Glue-Up Advice Redux

[Greg Guarino]

Some of you may remember that I asked for advice on how to glue up a set of CD shelves. There were two problems: the sheer number of shelves in dado joints (13) and the inexperience of the worker (me).

I got quite a few tips, but pigheaded as I am, I didn't use many of them.

Some people recommended glue with a longer set-up time. An excellent idea, but when I finally had time to do the work, I used what was at hand.

Some recommended gluing up three or four shelves only, and getting it all square. The rest could be glued in on another day. This sounded attractive at first, but I worried about sliding in the rest of the shelves; possibly needing to trim or even sand them a little. With my time constraints, I also worried that there might be weeks in-between the steps; adding one more delays the project.

Here's what I ended up doing:

I set up a hollow-core door as an assembly table. (Thanks Craigslist). I planned to assembly the project laying face-down. So my first concern was to set up one side of the unit and keep it plumb and straight while I inserted the shelves into the dadoes.

Being a novice, I wasn't sure how quickly I could get all of the parts together, and until then I couldn't clamp anything together. I wanted to make sure that the shelves and the first side met at a right angle.

I used C-Clamps to attach an extruded aluminum straight-edge along one side. I stood the first side up against the straight-edge. I put in the top and bottom shelves (dry) and squared them up with a framing square. Then I clamped pieces of 1x3 scrap against the outer faces of those two shelves, so during the actual glue-up I wouldn't have to worry about getting them square again. I also clamped in some homemade clamping squares to keep the side piece plumb.

Confused yet? Of course you are. Here's a photo:

If you use the right arrow several times, you'll scroll through the rest of the process.

I removed the side from the setup and laid it flat to apply glue to the dadoes. Then I stood it back up, clamped it in and started inserting the shelves.

Here I should add that during the dry assembly I had traced pencil lines onto the work surface so I could get the shelves pretty well lined up to receive the second side. I checks that all of the shelves were in their lines and applied glue into the dadoes of the second side.

It was surprisingly quick and painless to line up all the shelves into the dadoes. I got 4 in and lightly clamped one end, then got the next few in, applied another light clamp and continued until all the joints were together.

I tightened those few clamps a little harder. As I was assembling the unit face-down on the work surface, I couldn't apply clamps to the "bottom" (actually the front) of each shelf. So I used some blocks, wedges and long piece of ply scrap to apply pressure.

Finally I applied my motley assortment of clamps, one for each shelf. It looks like a Foosball table.

[Leon]

On 12/14/2013 1:20 PM, Greg Guarino wrote: Snip

LOL, I have often used 20 plus clamps and it is always after using the longest clamp in the vertical position that you realize the garage door will not open or close. Then you get to move the tons of wood and clamps.

[Dave Balderstone]

Nice work, Greg. One observation and one question:

-- You need more clamps.

-- Who still uses CDs?

djb

[krw]

I do. In fact I'm in the process of copying our library into iTunes so I can put it on my iPod. ;-)

Unfortunately, it's now split between iTunes, Media Player, and unincorporated directories. Ain't technology wunnerful?

[Greg Guarino]

Absolutely. You could still see a little of the wood in-between them.

It sure would be cool to have it look like one of those wood magazine photos; all of the clamps the same color and model, made by whatever manufacturer was advertising that month. But I'm not sure the glue would hold any better in the end.

I just took the clamps off, nine hours after they went on. That's actually pretty brief for one of my projects; with my limited time, sometimes they stay on for a week. The joints look nice and tight, so I guess the mismatched clamping didn't do any harm.

That's why I'm making the cabinet now. I figure our CD collection should remain static from here on out. I'm a pretty practical guy, but even once we've digitized all the CDs I wouldn't feel good throwing them out.

We've got about 500, and that's all I designed the cabinet to hold. I've got a whole spreadsheet actually - the most anal thing you've ever seen - with boxes for all of the dimensions of a jewel case, a space between them, the available width and height of the location and the placement of each dado. I usually draw a project out, but this one only has measurements. We'll see if that turns out to have been a mistake.

Next might be a cabinet for the Vinyl...

[Greg Guarino]

I don't believe I've made that particular mistake, but given enough time, I'm sure to get around to it. I've got the knack.

I have to say, despite my trepidation about fitting so many dado joints while the clock was ticking on the glue, this glue-up actually went more smoothly than on my bookcase project. Those boxes were conceptually the same, and had only 5 horizontals in dadoes compared with 13 on this project. I guess I must be learning ... something.

[dadiOH]

If you are interested in digitizing it, here's how...

BTW, had you ripped your CDs to MP3 you could have reduced 500 to 50 or so.

[Leon]

The more often you do it, the better you get. And the less you stress.

[Leon]

The problem with converting to MP3 to reduce you CD's to 50 is that you want to keep the initial 500 for back up. Now you have 550. ;~)

I still have a hundred or so LP's I would like to convert to "something". ;~)

[Greg Guarino]

A turntable, a preamp and a computer should allow you to convert them to MP3. I hear there are also special turntable units that come with their own software to simplify the process.

I'm afraid that - although a musician and music fan - I was never very fastidious in caring for my vinyl records. I tried digitizing some, even employing "pop and tick" removal software, but was unsatisfied with the results.

[Leon]

I have ll but the preamp. I wonder if a standard amp out to the computer would work.

Yeah I am afraid that I may have become to accustomed to hearing music with out the pops and ticks.

[Greg Guarino]

If you have an "amplifier" (receiver, integrated amp) with a "phono" input, you have the preamp you need. You just need to locate the "record out" jacks and connect them (probably via a 2 RCA to one stereo mini-plug cable) to your computer's line in.

Even before CDs my piano was remarkably free of pops and clicks. :)

[Bill]

There is an open source program called Audacity that may help. You can find it at sourceforge.org. It's probably #1 on my list of trustable-sites to download programs. You just need a stereo (portable?) with an output jack and and a computer with an audio input jack. The program will even help separate the tracks (not perfect). I only got acceptable results when I didn't use the computer while I was recording. If you want "titles" you'll have to type them in yourself! ; )

Bill

[dadiOH]

Some of does a "pretty" good job; trouble is, one program does well in some circumstances, not in another; another program does vice versa. Much depends upon how one sets the patameters of the program one is using.

The best way - the ONLY way - to get super results is to sit there and do them one by one with a wave editor. Believe me, you don't want to do that as there can be 1000s and 1000s.

I wound up using 2-3 cleaners for most of the clicks/pops, then manually doing the grosser things they didn't do.

[dadiOH]

Run the turntable output through any sort of stereo box then from the stereo output to computer input.

[Leon]

You think I could go turn table into the receiver/amp and out the head phone to the computer?

Then if that works, a 60' cable to connect the two. ;~)

The receiver is an old Yamaha that has 5 separate units plugged in, not counting the 5 speakers and sub. And then it weighs just shy of 50lbs.

The computer would be more trouble to move.

I guess I am not quite desperate enough to convert.. ;~(

Maybe I could use an iPad instead of a computer. Hummmmm

[Markem]

No the levels are far enough apart that you would get a lot of empty MP3s. There are USB turntables with software available.

Mark

[Greg Guarino]

It pains me to think of you running from wherever the computer is to go drop the needle on the record, then running back to check the level, then ...

Try something like this:

[krw]

That's what big disk drives are for. They're cheap. The time to rip the CDs isn't so much, though.

WAVs. I've done that with some of mine but I haven't gotten back to it.

[krw]

Sure, but "line out" is a better idea.

Sure, why not?