Small HiFi Rack

I needed a place to put my stereo and my turntable. Looking at different furniture stores, I couldn't find anything that looked like what I had in mind. So I decided to make my own.

Materials

• 2x IKEA Lack side tables
• 2x 1m M18 threaded rods
• 16x M18 nuts
• 12x M18 (or 19mm) washers
• 4x wheels (I used 3 normal turning wheels, and 1 with a break)
• Small screws for the wheels

Tools

• Metall saw
• Electric drill, or ideally a drill press
• 18mm wood drill bit (20mm might be even better, probably as a fostner bit)
• 32mm wood drill bit, flat or fostner
• Small wood drill bit for pre-drilling (4-6mm should work fine)
• Screwdriver

The rack will use 4 pieces of threaded rod, one in each corner. I just split the two 1m pieces I bought in half, so I had four 50cm pieces. That came out to 38cm distance between the two boards of the rack.

Try to get the cut as straight as possible. I bought a saw guide at the hardware store, and used one of the LACK legs (we'll not use them anyways) and some clamps to secure the rod in place, before going at it with a metall saw. Beware, this will take some time, and you might ruin your saw blade. So make sure you got some spare blades, just in case.

After sawing the rods, I'd recommend filing the ends a bit to get rid of any shard edges that might cut you later.

Let's get started on the bottom board. We want to attach the wheels to the bottom, so we want to make the nuts on the bottom sit in the board, not on it. We'll drill a big whole to achieve that.

First, predrill using the small 4-6mm bit. You can simply drill through the preexisting holes for the legs, all the way through the entire board.

Now, get the 32mm flat wood bit, and mark off the thickness of the nuts you bought on the bit. Slowly start drilling into the corner, from the bottom of the board. If you are using a hand drill, try to be as straight as possible. Ideally, you'd be using a drill press for this. Make the hole only a little bit deeper that the height of the M18 nut.

Once you finished the bottom hole for the nut, flip the board around, and drill the 18mm (or 20mm) hole from the top, using the predrilled hole you made earlier. Be slow and gentle, as to not scratch or break the nice surface of the board.

Clean the hole from both sides with a small knife or a piece of sanding paper, and repeat for the other 3 corners.

Tip: I used some of the legs of the two tables to do some test drilling. Similar to the board, the legs are mostly not wood, so make sure to test drill close to the top of the leg, where there's still some wook inside.

Similar to the bottom board, we need to drill the top board. Since we don't need to get the bottom nuts flush into the board, this is a bit simpler

Predrill the holes with the small drill bit, from the bottom, through the already existing holes for legs.

Flip the board around, and drill the 18mm (20mm) holes, again gentle and slowly to not scratch the top of the board.

Clean the holes with a small knife or some sanding paper.

Let's put it together. Starting on the bottom, put a piece of threaded rod through the bottom plate from the top (i put the side of the rod that was sawed of, on the bottom), and screw in the nut. Make sure the end of the rod is flat with the nut, and they both are completely sunk in their holes. If they are not, take them out again, and make the hole a bit deeper with the 32mm flat wood bit.

From the other side of the board, put a washer over the rood, and then a nut, like in the second picture. Don't fasten it super tight quite yet, so we have a little bit of room for the rod to move when we put on the top board.

Repeat for the other 3 corners and rods.

Before putting on the top board, put one nut and one washer on each rod from the top, and screw them in for about 8cm, for the top board to rest on.

Now, place the top board on the rods and push it down until it rests on the nuts and washers we put in just before. This may require a bit of force or wiggling the board around. Try to make small movements on the different rods, compared to big ones on a single rod, which might make the other rods tilt in their holes and block any further movement.

Once the board lies on the nuts and washers, take the remaining washers and nuts, and place them on top of the top board n the rods, to secure the board in place.

You may also now tighten the nuts on the bottom plate.

To attach the wheels, flip the table to have the bottom on top. Put the wheels in the four corners of the bottom board, right over the sunken in nuts. I decided to predrill the holes for the wheels, so mark them with a pencil, and predrill.

Afterwards, use some small screws to secure the wheels in place.

ATTENTION: Most of the LACK tabl is not actually wood, but paper (or so it seams) in a honey comb structure is used. Only the very corners are made of wood so make sure to get at least one screw into that.

Repeat for the other wheels

And there you have it, your own little HiFi rack. Now, put in your stereo, and start listening to music.