The Lectern Initiative, part the last

I am done with the building process on Debra's lectern! I worked on it for nearly 5 hours today, and boy are my arms tired!

First thing this morning I routed a chamfer profile on the legs and upper supports. A chamfer is just a 45º angle cut 

along the edges. This softens the edge a bit and breaks up the squareness of the piece, adding visual appeal.

I followed up the legs and upper supports with a matching chamfer on all for edges of the column. This created huge clouds of coarse dust which could still be trying to settle some seven hours after I left my shop. Routers and plywood don't play well together as far as my lungs and eyes are concerned. I'm not sure that was grammatically correct, but you get the idea.

Anyway, I then drilled a hole on the bottom of each end of the legs, screwed a treaded brass insert into each hole, and screwed the height adjustable legs into place. I installed the upper supports with glue and lag screws and did the same with the legs. This gave me a rock solid platform on which to mount the work surface... which I had yet to build. And I was running out of birch plywood.

Rather than delay the building process I decided to use some other plywood I had lying around to finish the project. It's rock hard, easy to work and very durable. It's just like the birch plywood I used on the rest of this unit, but without the actual birch. I'm not exactly sure what it's made of. I know it looks like pine in some places but not in others. Regardless, it's perfectly good material for anything intended for use in a junior high school.

I cut the lower shelf, the one that's parallel with the floor. It's a bit smaller than 20" square. I attached the double thick back wall to it after taking a 12º angled wedge off the top. Then I measured from the front edge of the lower shelf to the back edge of the angled wall, cut another piece to that length and the same width as the lower shelf.

I drilled three holes in the upper end of the top. These holes are big enough to hold a pen or pencil each. I figured I should make this thing as useful as possible and that seems like a very useful addition. A storage shelf in the right side also seems useful, and is just a good use of otherwise wasted space. Karl Champly would be so proud.

Finally I just lined up my pencil marks, drilled a few pilot holes, spread some glue and screwed the top to to the base, then mounted top, supported by a long, pie shaped piece on one side and a very tiny one on the other, leaving a space in front of the tiny one for paper/folder storage, utilizing the afore mentioned otherwise wasted space. With the addition of a piece on the bottom end to keep books and/or pencils from rolling off, the building process was completed. 

Now the lectern is drying after being sanded up to 220 grit, then receiving a coat of satin polyurethane. Two more coats should do it. I'll move it to Debra's classroom tomorrow evening so I can use it Wednesday and Thursday when she's at an ESL conference and I'm subbing for her. And she can use it thereafter.

Update, September 30, 2008: Here's the lectern drying in the sun after a light sanding and a final coat of polyurethane.

And here it is in it's new home, room 506 of the Alvarado Junior High School.

The Lectern Initiative, part the second

I'm finally declaring that I'm on part two of this project. I have glued up the column, cut the half-lap joinery for the upper and lower supports, and I did a dry fit of the parts this afternoon before I had to stop making sawdust and mow the lawn.

Everything fits like the parts were molded to work together. And, in effect, they were. They were milled to work together anyway.

Now I only have to do the following:

1. route an edge detail on all four sides of the column, the top edges of the lower supports and the bottom edges of the upper supports. I haven't made a decision on a round over detail or a chamfer for these edges, but they will all get the same treatment.

2. assemble all the parts I have already built into a solid unit, using glue and lag 

screws. I really want this lectern to be rock solid because the eight or ten lecterns that are in use at the junior high school SUUUUUUCK!!! I know of three which are incapable of standing up straight, one of which tilts so badly you can't assume a book will stay in place on it.

3. build the top portion. I have put this part off for last because I wanted to have the base finished and ready to receive the top. That's almost a reality at this point. I want to be able to test fit the top as I go. I have to build it in two sections so I can attach it to the upper supports on the base column and then add the slanted portion to that section. That way there will be no visible screws anywhere on the piece.

 

When this upper portion is done it will have storage underneath the topmost surface which will be accessed from the right side. I also plan to add a pen and pencil cup of sorts to the top. Originally I wanted to have a rectangular box attached to the side of the top, but now I'm leaning more toward drilling four or five holes in the surface farthest from the user and building a box underneath the surface where it will never be seen. Only the pens will be visible sticking up out of their holes.

I'll figure out the remaining details as I go along. That's pretty much how most of my projects are handled, how most of my designs get established. Eventually I develop a routine method of building a particular item. This lectern, however, will either be one-of-a-kind or will be the first of a fairly limited run, and that only if another teacher just has to have one.

There's probably some money to be made here, considering what the teachers at the junior high have had to work with for the past several hundred decades -- seriously, you should see the building because portions of it are just a few thousand termites holding hands. Maybe I should take some time, add up my hours and material costs and figure out how much to charge for one of these things. I'll have to completely finish this one and deliver it to the Debra's classroom before I do that, though, so the other teachers can get a good look at it and I can judge their responses.  I should be able to finish this project by the middle of the week so I can deliver it on the very day I'm subbing for Debra.  That'll work!

The Lectern Initiative, part the first

I have embarked upon a woodworking task I have never undertaken before. I'm building a lectern for my wife to use at school. I am sizing it to match the perfectly sized piece of crap she has been using, but will be adding a few extra features such as a pen and pencil holder mounted to the side and, possibly, a shelf on which she can stow a few papers or a folder.

Since this lectern will be used at school -- at a junior high school -- I have decided to build it out of birch plywood. This will make it very durable, and I won't get too pissed if some kid writes on it. If I had gone with my original plan of building it out of quartersawn oak...

Anyway, I will be building this over the next couple of months. It's a project I can revert to between other projects or when I'm waiting for glue-ups to dry, though right now I'm waiting for the first glue-up on the lectern to dry.

Here's the plan for part one of this project:

1. laminate two sheets of 3/4 birch ply together to form a 1 1/2" thick sheet

2. cut the laminated stock into eleven 1 1/2" wide strips

3. form nine of these strips into a 4 1/2" square column with notches at the top and bottom

4. form two of these strips into the crossed support for the bottom, the "legs" if you will...

5. glue these two parts together and reinforce the joint with lag screws

And then I'll get onto part two.  I'll post photos when I have some.