DIY AV Cabinet Build

[EddThompson]

Well, after looking for the perfect cabinet i found they didnt have enough room or were to expensive, so i thought id give it ago.

Im no Norm Abram, and this was my first attempt at anything like this, so if you follow this you do so at your own risk.

Id like this in a way to be open source, please feel free to use in anyway shape or form, but if you have any ideas comments etc, please post them.

The plan:

Since i had 19" rack amplifiers, i thought it would be a great idea to build a standard 19" rack cabinet, then any shelves can be moved/removed, it would take immense weight, and you can get all kinds of cool things like draws and panels.

the sketch:

The interior space is 16U high (16x1.75"=28"), 19" wide (48.3cm) and 50cm deep. All wood is 18mm mdf. All other measurements were derived from this to make the cutting plan:

3 Vertical pieces, 2 Horizontal pieces, 2 Doors, and 6 Feet.

screwed and glued together you should get something like this:

and the feet:

i used 4 screws along each join with plenty of wood glue. I used my amp to make sure it would actualy fit

After some sanding down nice and smooth, i painted the interior matt black, and ironed on some walnut veneer on the exterior:

I then cut to length 8 strips of rack strip, and placed it 3cm from the front and rear edges. I used heave duty rack strip like this as it allows you to bolt at the rear as well to take more weight.

Then it was all sanded, given a second coat where needed and varnished to match my other furniture, and the doors put on with basic hinges. Shelves can then be added to suit, and blanking plates put in to tidy everything up.

So far, i have fitted 1 shelf

I hope you enjoyed this, sorry for the terrible write up, not my strong point.

edd

[EddThompson]

Oops, forgot to mention, i added 3 braces across the back for extra support

edd

[thekingbeyond]

Simple and effective. Looks good, what about costs?

[EddThompson]

The wood was about £25 cut to the dimensions, the racking for 4 strips was £45, the walnut veneer and iron on glue sheets was about £80, although pre glued stuff on a roll is much cheaper, but i fancied wallnut, the hinges were about £5.

The expensive stuff is the rack hardware, shelves run anywhere between £12 and £30, 8 shelves and thats a lot of money, but you could always make your own, or just not use the 19" rack system.

Ive spent about £180 so far, but as i say, you can do it cheaper.

The photos make the finish look quite poor, actualy looks btter than that

edd

[bcopping]

Nice one Edd, im about to start buliding one of these myself. May copy the wood vaneer idea, i was just going to paint it all black.

Have got a couple of questions for you thuough:

What distance have you left between the front and back mounting rails? most trays seem to be adjustable but i want to be as cose to a standard as possible!

What trays are you using? i want to mount front and rear but fear that an adjustable tray may rattle (i will have a speaker in my rack)

[EddThompson]

sorry for the late reply. ill have to measure the front to back distance, i actualy bolted them to the rear mounts on my amplifier then screwed them into the cabinet, i didnt measure them

The selves tend not to have rear mountings, but if you get the deeper ones (40cm) then i just drilled holes at the back.

I only have one of these shelves for the 33kg that is my denon, the rest are plain 30cm deep 2U shelves (off ebay) that take up to 22kg in weight just mounted at the front.

good luck on building.

edd

[Zef]

looks good - where did the veneer come from - i really like that - did you stain or varnish it at all ?.

Cheers

[EddThompson]

veneer was off ebay, it was pain, next time ill get the iron on stuff on a roll. yes its polyurathene varnished, to get to as close a colour as the other furniture in the room.

ive since put all the shelves in, ill update the pictures when i remember.

edd

[Knightshade]

You can get 'pre veneered' MDF, blockboard, plywood etc. Costs a bit more than regular MDF but most places will cut to size and finish how ever many sidees you want.

Nice stand!

[Moray M]

There appears to be very little in the way of ventilation, except from the open back, which backs onto a radiator. Won't your Denon be toasted by all those amps?

[EddThompson]

the amps have fans, and heat is passed from the back out the front, and they dont go above room temp. the ony heat is generated by the denon its self, even though i dont use its internal amps, ill probably put some slow fans on the back with this blowing across the top of the denon.

i do keep the doors (or just the left door) open in general though, there only shut when the system is off.

edd

[EddThompson]

Originally Posted by bcopping

Nice one Edd, im about to start buliding one of these myself. May copy the wood vaneer idea, i was just going to paint it all black.

Have got a couple of questions for you thuough:

What distance have you left between the front and back mounting rails? most trays seem to be adjustable but i want to be as cose to a standard as possible!

What trays are you using? i want to mount front and rear but fear that an adjustable tray may rattle (i will have a speaker in my rack)

the distance from the front of the front rack rail to the back of the back rail is 45cm. or 2cm in from the back of the cabinet.

edd

[EddThompson]

I have finaly added more shelves, realy pleased so far with how its working. the only change i would possibly make is make it a bit deeper, with the cross braces it can be a bit awkward with realy deep components such as the denon amp. May be as deep as 60cm, but its not that much of an issue, i just put the shelf the denon amp is on above the cross brace and its fine.

edd