Entertainment Armoire Plans Besides being a solid piece of furniture, this armoire offers flexibility. An adjustable shelf in the lower part of cabinet, and an adjustable, rebuildable VCR rack in the upper portion, allows for the accommodation of many different electronic toys. This project was also designed to be built using a minimum of expensive power tools. By making use of standard No.2 pine, it's possible to construct your own version of this armoire without a jointer or planer, if you carefully select your boards. All that's required is a table saw, router, belt sander, and a jig saw. I built this one with an 8" table top table saw. Refer to figure #1, and you'll see that this project is based on a solid wood carcass formed by sides A1 and A2, connected by top B1, bottom B4, and two fixed shelves B2 and B3. The front of the cabinet is covered by four doors. Each of the lower doors opens on conventional butt hinges, while the upper doors are hung on concealed, 95 degree European hinges. They are mounted to pocket door hardware enabling the doors to slide into the cabinet, instead of being left open. If you hang the upper doors on regular butt hinges, you will be able to increase the size of the TV if necessary. The TV shelf is supported on a sliding, swivel base, to allow viewing from varying angles. MATERIALS: (all parts are No.2 pine unless otherwise indicated) QUANTITY SIZE DESCRIPTION - CABINET 2 3/4" x 20" x 72" Sides A1, A2 4 3/4" x 19 11/16" x 35" Top & fixed shelves B1, B2, B3, B4 2 3/4" x 2 1/4" x 72" Face frame stiles C1, C2 1 3/4" x 4 1/2" x 31 1/2" Middle & bottom face frame rails E1, E2 1 1 1/4" x 4 3/4" x 38 1/2" Front skirt F 2 1 1/4" x 4 3/4" x 21 15/16" Side skirt G1, G2 1 1" x 38 1/8" Bottom front cove molding H 2 1" x 21 3/4" Bottom side cove molding I1, I2 1 3 1/4" x 40 5/8" Front colonial crown molding J 2 3 1/4" x 23 1/16" Side colonial crown moldings K1, K2 1 1 5/8" x 37 1/2" Front symmetrical molding L 2 1 5/8" x 21 7/16" Side symmetrical moldings M1, M2 QUANTITY SIZE DESCRIPTION - DRAWER 1 3/4" x 7 7/8" x 31 3/8" Front N 2 3/4" x 7 1/4" x 19 1/4" Sides O1, O2 1 3/4" x 7 1/4" x 29 5/8" Back P 1 1/4" x 18" x 29 5/8" Pine veneer plywood, bottom Q QUANTITY SIZE DESCRIPTION - VCR RACK 2 3/4" x 19" x 19 5/8" Sides R1, R2 2 3/4" x 19 5/8" x 27 1/4" Top & bottom S1, S2 2 3/4" x 19 5/8" x 26 7/16" Adjustable shelves T1, T2 QUANTITY SIZE DESCRIPTION - TV SHELF 1 3/4" x 18 1/4" x 24" TV shelf V 1 3/4" x 3" x 24" TV shelf front strip W QUANTITY SIZE DESCRIPTION - UPPER DOORS 4 3/4" x 2 1/4" x 37 18" Stiles AA 4 3/4" x 2 1/4" x 12" Rails BB 2 1/2" x 10 1/2" x 33 1/8" Raised panels CC 1 3/4" x 3" x 37 1/4" Center stile GG 4 3/4" x 3 1/2" x 30" Pocket hinge door followers II 2 1/4 " x 3 1/2" x 30" Pocket hinge door followers JJ QUANTITY SIZE DESCRIPTION - LOWER DOORS 4 3/4" x 2 1/4" x 21 7/8" Stiles DD 4 3/4" x 2 1/4" x 12 Rails EE 2 1/2" x 10 1/2" x 17 7/8" Raised panels FF 1 3/4" x 3" x 22" Center stile HH QUANTITY SIZE DESCRIPTION - MISCELLANEOUS 4 3/4" x 1" x 19 1/2" Drawer slide spacers KK 10 1/4" x 3 1/2" x 67" Tongue and groove paneling 1 3/4" x 19 5/8" x 34 3/8" Adjustable lower shelf U QUANTITY SIZE DESCRIPTION - HARDWARE 4 1 1/2" Wooden knobs 2 18" Bottom mount drawer slides 4 18" Pocket door slides 4 95 degree European hinges 1 Sliding TV swivel 4 2 1/2" Brass hinges 4 3/8" Wooden roller guides 4 Spring loaded ball bearing door catches 12 Brass shelf pins 52 Brass shelf pin sleeves INSTRUCTIONS: Step 1 - Begin by laminating enough wood to make the sides, shelves (both fixed and adjustable), VCR rack, and TV shelf. Two lengths of 7 1/4" wide stock (1x8) edge-glued on both sides of 5 1/2" wide stock (1x6) will yield 20" wide panels - perfect for the sides and just a little wider than needed for the other large parts. If you stock isn't quite straight, you will have to run it through a jointer or table saw first. You can also use dowels or biscuits to join the boards into panels, but it isn't absolutely necessary. Use pipe clamps to hold the panels together, alternating them under and over the stock to prevent warping. Step 2 - After the glue has dried, remove the clamps and use a hand plane and belt sander, to remove the ridges on the panels where the boards meet. Finish with a palm or orbital sander, then rip and crosscut as required to reach final sizing. Step 3 - On the insides of A1 and A2, mark the lines for the 1 /4" x 3/4" dados and rabbets, to accept the shelves, top and bottom panels, following the measurements on Figure 1. The tongue and groove back slats fit into 5/16" x 5/16" rabbets cut into the inside back edges of A1 and A2. A router with a 3/4" straight bit offers the safest option for cutting these joints, although a dado blade and table saw with a large support table, can be used as well. After cutting, dry fit all dados and rabbets with parts B1,2,3 & 4. Step 4 - This cabinet is held together with glue and screws driven through the sides of the cabinet into the ends of the fixed shelves, top, and bottom members. The heads of these screws fit into countersunk holes in the cabinet sides, sized to accommodate tapered wooden plugs. This approach is easier than wrestling with all the pipe clamps that would be required if screws were omitted. Using a spade or brad point bit, drill 3/8" dia. x 1/4" -deep holes into the outside surface of sides Al and A2, at three or four places along each dado. Continue these holes right through each side with a smaller twist bit, sized to match the shank of the screws you'll use. There are also countersink bits that will do this in one process, available at most hardware stores.If you're using pine to build your armoire, there's no need to pre-drill holes into the ends of the fixed shelves, top, or bottom members if no knots are present in the area where screws will go. Assemble the body of the cabinet with glue. Step 5 - After it's together, and all the screws have been installed and tightened, measure diagonally from corner to corner and manipulate the sides of the cabinet so the diagonal measurements are the same, before setting it aside to dry. Assuming opposite sides of the cabinet are exactly the same length, equalizing the diagonals ensures overall squareness. Step 6 - Fig. 1 shows the face frame and the arrangement of all its parts. Build this frame as a separate unit from the body of the cabinet, using biscuits or dowels at the joints. Refer to your assembled cabinet for the precise size and arrangement of the face frame members needed to fit your particular cabinet. The top edge of the horizontal face frame members should line up exactly with the top surfaces of parts B2 and B4; the outside edge of the vertical frame members should be flush with the outside surfaces of sides Al and A2. Cut, join, glue, and clamp the face frame and set it aside to dry. Step 7 - When both the cabinet and face frame can be taken out of the clamps, attach them together with glue and screws, hidden under wooden plugs. Using a belt sander, level and smooth the members of the face frame after installation. The heads of the plugs can be sanded off as well. Step 8 - The adjustable shelf U sits on four metal pins that can fit into different holes drilled into the cabinet sides between parts B2 and B3. The location and spacing of these holes determines your options for placement of the shelf. Although these holes could have been drilled before the cabinet was assembled, it's safer to do this job now, with the assistance of a plywood template and wooden depth stop. Carefully lay out and drill a series of holes along the length of a scrap piece of plywood that's about 3/4" x 3" x 14". Lay out these holes with exactly the same spacing that you'd like the shelf pins to have and use a brad point bit (the correct size for the shelf pin holes) to drill them.