| Project by Todd A. Clippinger | posted 993 days ago | 2515 views | 13 times favorited | 24 comments |  |
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This is an entertainment center that I designed and built. It is huge – 9’ high x 16’ wide.It is constructed of curly maple, curly maple plywood, and cherry.
The upper opening is 5’2” high x 7’wide. The lower section is 32” high x 7’ wide. The third photo really shows the size of the unit with me standing in front of it. The top houses the t.v. and entertainment electronics. The bottom houses the wireless based computer system.
The cabinet interior is lighted by a touch activated light system that throws light against the back of the acrylic shoji panels. The side display cases have lighting tucked behind the face frame that is touch activated as well.
This unit sits across the great room from the dining area where the chandeliers hang. The doors carry the same design as the chandeliers and really tie the space together, even though they are different woods and overall designs. That blows all ideas that everything in the house has to be the of the same wood.
Because of the unit’s large size, I cascaded the design. Everything flows and steps in three’s. Maple, cherry, maple. Center, bookcase 1, bookcase 2. Notice that all the corners are rounded in the case construction.
This was no small undertaking and incredibly challenging. The doors bifold and slide in. A lot can go wrong covering a space like that. It is like a bullet leaving a rifle; the farther it travels from the gun, the farther off target it gets.
The stock for the doors was entirely unstable so I ripped the material down, glued up the strips and used curly maple veneer to make the rails and stiles. (I have a vacuum press.)
I used floating tenon joinery on the doors with locking pins inserted from the back side of the doors.
As the cherry has darkened, it has created an incredibly dramatic contrast to the curly maple. The maple is just so rich with curly figure. The tools that made this project possible were my new 8” spiral head jointer from Grizzly and the dual headed drum sander. It was not even possible to plane this material. The spiral head cutter on the jointer produced no tear out. Many, many, many light passes had to be taken with the router to do profiles.
-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com
24 comments so far
Larry
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194 posts in 1109 days
posted 993 days ago
WOW - that is big – very nice – the design is very pleasing and well balanced. You did a great job.
Larry
-- "Have you hugged your pet today?" ---------- Larry
MsDebbieP
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14171 posts in 1059 days
posted 993 days ago
oooooooh mmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyy goodness .
amazing.
now.. it looks to me like someone has already started filling the shelves while it is still being built… Oh yah.. definitely have to do that!!
-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
Roger Strautman
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534 posts in 1032 days
posted 993 days ago
Yes Todd, you are so very right about having to be more or less perfect with plumb and level. This was a very challenging but rewarding project wasn’t it? Thanks for sharing.
-- " All Things At First Appear Difficult"
Don
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2590 posts in 1075 days
posted 993 days ago
Just terrific, Todd!
It’s obvious that money was not the issue in this project. How did you find such a fantastic commission?
-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/
Don
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2590 posts in 1075 days
posted 993 days ago
Just terrific, Todd!
It’s obvious that money was not the issue in this project. How did you find such a fantastic commission?
-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/
oscorner
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4572 posts in 1209 days
posted 993 days ago
Great looking design. You must be very proud of your accomplishment and vision of this piece.
-- Jesus is Lord!
gbear
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104 posts in 997 days
posted 992 days ago
I am totally impressed Todd. Great job and obviously no easy undertaking. A true piece of art.
-- gbear, Carmichael, CA
Karson
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25806 posts in 1298 days
posted 992 days ago
Todd they are beautiful. I can feel for you having to work with unstable wood and then overcoming it into a showpiece.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
Duane Kohles
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36 posts in 1198 days
posted 991 days ago
Very, very nice. Your attention to detail and execution are evident. Congratulations on such a monument.
-- Duane Kohles
fred
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257 posts in 996 days
posted 991 days ago
Todd, you are the man. That is absolutely gorgeous.
-- Fred Childs, Pasadena, CA - - - Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.
Dick, & Barb Cain
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7044 posts in 1197 days
posted 971 days ago
Beautiful work !!
For a massive piece it still looks kind of dainty.
It’s just what that wall needed.
-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1
Bill
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2561 posts in 1059 days
posted 971 days ago
Wow..an amazing piece! Where did you find someone willing to purchase that? I just can not imagine how many hours went into something like that.
-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com
Todd A. Clippinger
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5653 posts in 997 days
posted 971 days ago
This was an incredibly technical piece, I worked on it over a span of six months. But the truth is that I was also working on other projects in the house at the same time. I had a lot of glue-ups to do and would bounce between projects. I also started it, and had to go home to Montana at one point for a couple of months. Sometimes you just need to be home for a while.
-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com
IowaWoodcrafter
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256 posts in 974 days
posted 910 days ago
That is absolutely gorgeous!
-- Owen Johnson - aka IowaWoodcrafter
Douglas Bordner
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3427 posts in 962 days
posted 906 days ago
More top flight artistry Todd. Thanks for sharing. I am planning a much smaller and more modest piece for my home and wanted to use a portion of shoji paneling, but my wife shot that down due to concerns about durability. Could you tell us more about the acrylic material?
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
mot
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4903 posts in 934 days
posted 906 days ago
Wow! I’m glad I stumbled into this one! Great piece!
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
Sonny
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123 posts in 751 days
posted 739 days ago
very nice and sharp…......excellent craftsmanship and design
miles125
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1441 posts in 904 days
posted 732 days ago
You outdid yourself on this one Todd…Greaaattt looking cabinetry!
-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""
JoeHeskett
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23 posts in 821 days
posted 697 days ago
Very nice work Todd.
-- Joe Heskett---Illinois
Blake
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2763 posts in 772 days
posted 695 days ago
wow…
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.
.
.
.
.
.
...wow.
-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com
GaryK
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9537 posts in 886 days
posted 686 days ago
Excellent work! What else can I say!
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
Joel Tille
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214 posts in 1142 days
posted 686 days ago
Just watched your interview and looked through your projects. This is awsome!!
The photo of the cabinet by itself doesn’t truely give you the feel for the size until your last picture when you are standing next to it.
Thanks for sharing.
-- Joel Tille
kolwdwrkr
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2252 posts in 488 days
posted 67 days ago
awesome. What a great design. I also saw the close up posting of the details in the base mould. Everything is great on this one.
-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~
a1Jim
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17022 posts in 475 days
posted 67 days ago
I guess I missed this , a fine entertainment center and cool design plus great build.
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com