My TINY shop renovation #5: Bench top is done! Pegboard cabinet almost done!

So, it’s been a little while I guess. Work has kept me pretty busy and TIRED! Last Sunday, the day after my last entry, I was able to start my bench. I got the shelves emptied, and down and the bench mostly framed up. Then it rained for 4 days. I was able to get back out there yesterday and made some real progress.

First though I made a change to my plan. I decided to scrap the flip top portion of the bench. Any locking system I could think of was going to be a pain in the rear since it was going to have to happen from underneath, and I decided the bench top would be much more stable as one piece. So anyway, PROGRESS!!!!! And so far I’m loving it!

So I got the bench top finished. Yea, the shelves I took down? They’re made of 3/4” particle melamine coated particle board. They turned into my bench top, which got 2 layers of it. And I was also able to start working on the pegboard cabinet! SWEET!!

And no, I couldn’t wait till it was done before I started hanging tools up. lol Anyway, before I started framing the cabinet I pushed the back splash out a couple inches from the wall to match the front of the 1×6 frame to give me more room in the back part. After cutting notches to fit around the studs, which weren’t very straight by the way, I got it framed up. Around the edges of each section I screwed a 1” strip of 3/4” plywood to mount the pegboard to. Along the top, 1” from the front, I routed a groove to accept a strip of 1/4” plywood for the back of the upper door channel. After that was glued in I screwed a strip of pine across the front to finish the channel.

Across the bottom , 1/4” back, I routed another groove for another strip of 1/4” plywood for the roller rail.

After getting the sliding door frame pieces cut to length I routed a channel in the bottom piece to ride the rail, and drilled and chiseled mortices for the rollers. The rollers are roller blade bearings. These will be held in by short 1/4×20 carriage bolts, unless I can find something that won’t stick out of the back. Hmmmm, I do have some 1/4” oak dowel that just might do the trick, and would probably look better. Ok, the bearings will be held in by 1/4” oak dowel. Most likely I’ll just press fit them in so I can take them out in case I need to replace a bearing for some reason.

Did a “test roll” and they worked out perfectly!

So for the frames of the doors I used pine 1×4’s, then decided I didn’t need the frame 3 1/2” wide. I mean, that’s a lot of wasted pegboard hanging space! So this afternoon I ripped an 1 1/4 off each piece on my table saw to give me another 2 1/2” of length and height of pegboard storage, and it will still be plenty sturdy. After getting all my measurements figured out I went ahead and routed a groove down the center of the skinny side of each frame piece for the pegboard to slide into, then cut tongue and groove joints at the ends for a little more stability. After dry fitting them, I went ahead and put them in the cabinet to check my work. Turned out pretty good!

And that’s about where I sit now. I have 2 corners of one frame glued up, and am hoping to do the same to the other tomorrow, then the next day I’m hoping to have enough daylight and good weather to get the pegboard panels cut and finish the doors. Oh, I guess I should show off my fancy corner clamping jig. A nicely squared piece of 1×6. It does the job and according to my square the first corner I glued up is perfect, so no complaints!

-- I'm just me.