Dart Caddies

by Sawdust Willy in Workshop > Laser Cutting

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Dart Caddies

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As I sit here writing this it is December 22... just a few days until Christmas. Once again Sawdust Willy has volunteered as one of Santa's elves and has been working away in his wood shop making presents. Santa told me that my brother and his wife have been very good this year and that I need to make them something special. I asked them what they wanted and they said a dart board cabinet for the outdoor pool area. Great idea, I thought. Beer, barbeque, swimming, and darts! What fun! But what they described was a simple framed dart board with a cork back board. Hmmmm.... I told them OK but I thought to myself... I can do way better than that! So I went all out... solid walnut cabinet, raised panel doors, full extension drawer, teak back board, new dartboard, lights, chalk score boards, and a little something that I came up with to add a nice finishing touch... dart caddies. Neat little decorative stands to hold and display their darts.

I included a picture of the cabinet so you can see what I'm talking about. I thought about writing an Instructable for the entire dart board set but making cabinets is somewhat challenging and building raised panel doors requires some expensive specialized router bits that I figured most people wouldn't be interested in buying. I have more cabinets that I need to build and it was a good investment for me. But for this Instructable I'd like to focus on the dart caddies. They are easy to make but look really fancy! If you are a dart aficionado then these would be a nice addition to your dart set. I used a laser cutter but you could also just print out the included dxf files on paper to use as templates and cut the pieces out by hand.

Supplies

I used oak and cherry wood for my dart caddies but I figure you could use whatever type of wood you like. I like using super glue for these little projects as it makes for quick assembly. The caddies can be finished however you like... I used teak oil.

I used my standard tools... table saw, surface planer, drill press, miter saw, hand drill, and sander. The only specialized tool that I used was a dowel maker but you could buy dowels at the hardware store. I have a scroll saw but ever since I bought a laser cutter I find that I prefer using it since it is way faster and more accurate than I could ever be.

Dimension the Wood

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Here is another good project where you can use up some of your scraps. For two dart caddies you only need a couple pieces. The top and bottom plates are cut from 1/4 x 4 x 18 inch hardwood and the dowel is made from a 5/8 x 5/8 x 18 inch piece of matching hardwood. The surface planer works the wood down to the correct thickness and the table saw rips them to the correct width. These are then cut to length with the miter saw.

Laser Cut

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The top and bottom plates are laser cut but like I said earlier you can cut them out by hand with a scroll saw if you like. Once cut I go ahead and sand the parts to get rid of any scorching on the faces. I lightly sand the edges but not all the way down to bare wood. I like the darker contrast created by the laser burning the material.

Downloads

Dowel Rod

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Having a dowel cutter is really handy and it's pretty easy to use. Sand down one end of the blank to make it pointy and then shape the other end to fit into your hand drill. After that it's a simple matter of running the piece through successively smaller holes to get the size you want. The dart caddies take a 1/2 inch diameter dowel. Once you have your dowel you will need to cut it to length. I used a pull saw and cut six 1-1/2 inch long pieces and two 3 inch long pieces.

Install Feet Into the Base Plate

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Use the top plate as a spacer when installing the feet. This will give you 1/4 inch long feet for the caddie. I lightly mark a line around the dowel to give me a guide for applying the glue. Once the glue has cured mark the center of each foot. I just eyeball it... it doesn't have to be perfect. Measure your dart points to figure out the diameter and length of the bit needed to accomodate the darts you have.

Top Plate and Center Shaft

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To complete the assembly process glue the 3 inch section of dowel into the top plate. After the glue has cured insert that part into the base plate assembly and mark the dowel. Apply glue to the dowel and then reassemble being careful to align the holes in the top plate with the holes in the dowels on the bottom plate. That's it. Last pic shows a quick fit check.

Teak Oil

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For the finish I applied several coats of teak oil. Just until the wood stopped absorbing more oil. But you could finish it however you like.

Completed Dart Board Set

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Here are a few pictures of the dart board set ready for Willy Claus to deliver. The overall dimenions of the cabinet are 30 inches wide, 36 inches tall, and a little over 6 inches deep. The backs of the raised panel doors are painted with Rustins chalk board paint. I was impressed with how well the paint finish ended up. It looks like heck when you first apply it but it dries to a very smooth surface free of brush strokes. The hinges and sea glass knobs are from Home Depot. The lights are USB rechargeable and magnetically attach to the inside of the cabinet so they are easy to remove and install. I got them on Amazon as well as the dart board (it was one of the better rated boards). And finally I made 4 dart caddies. Two out of cherry and two out of oak. They look great sitting in the cabinet.

I hope this write up has been helpful and maybe inspired you to design and build your own dart board set complete with dart caddies. Post pictures below if you do. As always, questions and comments are welcome.

Until the next Instructable...

Willy Claus :)