday as I originally intended. Schedule was shifted ahead 1 day, where I will work on Thursday and Friday, and finish on Sunday if not already finished (Cannot attend on Saturday as I have a final on that day). Wood has been purchased, as have hinges, handle, lid support and wood finish. I've been informed that I may use the screws and staples already in the scenic studio.
12/7: Started work on the project. Came to the scenic studio around 1:30, bringing the cooler and the rest of the supplies. I started by removing the hinges and side handles from the cooler, as they would get in the way of the final product. I then started working on the wood. Because the wood I had bought was rough (as they didn't have smooth available), and I needed the wood in standard thicknesses, I needed to plane each board down. Tim helped me set up the planer and for about an hour and a half or so was spent planing each board down to size (the 1x4's to 3/4" and the 2x4's to 1 1/2") and making sure they were smooth. After this was finished I made a border of 1x4 boards around the thickest part of the cooler, which will work as a guide to reference the rest of the project (since it is precisely fit to the cooler, as long as all my measurements are referenced from it I will not accidentally make the project too tight for the cooler to fit). After this was done I began to cut the 2x4 for the racks the cooler and bottom shelf will sit upon, the border around the lid, and the legs. These make up most of the structure for the chest (the 1x4 will make up the walls and roofing for the project). I will begin to assemble the project in full tomorrow.
Edit: adding pictures:
The resulting sawdust from planing the boards.
Depth of the sawdust. This bin was completely empty when I started.
The border for the cooler + some of the wood that had been cut to size.
12/8: On this day I finished cutting the last two pieces of the 2x4 and started working assembling the pieces together. I also cut some 1x4 down to the same dimensions as the border to act as the border for the lid. This would then be bordered by a box of 2x4, which would give us the correct thickness for the hinges to attach properly, All of these pieces were trimmed on the table saw to 2 1/2 inches as the original 3 1/2 inches looked far too tall and would leave a lot of open space between the lid and the boards above. I then tested the fit around the lid, and found that because thickest part of the igloo was a bit wider than the lid, the lid was too loose and would need to be centered to fit on the body properly. So I planed down some of the left over wood into 1/4 inch shims which centered the lid properly, as seen here:
The 2x4 in the picture, along with the rest of the 2x4, was attached together using pocket holes. This served not only to give a stronger grip to the pieces attached at the thin side, such as the platform of wood that the igloo would sit upon, but helped to hide the screw holes to the pieces attached normally, which would otherwise have screws visible, such as the legs. After this was done, the legs were the attached to the border, attaching them upside down using the table to keep them level with each other, as seen here:
Following this the igloo was placed upside down within the border and this was used as a guide for the igloos platform. This was tested to be level before attaching with more pocket holes. when it was done, it was flipped over to confirm it held together:
Without the cooler:
This was as far as I got, the lid was added to get a sense of the final product:
The rest was then packed up and I called it a day. Planning to finish the rest on Sunday. All that is left is adding the bottom shelf, the walls, an opening for the drain, and the adding the wood finish (this may require me coming back another day for another coat, but that would be all that I would have to do).
12/10: Got extremely close to finishing, but was unable to complete it. First thing I started with was to add the final platform for the bottom shelf to rest on. This ended up being tricky, as the platform was just slightly too long to fit in between the legs. I ended up trimming the platform down on the table saw about a quarter of an inch to get it to fit, but one it was in place, it was a fairly simple task to screw it in. As can be seen here, I screwed in the board about 4 inches off the ground:
After this was done I started to add the boards to the walls and the bottom shelf. Unfortunately, my original plan was to add 2 equally sized shims that would equal the length leftover after filling up each wall with as many 1x4's as possible on either side of each boarded surface so that the boards would be symmetrical, but the width of each gap ended up being only about an inch or less, which I was not sure I could precisely cut a piece half that size, so I ended up allowing the walls to be slightly asymmetrical. A problem that arose was for the upper walls, on the long side, the top ended up being about a fourth of an inch wider than the bottom, as can be seen here:
This did not interfere with the cooler, the shelves or anything else, but it did pose a problem that the walls would not seat properly and would have a slight gap if the shim was cut straight. So I produced a rig in which I set the table saw to the length of the long end, and fed in a piece which had a shim at one end that was a fourth of an inch wide. This slightly angled the piece so that the top would start at the wider width, but would end at the shallower width:
this was tested, and worked perfectly:
After this I added the rest of the walls and the bottom shelf, and added a couple of 1x4s cut down to 1 5/8" to each wall to hide the screws:
these boards were attached with staples, and unfortunately on one I messed up, hitting either one of the screws or a piece of hard wood. I had to clip it and tap it down a bit:
Finally came time to add connect the lid to the the lid casing. Through some testing I figured out I could add another 1x4 on top of the lid and still have room to board up the top. So I cut 2 2x4s to length and set them inside with pocket holes:
and screwed the lid directly into these boards. This was necessary as the longest screws I could find were 3 inches, which I could have screwed directly into the side, but because of how thick the border was, would only penetrate maybe a quarter of an inch into the lid. This setup not only allowed me to get a good grip into the plastic, but it also kept from having visible screws on the sides. After this I boarded up the top:
and called it a day. Only thing remaining is the handle, hinges, lid support, and bottle opener. Will not be adding wood finish as there is not a good place to do this. Will perform that at home. Will finish up the rest on Tuesday.
12/12: Finished the project. All that was left to do was minor touchups and adding the hardware. Added the handle first:
then the bottle opener:
following that, the hinges:
But after that I ran into one final problem. The brass lid support I had originally planned to use for the project ended up being too short:
I was stumped for what to do, so I asked Tim, who suggested using chains as lid support, which is the solution I ended up going with:
and with it open:
In the original plans, I had originally intended to add a hole in the side for draining the water, but this proved to be impractical, as having a hole big enough to reach and unplug the drain would be too big and gaudy on the side of the project. I have decided to scrap that idea, and instead draining would simply be removing the body from the casing and draining manually. With that, however, the project was finally finished:
Final Evaluation: I feel this project ended up exactly how I wanted it to. Everything ended up working as intended, and while there were one or two aspects I decided to change from the original plans, nothing came up that made me completely rethink the project from the ground up. I spent approximately 15 hours on this project (3 and a half hours on 12/7, 4 hours on 12/8, 6 hours on 12/10, and 1 and a half hours on 12/12), but this time was purely spent progressing the project, there wasn't any notable length of time spent backtracking and fixing a previous accident. All the work was meaningful in some way. What I felt was the only real shortcoming in my process, however, was the fact that I used too many on the fly solutions. Many times I either had to come up with a quick solution for a problem I had not foreseen (this would include the shims for the lid that I didn't realize would not be snuggly fit into the lid casing, or when I realized the lid support was not long enough and used the chains instead), or on occasion problems that I knew I needed to tackle but decided to simply wait until the issue was relevant (for instance attaching the lid to the lid casing. I knew the walls were probably too thick for a nail to reach through, but I decided I'd cross that bridge when I got to it. If the solution I figured out didn't work I would have had no plan going forward). What I could have benefitted from was proper detailing of each step from beginning to end, so that I could think of each solution longer instead of coming up with something on the spot. Ultimately, however, I do not think this took away from the project. The solutions that were created to solve each problem were logical and did not detract from the case in any way. It maintains the 3 major aspects I was focusing on from the start: It is aesthetically pleasing, is structurally sound, and properly functions in the task it was built for (to be a souped up cooler, for lack of a better term). Without being top heavy or unstable, it is a strong and sturdy, and I expect it to last for a long while. The cedar boards lend a great color and the boarded fence design gives it a somewhat rustic feel. And it allows easy access to the drinks in the cooler without having to reach down, while providing a secondary shelf underneath for storage. I am very much proud with how the final project turned out. I don't want to sound too narcissistic, but ultimately I feel if I were to give myself a grade it would be about 190 of the 200 points, only -10 for the on the fly workarounds, but ultimately I feel all mistakes were corrected, all the goals of the project were met, it could be used perfectly as an onstage prop, up close it looks just as good, and there's no denying that extra effort was put into completion.
