SWMBO has asked me to make a plate rack.

I've looked at a number of designs on
the web, and have come up with my own
ideas on how to build it but I'm not
100% confident that my designing skills
are up to the task.

It will look similar but not identical
to this one:
http://tinyurl.com/267ykg

Mine will have two rows of full sized
plates instead of one, so twice the
weight of plates.

Mine will not be mounted covering a
window but on bare wall.

The one in the picture has a plank
holding the plate's edge and I want that
plank replaced with two rails, morticed
into the sides, spaced about 6" apart
front to back. Vertical dowels will
separate the plates, as in the picture.

So far, the design calls for a width of
29" and height overall of 34" Thickness
of sides stock will be 3/4" and I'm
toying with pine sides and oak rails.

My concern is the rails that I'm
planning on using to support the edges
of the plates. Is there enough stock
with the 3/4" sides to resist pullout
(glue only) or do I have to think about
pinning the rails or use through
mortices and use the split tenon/wedge
idea? I'd rather not use any screws on
this piece if possible.

As I understand the forces that are at
play in something like this, most of the
force is down, but there is also a force
pulling the rails out of the sides as
well. I don't know how significant that
second force will be.

What do you guys think?

TIA

Tanus

--
This is not really a sig.

http://users.compzone.ca/george/shop/

Your design approach appears to be good. At the end it is you that will
have to live and look at the finished product.
As a joke, the only thing I have against this type of open storage design is
that its not seismically qualified.
I do not know what type of wood you intend to use to make this plate rack.
If after several design layouts you are still not happy you can always make
a mock up using inexpensive wood.
Let us know how you make out.

"Tanus" wrote in message ...
SWMBO has asked me to make a plate rack.

I've looked at a number of designs on the web, and have come up with my
own ideas on how to build it but I'm not 100% confident that my designing
skills are up to the task.

It will look similar but not identical to this one:
http://tinyurl.com/267ykg

Mine will have two rows of full sized plates instead of one, so twice the
weight of plates.

Mine will not be mounted covering a window but on bare wall.

The one in the picture has a plank holding the plate's edge and I want
that plank replaced with two rails, morticed into the sides, spaced about
6" apart front to back. Vertical dowels will separate the plates, as in
the picture.

So far, the design calls for a width of 29" and height overall of 34"
Thickness of sides stock will be 3/4" and I'm toying with pine sides and
oak rails.

My concern is the rails that I'm planning on using to support the edges
of the plates. Is there enough stock with the 3/4" sides to resist pullout
(glue only) or do I have to think about pinning the rails or use through
mortices and use the split tenon/wedge idea? I'd rather not use any screws
on this piece if possible.

As I understand the forces that are at play in something like this, most
of the force is down, but there is also a force pulling the rails out of
the sides as well. I don't know how significant that second force will
be.

What do you guys think?

TIA

Tanus

--
This is not really a sig.

http://users.compzone.ca/george/shop/

Tanus explained :
SWMBO has asked me to make a plate rack.

I've looked at a number of designs on the web, and have come up with my own
ideas on how to build it but I'm not 100% confident that my designing skills
are up to the task.

It will look similar but not identical to this one:
http://tinyurl.com/267ykg

Mine will have two rows of full sized plates instead of one, so twice the
weight of plates.

Mine will not be mounted covering a window but on bare wall.

The one in the picture has a plank holding the plate's edge and I want that
plank replaced with two rails, morticed into the sides, spaced about 6" apart
front to back. Vertical dowels will separate the plates, as in the picture.

So far, the design calls for a width of 29" and height overall of 34"
Thickness of sides stock will be 3/4" and I'm toying with pine sides and oak
rails.

My concern is the rails that I'm planning on using to support the edges of
the plates. Is there enough stock with the 3/4" sides to resist pullout (glue
only) or do I have to think about pinning the rails or use through mortices
and use the split tenon/wedge idea? I'd rather not use any screws on this
piece if possible.

As I understand the forces that are at play in something like this, most of
the force is down, but there is also a force pulling the rails out of the
sides as well. I don't know how significant that second force will be.

What do you guys think?



YMMV but I have never been a fan of those open storage designs. They
look good until 1. you have to clean them and 2. the plates get dirty
from just sitting there in a kitchen with particulates flying around
looking for a nice place to settle.
Mekon

Tanus wrote:

SWMBO has asked me to make a plate rack.

I've looked at a number of designs on the web, and have come up with my
own ideas on how to build it but I'm not 100% confident that my
designing skills are up to the task.

It will look similar but not identical to this one:
http://tinyurl.com/267ykg
snip

A real dust collector.

I'll give it a year, before you retire it, regardless of the design.

Lew

On Sat, 07 Apr 2007 02:05:53 GMT, Mekon
wrote:

.... snip

YMMV but I have never been a fan of those open storage designs. They
look good until 1. you have to clean them and 2. the plates get dirty
from just sitting there in a kitchen with particulates flying around
looking for a nice place to settle.
Mekon


On the other hand, putting it in front of a window provides the benefit
of UV sterilization. :-)



+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

wrote:
Your design approach appears to be good. At the end it is you that will
have to live and look at the finished product.
As a joke, the only thing I have against this type of open storage design is
that its not seismically qualified.
I do not know what type of wood you intend to use to make this plate rack.
If after several design layouts you are still not happy you can always make
a mock up using inexpensive wood.
Let us know how you make out.


Thanks. I will. I"m still going to go
ahead with it, even tho as others have
suggested, dust is going to be an issue.
What makes matters worse is that we heat
with wood.

However, the "O" in SWMBO stands for
Obey(ed) and with all the information
about dust and woodsmoke, she still
wants it made. Actually she wants two,
and I'm really going to try and talk her
out of the second one. She's talking 10
feet of plate rack. Sigh.

The only possible upside to that would
be if I could convince her that the ten
footer really demanded new tools. That I
might be able to live with.

Tanus

--
This is not really a sig.

http://users.compzone.ca/george/shop/

On Sat, 07 Apr 2007 17:45:01 -0400, Tanus wrote:

Thanks. I will. I"m still going to go
ahead with it, even tho as others have
suggested, dust is going to be an issue.
What makes matters worse is that we heat
with wood.

We've built a few of these that look mostly like the factory models
with a cabinet (with doors) on top and the plate rack part below. We
make ours so that the doweled parts can be removed. Much easier for
the painter and can be to removed later for cleaning inside the
cabinet.

Mike O.

Mike O. wrote:
On Sat, 07 Apr 2007 17:45:01 -0400, Tanus wrote:

Thanks. I will. I"m still going to go
ahead with it, even tho as others have
suggested, dust is going to be an issue.
What makes matters worse is that we heat
with wood.

We've built a few of these that look mostly like the factory models
with a cabinet (with doors) on top and the plate rack part below. We
make ours so that the doweled parts can be removed. Much easier for
the painter and can be to removed later for cleaning inside the
cabinet.

Mike O.

Would you happen to have a picture of
the ones you've built?

Tanus

--
This is not really a sig.

http://users.compzone.ca/george/shop/

On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 16:27:32 -0400, Tanus wrote:

We've built a few of these that look mostly like the factory models
with a cabinet (with doors) on top and the plate rack part below. We
make ours so that the doweled parts can be removed. Much easier for
the painter and can be to removed later for cleaning inside the
cabinet.

Mike O.

Would you happen to have a picture of
the ones you've built?

Sorry I don't.
Basically the ones we build are normally a 30" x 30" x 12" deep wall
cabinet with the plate rack in the bottom half and a pair of doors
above. It's a pretty common box in factory cabinets so you might find
a website that would show a similar cabinet. Sometimes the top
opening will be taller if the cabinets are taller or someone wants
this cabinet top higher than the rest. We leave a minimum of 12" of
height in the clear for the plates. I'm sure the size could be
adjusted to fit your needs or to have two rows of plates.

For the doweled parts we use four 1/2" thick x 1 1/2" wide strips of
hardwood that are the width of the cabinet. If the stiles hang inside
the opening these pieces need to be short enough to turn into the
cabinet. The dowels are about 1/8" shorter than the height of the
opening and fit loosely into holes drilled into the strips. Put one
set of dowels into two strips, locate the strips inside the box and
screw tight to the top and bottom. Rinse and repeat for the front set
of dowels.

Mike O.

Mike O. wrote:
On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 16:27:32 -0400, Tanus wrote:

We've built a few of these that look mostly like the factory models
with a cabinet (with doors) on top and the plate rack part below. We
make ours so that the doweled parts can be removed. Much easier for
the painter and can be to removed later for cleaning inside the
cabinet.

Mike O.
Would you happen to have a picture of
the ones you've built?

Sorry I don't.
Basically the ones we build are normally a 30" x 30" x 12" deep wall
cabinet with the plate rack in the bottom half and a pair of doors
above. It's a pretty common box in factory cabinets so you might find
a website that would show a similar cabinet. Sometimes the top
opening will be taller if the cabinets are taller or someone wants
this cabinet top higher than the rest. We leave a minimum of 12" of
height in the clear for the plates. I'm sure the size could be
adjusted to fit your needs or to have two rows of plates.

For the doweled parts we use four 1/2" thick x 1 1/2" wide strips of
hardwood that are the width of the cabinet. If the stiles hang inside
the opening these pieces need to be short enough to turn into the
cabinet. The dowels are about 1/8" shorter than the height of the
opening and fit loosely into holes drilled into the strips. Put one
set of dowels into two strips, locate the strips inside the box and
screw tight to the top and bottom. Rinse and repeat for the front set
of dowels.

Mike O.

Thanks Mike. The description helped a
lot. I don't think I'll be building an
enclosed cabinet this time around,
although it may be for V. 2.

The dowels idea I really like, and may
well incorporate that into this version.

Thanks again.

Tanus

--
This is not really a sig.

http://users.compzone.ca/george/shop/

Tanus wrote:
| Thanks Mike. The description helped a
| lot. I don't think I'll be building an
| enclosed cabinet this time around,
| although it may be for V. 2.

While you guys were talking, I rummaged around and finally found a
design that I worked on a bit last year. It's not as fancy as Mike's,
and has space for hanging mugs and a shelf that can either be used for
serving platter or mugs/glasses.

I'll post a sketch to ABPW.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/solar.html

On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 21:26:57 -0400, Tanus wrote:

Thanks Mike. The description helped a
lot. I don't think I'll be building an
enclosed cabinet this time around,
although it may be for V. 2.

The dowels idea I really like, and may
well incorporate that into this version.

I was watching the Sopranos tonight and interestingly enough they had
a two row plate rack hanging at the lake cabin.
I had never seen this design before. Instead of the two rows of
dowels, for each row of plates, it had only one row of dowels. The
dowels seemed to have a rail at the front bottom and a rail at the top
back so the row of dowels was leaning to the back at about a 45. This
seemed to have a pretty open look but I guess I'll have to watch again
to pick up more detail.
It's funny..... the things you notice!

Mike O.

Mike O. wrote:
On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 21:26:57 -0400, Tanus wrote:

Thanks Mike. The description helped a
lot. I don't think I'll be building an
enclosed cabinet this time around,
although it may be for V. 2.

The dowels idea I really like, and may
well incorporate that into this version.

I was watching the Sopranos tonight and interestingly enough they had
a two row plate rack hanging at the lake cabin.
I had never seen this design before. Instead of the two rows of
dowels, for each row of plates, it had only one row of dowels. The
dowels seemed to have a rail at the front bottom and a rail at the top
back so the row of dowels was leaning to the back at about a 45. This
seemed to have a pretty open look but I guess I'll have to watch again
to pick up more detail.
It's funny..... the things you notice!

Mike O.

The inspiration for this project came
from a magazine my wife reads and they
have a pic on the web for this month's
issue but doesn't show enough detail.
Very similar to the one you're talking
about except the dowels go front to back
from top to bottom. And at about 45º.

I decided against the design because I
don't have anything other than a
handheld drill and the worst press for
it. Controlling the angle would be more
than I'd need but I liked the design for
the same reasons you stated. Nice and clean,

Tanus
--
This is not really a sig.

http://users.compzone.ca/george/shop/

On Mon, 09 Apr 2007 08:48:38 -0400, Tanus wrote:

I decided against the design because I
don't have anything other than a
handheld drill and the worst press for
it. Controlling the angle would be more
than I'd need but I liked the design for
the same reasons you stated. Nice and clean,

The one I saw I believe had a top and bottom rail (holding the dowels)
that could be drilled square. It may or may not have had an angle cut
on the rails but it looked like the doweled unit was assembled and
added to what was the frame.
Also, it's possible that the top half had the dowels running from
front to back starting at the top and the bottom row had them going
front to back staring at the bottom. This would allow you to grab the
top row of plates (these would be harder to reach) from the bottom of
the plate and the bottom row of plates from the top of the plate.
I guess I still need to see it again.
Anyway, good luck it'll be a fun project.

Mike O.

Tanus wrote:
Mike O. wrote:
On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 21:26:57 -0400, Tanus wrote:

Thanks Mike. The description helped a lot. I don't think I'll be
building an enclosed cabinet this time around, although it may be for
V. 2.

The dowels idea I really like, and may well incorporate that into
this version.

I was watching the Sopranos tonight and interestingly enough they had
a two row plate rack hanging at the lake cabin. I had never seen
this design before. Instead of the two rows of
dowels, for each row of plates, it had only one row of dowels. The
dowels seemed to have a rail at the front bottom and a rail at the top
back so the row of dowels was leaning to the back at about a 45. This
seemed to have a pretty open look but I guess I'll have to watch again
to pick up more detail. It's funny..... the things you notice!
Mike O.

The inspiration for this project came from a magazine my wife reads and
they have a pic on the web for this month's issue but doesn't show
enough detail. Very similar to the one you're talking about except the
dowels go front to back from top to bottom. And at about 45º.

I decided against the design because I don't have anything other than a
handheld drill and the worst press for it. Controlling the angle would
be more than I'd need but I liked the design for the same reasons you
stated. Nice and clean,

Tanus

I was thinking I'd drill the holes at 90 degrees, and put a 45 on the
edge...

Harvey

eclipsme wrote:
Tanus wrote:
Mike O. wrote:
On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 21:26:57 -0400, Tanus wrote:

Thanks Mike. The description helped a lot. I don't think I'll be
building an enclosed cabinet this time around, although it may be
for V. 2.

The dowels idea I really like, and may well incorporate that into
this version.

I was watching the Sopranos tonight and interestingly enough they had
a two row plate rack hanging at the lake cabin. I had never seen
this design before. Instead of the two rows of
dowels, for each row of plates, it had only one row of dowels. The
dowels seemed to have a rail at the front bottom and a rail at the top
back so the row of dowels was leaning to the back at about a 45. This
seemed to have a pretty open look but I guess I'll have to watch again
to pick up more detail. It's funny..... the things you notice!
Mike O.

The inspiration for this project came from a magazine my wife reads
and they have a pic on the web for this month's issue but doesn't show
enough detail. Very similar to the one you're talking about except the
dowels go front to back from top to bottom. And at about 45º.

I decided against the design because I don't have anything other than
a handheld drill and the worst press for it. Controlling the angle
would be more than I'd need but I liked the design for the same
reasons you stated. Nice and clean,

Tanus

I was thinking I'd drill the holes at 90 degrees, and put a 45 on the
edge...

Harvey

That's how I ended up drawing it after
fiddling with the idea of the rails at
45 to the walls of the sides. I
sometimes tend to overdesign things and
this was an example of that. A 45 on the
edge just makes so much more sense.

Tanus

--
This is not really a sig.

http://users.compzone.ca/george/shop/