Final Project Completed

Well this project took way longer than I expected, I planned on it taking somewhere around 15 hours because Tim had suggested to expect to spend 12 hours working on it and I planned to spend a couple more hours learning to weld. All in all I spent roughly 25 hours working on this project.

Day 1:
I started working on my project by spending a couple hours learning and practicing welding. After I had some comfortablity with the process I stopped practicing so that I could cut, clean, and grind the edges of my steel. I had six 4'0" lengths of 3/4" 16 gauge square steel tubing, nine 2'0" lengths of the same material, four 1'6" lengths of the same material, two 6 1/2" lengths of the same material, and two 2'0" lengths of 1/4" framing iron. I cut all the pieces then wiped them down with a shop towel to get all the grease off and then I had to grind down the edges so that I had a smooth surface to weld with. The learning and prep work took all of day one.

Day 2:
I came in and immediately framed out the sides of my table with two 1'6" pieces, two 2'0" tubing pieces, and one 2'0" iron per side of the table. I connected all of that then used the angle grinder to smooth out the welds. I put two of the 4'0" lengths between these completed sides to create the top of the table frame and welded that in place. Piece by piece I repeated the process and put it all together getting a little creative at times. The frame was almost complete by the end of day two, all it was missing was the two bottom 4'0" pieces and all 14 tabs that the wood would sit on.

Day 3:
I came in put the last pieces of steel tubing in and then started clamping tabs all over the frame. I was foolish to say that this was all I had left to do because it was long and tedious but after I finished with the tabs I went through and used the angle grinder on every weld that I had done to give a smoother surface. I was finally done with the frame but there was no time to celebrate because I needed to do all of my woodwork. I cut down eight 1x6 lengths of common pine to 4'0" and two more 1x6 lengths to 4'0" but ripped down to 2". These were for the top and bottom tiers of the table. I also cut down some pieces for the two drawers; four 1x6 lengths to 1'11" and four 1x6 lengths to 1'9 1/2". I then connected four of the 4'0" 1x6 and one of the pieces that had been ripped to 2" together with pocket screws, for each of the two tiers. That marked the end of day three.

Day 4:
I had very little time to spend in the shop on this day and so I started by framing out the two drawers. I then attached the sides of the drawers together with a pin nailer. I then cut two pieces of 1/4" plywood into 23" x 23" squares and attached those using 1/2" long staples. Pro tip for using these guns, load them properly and make sure you have actually put them into the wood and didn't just create holes with the air pressure. After going through and creating staple holes twice I had to call it a day but the structure of the drawers were done.

Day 5:
The final day had begun and so I started it by measuring out where to make a hole to act as a handle on the front and back of each drawer. I used the drill press to bore these holes and then spent the next while sanding down the inside of those holes. After that I routed and sanded the edges of the drawers so that they were flush. I then took the tiers I had made and set in the table and sanded the top face of both of them so I had a nice, smooth, and even surface. I sanded down the edges as well and then placed everything back together. The finishing touches were adding little plastic caps to plug the openings of the steel tubing on the top and bottom of the table frame.

This project has given me great respect for not only the amount of time spent on jobs like this one but also the amount of precision required to complete them. I have also learned the importance of the measure twice and cut once philosophy because I may have needed to get a little creative to fix a mistake caused by lack of attention. I was very ambitious with this project but now that I have finished I am proud of what I accomplished and now I have a coffee table.

Well this project took way longer than I expected, I planned on it taking somewhere around 15 hours because Tim had suggested to expect to spend 12 hours working on it and I planned to spend a couple more hours learning to weld. All in all I spent roughly 25 hours working on this project.

Day 1:
I started working on my project by spending a couple hours learning and practicing welding. After I had some comfortablity with the process I stopped practicing so that I could cut, clean, and grind the edges of my steel. I had six 4'0" lengths of 3/4" 16 gauge square steel tubing, nine 2'0" lengths of the same material, four 1'6" lengths of the same material, two 6 1/2" lengths of the same material, and two 2'0" lengths of 1/4" framing iron. I cut all the pieces then wiped them down with a shop towel to get all the grease off and then I had to grind down the edges so that I had a smooth surface to weld with. The learning and prep work took all of day one.

Day 2:
I came in and immediately framed out the sides of my table with two 1'6" pieces, two 2'0" tubing pieces, and one 2'0" iron per side of the table. I connected all of that then used the angle grinder to smooth out the welds. I put two of the 4'0" lengths between these completed sides to create the top of the table frame and welded that in place. Piece by piece I repeated the process and put it all together getting a little creative at times. The frame was almost complete by the end of day two, all it was missing was the two bottom 4'0" pieces and all 14 tabs that the wood would sit on.

Day 3:
I came in put the last pieces of steel tubing in and then started clamping tabs all over the frame. I was foolish to say that this was all I had left to do because it was long and tedious but after I finished with the tabs I went through and used the angle grinder on every weld that I had done to give a smoother surface. I was finally done with the frame but there was no time to celebrate because I needed to do all of my woodwork. I cut down eight 1x6 lengths of common pine to 4'0" and two more 1x6 lengths to 4'0" but ripped down to 2". These were for the top and bottom tiers of the table. I also cut down some pieces for the two drawers; four 1x6 lengths to 1'11" and four 1x6 lengths to 1'9 1/2". I then connected four of the 4'0" 1x6 and one of the pieces that had been ripped to 2" together with pocket screws, for each of the two tiers. That marked the end of day three.

Day 4:
I had very little time to spend in the shop on this day and so I started by framing out the two drawers. I then attached the sides of the drawers together with a pin nailer. I then cut two pieces of 1/4" plywood into 23" x 23" squares and attached those using 1/2" long staples. Pro tip for using these guns, load them properly and make sure you have actually put them into the wood and didn't just create holes with the air pressure. After going through and creating staple holes twice I had to call it a day but the structure of the drawers were done.

Day 5:
The final day had begun and so I started it by measuring out where to make a hole to act as a handle on the front and back of each drawer. I used the drill press to bore these holes and then spent the next while sanding down the inside of those holes. After that I routed and sanded the edges of the drawers so that they were flush. I then took the tiers I had made and set in the table and sanded the top face of both of them so I had a nice, smooth, and even surface. I sanded down the edges as well and then placed everything back together. The finishing touches were adding little plastic caps to plug the openings of the steel tubing on the top and bottom of the table frame.

This project has given me great respect for not only the amount of time spent on jobs like this one but also the amount of precision required to complete them. I have also learned the importance of the measure twice and cut once philosophy because I may have needed to get a little creative to fix a mistake caused by lack of attention. I was very ambitious with this project but now that I have finished I am proud of what I accomplished and now I have a coffee table.

Well this project took way longer than I expected, I planned on it taking somewhere around 15 hours because Tim had suggested to expect to spend 12 hours working on it and I planned to spend a couple more hours learning to weld. All in all I spent roughly 25 hours working on this project.

Day 1:
I started working on my project by spending a couple hours learning and practicing welding. After I had some comfortablity with the process I stopped practicing so that I could cut, clean, and grind the edges of my steel. I had six 4'0" lengths of 3/4" 16 gauge square steel tubing, nine 2'0" lengths of the same material, four 1'6" lengths of the same material, two 6 1/2" lengths of the same material, and two 2'0" lengths of 1/4" framing iron. I cut all the pieces then wiped them down with a shop towel to get all the grease off and then I had to grind down the edges so that I had a smooth surface to weld with. The learning and prep work took all of day one.

Day 2:
I came in and immediately framed out the sides of my table with two 1'6" pieces, two 2'0" tubing pieces, and one 2'0" iron per side of the table. I connected all of that then used the angle grinder to smooth out the welds. I put two of the 4'0" lengths between these completed sides to create the top of the table frame and welded that in place. Piece by piece I repeated the process and put it all together getting a little creative at times. The frame was almost complete by the end of day two, all it was missing was the two bottom 4'0" pieces and all 14 tabs that the wood would sit on.

Day 3:
I came in put the last pieces of steel tubing in and then started clamping tabs all over the frame. I was foolish to say that this was all I had left to do because it was long and tedious but after I finished with the tabs I went through and used the angle grinder on every weld that I had done to give a smoother surface. I was finally done with the frame but there was no time to celebrate because I needed to do all of my woodwork. I cut down eight 1x6 lengths of common pine to 4'0" and two more 1x6 lengths to 4'0" but ripped down to 2". These were for the top and bottom tiers of the table. I also cut down some pieces for the two drawers; four 1x6 lengths to 1'11" and four 1x6 lengths to 1'9 1/2". I then connected four of the 4'0" 1x6 and one of the pieces that had been ripped to 2" together with pocket screws, for each of the two tiers. That marked the end of day three.

Day 4:
I had very little time to spend in the shop on this day and so I started by framing out the two drawers. I then attached the sides of the drawers together with a pin nailer. I then cut two pieces of 1/4" plywood into 23" x 23" squares and attached those using 1/2" long staples. Pro tip for using these guns, load them properly and make sure you have actually put them into the wood and didn't just create holes with the air pressure. After going through and creating staple holes twice I had to call it a day but the structure of the drawers were done.

Day 5:
The final day had begun and so I started it by measuring out where to make a hole to act as a handle on the front and back of each drawer. I used the drill press to bore these holes and then spent the next while sanding down the inside of those holes. After that I routed and sanded the edges of the drawers so that they were flush. I then took the tiers I had made and set in the table and sanded the top face of both of them so I had a nice, smooth, and even surface. I sanded down the edges as well and then placed everything back together. The finishing touches were adding little plastic caps to plug the openings of the steel tubing on the top and bottom of the table frame.

This project has given me great respect for not only the amount of time spent on jobs like this one but also the amount of precision required to complete them. I have also learned the importance of the measure twice and cut once philosophy because I may have needed to get a little creative to fix a mistake caused by lack of attention. I was very ambitious with this project but now that I have finished I am proud of what I accomplished and now I have a coffee table.

Final Project Complete!

Day 1 of project construction:
I cut all of my plywood and 3x3s into their correct sizes and attached the 3x3 posts to the plywood base and platforms using pockets screws. I completed construction of the base, first platform, corresponding posts, and the box. I could not attach the box or the other two platforms before I purchased carpeting the next day.

Attaching 1' posts to the base

Completed after Day 1

Day 2 of project construction:
I bought a roll of carpet in the morning and brought it into the workshop to measure and cut to attach the the cat tree. I attached carpeting to the inside of the box using a pneumatic stapler and 1/2" crown staples. Then I attached the box to its platform by drilling screws though the underside of the platform into the sides of the box. Next I attached the second platform and its posts. Then I screwed two L brackets to the bottom of the perch to to help reinforce its strength once attached to the top post. After the wooden structure was finished, I mapped out the best way to fit and cut the necessary sizes of carpet from the roll and cut out each of the pieces.

Day 3 of project construction:
Day 3 was entirely taken up by carpeting the remaining bare surfaces of the cat tree. After 22 hours, the cat tree was finally finished. Then I just had to fit it into my car to take home.

The finished product

The windows had to be rolled down for the cat tree to fit in the back seat.

Final thoughts:

Overall, I really enjoyed the project and would rather build a cat tree than write an essay. I now know that L brackets are a pain in the butt to attach and that I definitely do not want to go into the carpet installation business. Despite the difficulties, I enjoyed the process. I'm really proud that I was able to make something like this, and I'm glad that my cats will have a nice spot to relax.

UPDATES AND FINALS FOR MY PROJECT

Dec 7.

Man this is not too bad the engineering drawing was made and fixed to work in the machine... Lets hope lol. This drawling took me a few hours to figure out the software and how to wrap it like it needs to be for use in the indexer. The total time to figure out the software and make the 3D model was probably like 6 hours so I hope it will all pay off in the end with a new bat.


Dec. 8

Bat is looking good on the engineering software and Today I join the Wood. I literally used all the quick grips... ALL OF THEM. It was a good thing nobody else needed to use any. The glue was everywhere. To make a sold enough connection between the boards of wood I used a ton of glue. I glued two strips together four times, and then glued two of those four together to make two boards that are four strips tall. After that, I sent them to a machine to make sure they were square at 3.25 inches on all sides and shaved off the ends to even to the shortest board. Each came out to be perfectly 31 inches.


My hands are tired from squeezing the clamps so much. Yet still more clamping to do...

Dec 13.

Todays the day! Here is the shop bot that I will use to route my bat!!!! Hope it turns Out well!


Me and Finn worked super hard to figure out what bits to use, how to set up the drawling, and put the wood into the holder for the indexer. Everything was smooth, but it took too much time to figure out. Finn had to leave and so did I. My travel arrangements couldn't be moved so my final step i got to was putting the wood in the machine, but not able to route it because of lack of knowledge of how to calibrate the 4th dimension of the indexer to where it needed to be. So, sadly, I cant make the bat this semester, but next semester I will do my best to figure out how to do it and hopefully make a bat with Finn! We worked on it from 1 pm to 5 pm and figured out a lot, but need to get the calibration of the indexer to be able to do the bat.


Special thanks to Finn for coming in and stressing over this damned machine with me. I was fun and vexing at the same time.

Final Process Post

On day three, I attached the legs to the nightstand and glued on the top. Then I began assembling the drawer. While doing so I accidentally put the back piece on the front of the drawer. This was only a problem because I had already made the pocket holes to attach the front. So I had to take the drawer back off and hammer the staples flush. I reattached the back to the correct side of the drawer and realized the length was more than I had anticipated and I would need to modify it.

On the final day, I worked on the project Tim helped me cut the drawer down so the front wouldn't hang over the edge of the nightstand. Once it was cut I secured the top of the nightstand with 1 1/4" drywall screws. This took some work and I had to redrill them with a countersink to finally get them to sit flush with the top. I then attached the handle to the front of the drawer. I used two washers on the back so the handle was flat against the front. Then I attached the drawer front using the pocket holes I had previously drilled. The last step I took was adding a piece of board in the back of the drawer so it sat closer to the front. I originally planned to glue and staple this in place, but once I did the first staple and it went through the back I resigned myself to just using the glue to secure it.

I think I did well on it overall. It was difficult to be decisive because I often doubted whether or not my methods were the most effective way to put it together and thus I had to consult Tim often throughout the process. The measurement I had planned in advance had worked out on the nightstand itself but had to be modified for the drawer. Though there were a few minor hiccups through the process I was pleased with the work I did and the nightstand turned out nicely. It was a lot more difficult than I anticipated it to be and I spent a total of 14 hours constructing it. But look at how spiffy it turned out!

Final Project Process

Tuesday 12/5 - pick up hardware and materials

• I organized a way for me to get the materials for myself. I picked up everything that I needed, but later found myself returning when I changed the type of bolts (from carriage to hex) I would be using and how many I would be using.

Wednesday 12/6 - Brief meeting with Tim and needed changes made to Sketchup model

• On my Sketchup model, I made the frame of the foosball table about two inches taller so that there would be more surface area for the legs. I also changed the number of bolts on each leg from 1 bolt to 3 bolts. This will hopefully help in maintaining a stable playing surface. I also added bottom supports for the playing surface so that the playing surface would be leveled without being permanently attached. Having a playing top that lifts out is very helpful for storage proposes.There were some minor changes from my original Sketchup that were a result of the change in frame hight.

Thursday 12/7 - Day 1 of construction - 1:30-5:00

• On the first day of construction I planned out the best way to cut up my plywood. By the end of the work day, I had almost everything cut. It was very interesting to learn the best ways to rip down a sheet of plywood. It defiantly made the process go more smoothly since i did not have to keep going back to rerip the pieces.

Friday 12/8 - Day 2 of construction - 3:00-5:00

• On day two I finished cutting out all of the pieces and began marking the locations of the holes that would be drilled. I also selected my 4x4s and cut them to the appropriate hight.

Wednesday 12/13 - Day 3 of construction - 1:00-6:00

• On day three I drilled the 3/8 holes for the bolts, the 5/8 holes for the poles, and the 1 1/2" hole that drops the ball at the start of the game. I also decided to use the veneer edging to clean up the look of the table a little.

 Thursday 12/14 - Day 4 of construction - 11:30-5:35

• On day four I used a jigsaw to notch out the goal as well as the hole for the ball retrieving slot. I spent the rest of my time actually assembling the top of the foosball table. I began with stapling the bottom supports and ensuring that they were square. Then I attached the face of the goal to the pole side frame. After that I placed the top of the goal and then went on to add the bottom left and right sides of the top goal are. Next I assembled the ball catcher and then attached it to the table as a unit. Finally I finished up by attaching the outside goal frame to complete the top unit.

Friday 12/15 - Day 5 of construction - 9:50-11:20

• On the fifth day of construction I attached the legs to the table and made the proper alterations to ensure that the playing surface would easily fit into place and be leveled.