Preparing dimensioned furniture plans

Re: Preparing dimensioned furniture plans

Brad Chenoweth

Nice presentation, Bill! That's really a thoughtful, solid approach, and helpful to design-challenged folks like myself. Thanks for sharing!

Re: Preparing dimensioned furniture plans

Tim Greif - West of Chicago

I do pretty much the same, only with more notes. One question - how do you account for clearances? For instance, are the dividers really 7/8" or actually 3/4" with an allowance for 1/8" clearance?

Re: Preparing dimensioned furniture plans

David Yoho

When I first started building furniture I also ran into problems when following other people's plans that contained mistakes in measurements. This and the fact that I was mostly building custom work quickly caused me to produce my own drawn plans.

I worked pretty much the way you have shown. I started out with what was known. Then it was a simple matter of adding in what was not. Math was checked several times and then I started cutting parts.

In the earlier years I would produce a cut list from the master plan and proceed to cut all the parts required. From that I learned to slow down and cut only what was needed for the moment. I found out it was better to cut and assemble things like frame and panels or case sections for example. In other words - only what I could glue up and assemble right away. Then cut more parts, rinse, and repeat. This also allowed me to check actual measurements as I progressed to see if anything needed tweaking.

I think your method is good information for those who haven't worked from their own plans before or wondered how to start.

Re: Preparing dimensioned furniture plans

Jim O'Connor

Right now I'm making 3 chairs for the church. They have a gothic arch frame and panel for the back. I made a full size half pattern of the plan view to figure out the look of the arch. These parts were cut and assembled before I cut any thing else and I found the panels were not exactly the same size so the seat back rail now fits the back panel width for each chair.

Having the full size pattern helps me from making dumb errors.

Re: Preparing dimensioned furniture plans

John Pappas

I have found the use of story sticks very effective in avoiding errors. One for all vertical dimensions and one for all horizontal dimensions.

clarification

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

The dividers are 7/8". When I say drawers I mean drawer opening. I will worry about the details of the size of what goes in there when the opening is built. That is to say, I fit the drawer to the opening. see my comment below

The cut list

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

The dimensioned plans are used to create a cut list. Must remember to add the length of dovetails and tenons to drawer dividers lengths, and the like. As stated, don't finish cut any parts you don't have to to get started. Things can change making finished dimensions obsolete.

Except of the tops of furniture and drawers I rough cut all, or most all, the parts at this point. I may be in a different position than some. I have been at this for decades and I have accumulated a lot of hardwood shorts. I go to extremes to use these effectively in a new project. In this case I got out all the ash shorts I had and compared what I had to what was needed. As needed, either for appearance or size, new lumber is added.

What ever parts start the project are rough, then final cut at this point (legs in this case for they determine all else. The rest of the cut list is rough cut to size. I don't know what of the shorts I can use until I actually begin using them for parts. The parts are shown in this picture....



I treat the drawers and the top as a separate project. I will deal with these parts when the case is done.

Re: Preparing dimensioned furniture plans

TomD

I sometimes use plans, and I will almost always do them in CAD. I use 2D cad for furniture, though I use 3D for boats, where it maters. A lot of guys pick up the newer 3D stuff fast, I have seen people come back to forums with things I could never do, and they said they had learned and produced over just a few evenings. If you start with the 3D, like Sketchup, you can also use those skills for 3D printing.

CAD is great because it is so fast, clean, every dimension is specified, in full size. Any size up to the Universe or down to atoms. For really simple plans, like Bills, it could pretty much all be developed from squares which are like highlighting a word. You just click on one corner and pull it out to full size, or enter dimensions.

For more complex shapes, I sometimes take the time to build more fully rendered files. And then I can keep them for later use. They can be enlarged or stretched with a few keystrokes. And I can make printouts that I can transfer to the part to be cut out, or print on a T-Shirt for a logo.

I started back in 486 territory, when Intel paired a co-processor in the DX. But today, anyone can do it.

Re: The cut list

David Yoho

I've followed pretty much the way you've described. I always cut parts from the cut list oversized, which included various joinery dimensions. The times I didn't cut everything were when I knew my schedule wouldn't allow me to get back to things soon enough or didn't have all the stock yet to do so. Some big projects I remember doing had me stacking and stickering parts with weights on top hoping to keep things stable until I could get to them. Space being at a premium at times, caused me to change up and cut and prepare what was needed at the moment.

I think it was the chest of drawers I built for my wife where I first decided to build the case first and then take measurements for the draw boxes. They were inset drawers and needed to be very precise. After that experience I did all drawers that way. Just came out better.

Agree and for emphasis......

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Commercial plans encourage one to buy some lumber, look at the plans, cut the parts as described in the plans to +/-0.001" and then put it together.

We probably all started that way. I certainly was deluded into thinking this is how stuff was built. Works for bird house. Not so good for a chest of drawers.

To re-emphasize some fundamental guidelines you introduced:

1.Unless there is some overriding reason to do so don't cut anything till it is needed.

2. Take final measurements off the assembly where possible and not off the plans. The plan dimensions are used to estimate lumber requirements and to prepare the rough cut pieces.



For example I might rough cut drawer fronts and sides as I was preparing the case. The finished cuts will be be made after holding the rough cut drawer front at the opening where it goes and then marking its length and width off the opening. With a hand plane the final size and shape (the opening may not be perfectly rectangular) of the front will be refined to fit the opening. This strategy will be used where ever it can be to achieve a perfect fit.

Re: Preparing dimensioned furniture plans

Brad Chenoweth

Man, I'd love to learn 3D. I use AutoCad at work for 2D drawings, but honestly, I.m not a very skilled user. IT keeps telling me they're going to give me Creo to play with, but so far, no joy.

Re: Preparing dimensioned furniture plans

jessecloud

This stage is when the project first starts to seem real and to be fun for me.

The next stage is when you take all these dimensions to the lumber yard and try to buy lumber that will work without too much waste... "Now that 8 foot board could be two legs and one apron part".

One of the most useful lessons I learned in school was to make a template of key pieces, such as a curved leg, and take it with a piece of chalk to the lumberyard. When you see a board that has pleasing grain for the piece, use the the template and chalk to draw the piece on the board. Maybe do a few possible pieces. Best way to get the look you are going for.

Good to see you back Bill.

Re: Agree and for emphasis......

Barry Irby

Random thoughts....First, thanks Bill for starting the thread.

I am fortunate enough to have quite a stash of rough lumber. I find about half the work of building something is "stock prep". Part of that is selection. I cut pieces oversized where I can. If flat enough I cut double length pieces to eliminate snipe as much as possible. I leave the "sawmill" ends on and a little long to absorb the snipe and to allow cutting away cracked ends.

Something I just picked up on as far as templates go. I have used cardboard and the occasional plywood scrap as a pattern or template. I happen to have several boxes of thin plexiglass. If you cut the template out of something clear, you can lay it on the wood and really asses the grain pattern. You could have the same effect by cutting the piece you want out of the piece of cardboard. Say you wanted a four by sixteen drawer front. Instead of making a 4 by 16 rectangle and laying on the stock, cut a 4 by 16 hole in a piece of cardboard and lay that on the stock. Am I the only one who never thought of this? I wanted some legs stock that was rift sawn. I cut a square of plexiglass and pressed it on the end of the blank. Made it really easy to twist it to the rift sawn orientation and then trace it.

A whole other topic

David Yoho

You bring up another part to Bill's topic -

The next stage is when you take all these dimensions to the lumber yard and try to buy lumber that will work without too much waste... "Now that 8 foot board could be two legs and one apron part".

When you don't have a stash of hardwood lumber like Bill has, you need to go buy it. A project cut list can provide an overall way to determine the number of board feet required. How do you bring home enough wood without getting too much? In the early days I would go to the lumber yard with that amount in mind and pull enough to satisfy it. I quickly learned about the percentage of waste and how it affects the amount you really need to buy.

As time went on and things got busier in my shop, I realized I didn't always have time to plan things out for a project the way I did when I started out. By then I had developed a sense of what I needed without drawing up a full blown plan. I also didn't have a problem with purchasing a little more stock than was necessary because I could always use it down the road. Most times I went to the lumber yard and picked out what I wanted and believe it or not it worked.

Of course there's a difference between buying stock for when there's lots of work coming in and when you're working on a single project. Most home shops don't usually have the space to store extra lumber or maybe the budget dictates not over doing it.

I can still about figure what I need for a single project without a full blown plan and cut list. I guess it's experience at work. However, for many, a cut list is a good way to determine how much is needed when you go to buy your stock.