Game Controller Rack AKA the Third Shelf
by kevincarruthers in Workshop > Woodworking
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Game Controller Rack AKA the Third Shelf
For this shelf, I thought I would use stuff from my scrap bin. After all, it will be in the shadows at the bottom of the stack. I also made the um.. wire hides? not sure what to call them but they hide the wires. I could have drilled into the wall and dropped the wires but we seem to change devices often enough that I shuddered at the thought of having to fish new wires through the wall. BTW, these shelves really are level but I guess I wasn't level when I took the pics ;)
I Used
For this build I used 1/2" birch plywood, 1×6 pine, 1/8" birch plywood, finishing nails and 1 1/2" screws
Building the Shelf
The first thing I did was to come up with the general shape I wanted and drew it out on one of the 1x6 blanks for the ends then used 2 way tape to hold both blanks together so I could cut them both out at the same time.. The end result was about 6" high at the back, 2 inches on the bottom and about a 4" slope and a 1 1/2" strip of pine. I used my T bevel to find the angle on the ends after I cut them and used my circular saw and saw guide to cut the strips at the right angle to match them up. For this I used pine for the end and birch plywood for the pieces and a strip of pine for the lip. I need to run wires through this shelf so once I had the parts cut, I drilled out a slot on both the bottom piece and the back piece with a 1" forstner bit about 2 1/2" wide. The cover for this is pine sides with a curved front. I cut 2 pieces of pine the same way as the ends but I gave it a more gentle curve(pic 2). It was too sharp to be able to bend the 1/8" plywood so I cut it about 3/4" of the way through and steamed it over a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes so it would bend enough to fit. I screwed and glued the ends on and glued and finish nailed everything else.
Making the Wire Hides
I used 1/8" birch plywood and 1/2" birch plywood for these. You can see that there isn't much curve on these. I made these 13" and 11 1/2" long. I cut the 1/8" plywood 2" at the top and 5" at the bottom. The sides are about an inch thick at the top and 2 1/2" thick at the bottom. I also allowed for a 1" opening on the bottom for the wires
Finishing
After a quick sanding with 120 to even everything up and ease the edges, I used 2 coats of summer oak and 2 coats of polyurethane