# We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.



## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

This is NOT about the garbage taking place on this site 

I seem to have a real problem with building wine racks 

From what I read, I should have been okay with cutting 1-1/2" holes in my (3/4" thick) side panels, and letting the wine bottles (nominally, the necks are about 1-1/10" in diameter) hang from those holes … BY their (scrawny) necks.

And … I think it DOES work.

But my wife … AND the husband of the gift recipient … both have concerns about weight tending to pull the bottles down, and potentially making them slip OUT OF the holes.

I genuinely don't think it will happen, BUT ….

I'm working on some re-designs that will both ENSURE the bottles are okay AND dress up the piece a little more.

My thoughts:

1) On the inside of each panel, I can run either a single block of wood over EACH hole, or a LONGER piece of wood over BOTH holes. The piece of wood would be between 3/8" and 1/2" thick, and would COVER the top … roughly 3/8" of each hole.

This approach pretty much KEEPS the bottles parallel to the floor, and prevents them from moving. It also spreads any force out over a larger area, decreasing any PSI risk. I can do this in matching QSWO or … complementary woods;

2) I could TRY to drill OUT the holes, at a 45 degree angle, downward. This would point the bottles down, and cradle the "shoulder" of the bottle in the tapered, downward-facing, larger hole.

I have NO idea how I would do this, and am frightened at the very thought 

3) I can pick up a 1-1/2" hole saw, and drill out slugs from complementary woods, glue THOSE slugs into each of the 20 holes, and then drill INTO the slugs at something JUST OVER 1-1/10" diameter (I'd stop at the wine shop, micrometer in hand, dork that I am, and measure a bunch of bottles, to be sure).

I could alternate species between rows, between sides of the tower, or …. hopscotch the colors even among EACH panel.

This would mean that the "grip" on the bottle neck is much "tighter."

4) Along THOSE lines, I can go to the Depot, and see if there's a plumbing widget-much like a fat grommet-that I can insert INTO my existing 1-1/2" holes that will both decrease the effective diameter OF the holes AND give the bottle a MUCH stickier surface, to keep it from moving.

Here's a pic of a sample hole from the first board I screwed up <grin>:










Duh. A hole drilled in wood with a Forstner bit on a drill press. But … if it helps …. there's the picture ;-)

The side panels-where the wine bottles should go-will be at 90deg to the ground. Straight "bookcase" configuration. The bottles get inserted from the outside of the piece, and are meant to hang there, quietly, not hurting anybody … or themselves.

Any thoughts ????

My thanks, in advance !


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## ellen35 (Jan 1, 2009)

What about smaller holes? Like 1 1/8 in diameter… or how about V grooves. Then the bottle will set in as low as it wants to go.


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

Thanks, *Ellen*.

The "smaller holes" thing IS certainly one option. The question becomes … how to get there.

I like the V-groove idea. I was thinking of using a V-cut OR a semi-circle cut if I used individual blocks behind (and at the top of) every hole.

Another option … seems to be a simple 1-1/2" ID *grommet*:










Grainger's got 'em. CHEAP.

I could slice them in half, then glue one "ring" on one side of the panel, and the other ring on the other side. Since that's where glass meets wood, anyway, it should give a LOT of friction to the bottle.

I *really *just have to get better at this design stuff


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## lilredweldingrod (Nov 23, 2009)

Neil,
I think that if you go back to the 10 degree tilt to the legs, that should overcome this problem.
Cut the ends of the shelves at 10* and use a dovetail bit to re-cut the top of the dado and the bottom of the shelf. I haven't tried this as yet, but I will give it a go and let you know how I do with it. I saw Norm do something like this a while back.Rand


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

Thanks, *Rand* !

Please DO let me know how that turns out.

My gut always tells me to do the fixes "right," but … I'm on deadline, for this one, and … putting the taper back in the tapered wine tower … means a HECK of a lot of work, and … a LOT of practice on some techniques that-as of right now-I do NOT have mastered.

Because of that … I'm kinda' leaning toward the cob-job solution ;-)


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

What have you done, Neil?


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## Gofor (Jan 12, 2008)

Will 1 1/4" pvc schedule 80 plastic pipe just slide in the holes as a white insert? Not sure, but I think the od is really close to 1 1/2".

Go


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

*Gofor*: that's an excellent suggestion. Many thanks ! I'll add it to the "Head over to the Depot and check out …." list !

*NOTE*: looks like it's 1.660in OD, and/but … I'd BET I could work with that 

Thanks !


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## Bothus (Sep 14, 2009)

Good luck Neil.

Lettuce snow how it goes.

Jerry


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## Gofor (Jan 12, 2008)

Check out schedule 40, but may be a bit loose.

Go


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## Jack_T (Feb 6, 2010)

Great tag line. I do not think that you have to drill the holes on a 45 degree angle but I do think that you need to angle the holes so that the bottles point down at the neck. Just my 2 cents. I have never built this type of wine rack but my concern is vibrations working the bottles out of the holes if they start perpendicular or less to the ground.


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## Gofor (Jan 12, 2008)

Another thought if the PVC is not to your liking. Check the clear acrylic tubing. It is more flexible, will give more friction, and I think is based on OD rather than ID as for sizing.

Go


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

I'm not very good at visualizing projects from written descriptions Neil, but I know you need a solution. I would just drink the bottles dry, then no worries, LOL.


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

So ….

What I did:

I took a 4-1/2" x 36" x 3/4" thick piece of QSWO.

I laid out my marks for four pieces at 9" wide, each, AND the two 1-1/2" holes, properly spaced.

Used the DP and Forstner bit to drill the holes-two in each 9" section-centers 3" from the center of the piece (to match the holes in the side panel).

Then I ripped the piece, lengthwise, giving me a 36×1-1/4" piece with semi-circles along the edge.

Then I re-sawed the pieces to 3/8" thick x 2 pieces/ea.

Then I crosscut my 9" pieces out, leaving 9" long x 2-1/4" pieces with semi-circles centered where the panels' holes are.

Then … I used my Oscillating Spindle Sander to sand up the semi-circles.

Then … to the router table.

I used a 45* chamfer bit to angle the top and both sides of EACH piece so they'd meet flush at the panel.

Then I ran all the pieces through the drum sander so they'd be nice and clean.

Had to grab more scrap to make pieces 9 and 10 the same way.

Once that was done, I simply pin nailed them on (no glue), above the panel holes, in such a way that they took 3/8" off the overall hole diameter, AND allowed an extra 3/8" of "depth" to cradle the neck of the wine bottles.

It all seemed to work just fine.

My 'research' tells me that the bottle I HAVE … that I've been using for TESTING … is pretty much exactly the same size as your average bottle. There's a neck, and a lip ON the neck. BOTH are typical of the diameter of wine bottles.

It was easy to get bottles into the "newly reduced" holes. The bottles stayed put, and NEARLY parallel to the ground. They'll be okay.

So … I took the last of the Waterlox that I'd poured into my paint cup, and … put one coat on each of the new pieces.

I've got some more finishing to do before glue up, and then some more to do after glue-up.

Should only be another week, though, at the most, before I'm putting up project pics, and … deciding whether the Waterlox would benefit from some paste wax and my P-C polisher 

Thanks for the great ideas, folks.

The BEST thing WOULD have been to go back and add the taper into the design, but …. I ran out of gas ;-)

This way will work, and may even add an element of design interest to the piece.


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