advice on building a timber frame please

[Jimbo]

I've just bought the timber and I'm about to start building the frame for my cab.  Apart from making sure I measure accurately, does anyone have any hints or tips on how to keep it both sturdy and properly/accurately aligned, so it doesn't end up all skewiff?  It's the first time I've done this so any advice is more than welcome!   Thanks

[sstorkel]

My advice is not to build a timber frame; it's usually not necessary and it will just make your cabinet a lot heavier for no real benefit.

What sort of wood did you buy? If it's the standard dimensional (e.g. 2x4) lumber used in house construction the moisture content will likely be very high. As the wood dries it will warp, twist, and otherwise distort. Which means that if you hammer the thing together today it will look like a pretzel a month from now. I you've purchased this type of wood, as opposed to air- or kiln-dried, then you should stack it with "stickers" between the boards (so that air can circulate across all four sides of each board). It'll take, on average, 1-2 months before the wood reaches equilibrium. At that point, you'll probably find that some of the wood is no longer straight and might need a trip through the jointer or planer before it's usable. Starting with straight lumber makes projects like these much easier... DAMHIKT.

[Jimbo]

Thanks for the advice.

I've been advised by a friend to treat the timber with 3 coats of Hard Wax Oil to help the wood to breathe.

The plan he's recommended is: -

1) keep the timber in the house (the room where the cab is gonna live) for a week.
2) cut the timber to size and put 3 coats of the hard wax oil on it.
3) build the frame

He reckons this should reduce any warping/shrinking/expanding (once built) to a bare minimum so that it will be hardly noticable.

Does this sound like a good plan?  Am I on the right lines here?

Thanks again

[sstorkel]

Sounds like your friend has the right idea, but not necessarily the right execution plan...

A week doesn't sound like enough time to me... but then again dimensional lumber here in the U.S. tends to be very wet. Ideally, you'd use a moisture meter and let the wood sit until the moisture content had stabilized. Unfortunately, moisture meters are expensive. Weight is another good indicator. As long as the weight of the wood is changing significantly, you don't want to use it.

The wood doesn't need to be in the house, but all of the wood (real wood; not MDF, plywood, etc) you'll use for the cabinet needs to be in the same place for a couple of weeks. And it needs to be stacked in such a way that air can circulate around all six sides of each piece in order for it to dry properly. There may be some additional expansion/contract if you move the wood from, say, the garage to the house but it will be minimal in comparison to the changes from the initial drying.

I think that Hard Wax Oil is probably a waste of money. Either your wood will be stable and your design will account for the small amount of expansion and contraction that normally happens, or it won't. If the wood is good and the design is good, you don't need Hard Wax Oil. If the wood or the design are bad, Hard Wax Oil isn't going to save your butt for very long... and it sounds like a lot of work!

[ChadTower]

It will dry out faster if you set it by a dehumidifier.  I do that and it usually works quite well.

[Jimbo]

Thanks for the advice ChadTower.  I'll move the wood into the house, weigh it, let it sit for a couple of weeks in an airflow-friendly way, then weigh it again. If there's not much weight change I'll continue to build. Do I sound like I'm on the right lines here?

The timber is actually from my local DIY store (B&Q) and I have a feeling its been sitting there for quite a while (I go to B&Q all the time and pass the timber section often).

If you look at the pic in the first post, I'm now thinking that I could use 18mm plywood for most of the frame and just use timber for the 4 vertical legs (the thicker pieces).  This should help keep the frame solid and in proportion (I'm thinking).

Re: the Hard Wax Oil... I can actually get it for free (my friend owns that website). I don't mind putting in the effort of coating the timber legs if its going to make a difference in the long run.

[miles2912]

It's weird that people do not want their cab to be heavy.  When you have a few big friends getting into a fighting game, you will be glad the cab is heavy.  Once I built my cab it has sat in the same spot for the past year and everyone comments on how 'sturdy' it feels.  I guess if you had to move it around a lot you might want to think light but for the bilk of us build it heavy. 

The frame will be straight if you measure twice and cut once.  Use one side as a pattern for the other and you can't go wrong.  Every cab will turn out a little off.. just keep that in mind and compensate when building it.  You will make mistakes just go slow and enjoy it.

[ark_ader]

All my larger cabs used a timber frame as I had to take it upstairs in a UK house that most Americans would call a two storey garage.  I also had a weight issue so the cab could not be made out of MDF.

I used Pine and other softwoods and it was very secure.  I used brackets and dowels with glue and wood screws to strengthen the joints, and covered it with particle board.  It was effective strong and light.  Dig Dug scores were never so good!

Get some rubber casters or feet for the bottom, for travel and sturdiness.  Reinforce the lower section if you use 1x2s.  If there is going to be a CRT inserted use 2x2s.

My last cabinet I made was laughingly called a "stereo cabinet", but housed my X arcade and LCD with consoles below in such a small amount of space. The pedestal was rock solid but made with the same kind of wood, with particle board surround.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=67510.0

It was cheap and took a pounding, and in this hobby that is what you want unless its a focal feature in the living room.  And when you tire of it.  You can chop it up and use it in a fire.

Don't get me wrong about MDF, yes its great and messy, but if you are in a small space your original idea has merit.  And frames allows for changes when your ideas take on different shapes, as they tend to do, where MDF doesn't.   

Oh Jimbo, that drawing you introduced at the start of your thread looks kinda familiar....


My first attempt

[Jimbo]

Hey good stuff!  Your first attempt looks wicked!

In the end I decided to use timber for the vertical "legs" and I'll use a few bits of plywood for the "braces", so hopefully that will help it keep its shape over the years.  I'd not even contemplated brackets and dowels, but then I've never built anything out of wood before so that kinda explains it!

Cheers for the advice. 

[unclet]

I prefer the wooden frame myself.  The brackets I used to secure my frame together are the metal angled brackets used for securing roofing trusses and beams.   There are many different kinds to chose from so you will be able to find the correct angles to use for just about anything you want to secure.   Just look in your local hardware store near the roofing supplies.

Good luck

[Hoopz]

I prefer the wooden frame myself.  The brackets I used to secure my frame together are the metal angled brackets used for securing roofing trusses and beams.   There are many different kinds to chose from so you will be able to find the correct angles to use for just about anything you want to secure.   Just look in your local hardware store near the roofing supplies.

Good luck

If you can't find em, ask for joist hangers.  I had a whole freaking slew of them around here at some point.