Sam Steup Final Project Proposal

May the Great Tim watch over and guide this project.

Create new ironing board for costume studio. Dimension of 48"x 24"x 34", constructed from 2"x 4" and non heat-sensitive top material. Will eventually be covered with fabric and padding, but Jody has requested that I not do anything with that. Frame will be constructed from 2"x 4" pine. Will require approximately 34 linear ft. of 2"x 4", which comes to a cost of ~$40 when the cost of a sheet of 1/2" thick pine  plywood is added. Frame can be constructed using 3 1/2" Torx-25 deck screws or pocket screwing, plywood can be attached using screws or wood glue and staples.

Cost ended up being a lot less than this, since the only thing that really needed to be purchased was the pocket screw hole plugs. Everything else I just scavenged from the shop.

Look at those casters. Just look at them. So pretty. Like ducklings in a row waiting to be sho...I mean...lovingly attached. And the total locking function is great.

 First in-process picture I took. Had to flip the thing on its side to get everything clamped properly because I am not an octopus. Followed the process in my proposal, except I had to re-cut the short members on the bottom because the crappy 2x4 wasn't the right width, which threw off everything.

 Just set the top plywood onto the top of the frame to get an idea of how the aesthetics were coming along. Frame is done at this point except for the diagonal members. Since I switched the plywood for the shelf from 1/2" to 3/4" out of convenience, I just cut the diagonals based on tracings rather than using my SketchUp model to measure the appropriate angles.

Getting the shelf plywood in was a hassle (thanks Tim) because of how tight I made the notches for the legs, but it got done with some mallet persuasion. Picture shows the shelf after it was screwed in. Got the diagonals except for the long one in the back put in before this picture.

 Clamped down the top plywood and attached same as as the bottom sheet.

Checked the measurements on everything (Height was of by 1/4", which is not bad at all) and sanded the hell out of the whole thing to make it smooth and pretty (or at least prettier). Blew the whole thing down with compressed air and voila!









Overall the project came out fairly well. It would sometimes wobble a little (it was inconsistent about when it did and when it didn't) which is bad, but it wasn't too extreme. Managed to get everything pretty smooth and flush, except for the bottom boards which the casters were attached to, which were again a little off because of the crappy 2x4 having inconsistent dimensions. Given more time I could have done it better, but I'm satisfied with the final product here.