How do you make wood "Air Grilles"?
 

Hello,
I pulled out an old gas furnace in my hallway, which is tiled, and I'm
left with a small section, footprint, were the tile went around the
base of the furnace. It's about 6"x 12". I have no replacement tile to
repair this so I was thinking I could just make a fake floor air
grille to cover it up. So, all I need now is to find out how to
construct one of these. Any and all help appreciated.
Mike

There was a series of Wood magazines from a year or two ago that showed
how to redo a complete rom in an Arts & Crafts style. I remember that
they specifically showed how to make air grilles, but I don't exactly
recall how they did it. You might research this to see if you can get a
hold of the back issues.

Joe in Denver
my woodworking shop:
www.the-wildings.com/shop/

I've seen 'em at Home Depot in various sizes.

--Steve

miey wrote:

Hello,
I pulled out an old gas furnace in my hallway, which is tiled, and I'm
left with a small section, footprint, were the tile went around the
base of the furnace. It's about 6"x 12". I have no replacement tile to
repair this so I was thinking I could just make a fake floor air
grille to cover it up. So, all I need now is to find out how to
construct one of these. Any and all help appreciated.
Mike

Take a wide piece and put a witness mark across the face
then rip it into 1/2" strips. Take every other strip and
cross cut it at 2", 5", 7" and 10" (lengths made up to make
the point/use whatever you like) and save the short lengths.
Take it all and re-glue for width using the witness
mark/aligning the grain. Plane, sand and finish to suit.

Or,

Rout grooves but be warned, tear out is inevitable. You can
rout the face half way through and flip it and rout the
other half from th back. This way there should be enough
meat on the face to prevent tear out and who cares what the
back looks like.

UA100

I think this is a place where steel is better than wood. High heels get
caught in these things. Additionally, the pressure of a small heel on one
strake is way too much for safety. For that matter, consider your heaviest
friend carrying one end of the piano stepping on one or two strakes. The
wood tends to get VERY dry from the heat and is therefore weaker. In the
event of a grill breaking, broken bones, sprains and recriminations are
possible. Steel grill work can be purchased at the junkyard in various
dimensions. Painted to a suitable color it will outlast the wood version
10/1.
Dave

Dave W wrote:

I think this is a place where steel is better than wood. High heels get
caught in these things. Additionally, the pressure of a small heel on one
strake is way too much for safety. For that matter, consider your heaviest
friend carrying one end of the piano stepping on one or two strakes. The
wood tends to get VERY dry from the heat and is therefore weaker. In the
event of a grill breaking, broken bones, sprains and recriminations are
possible. Steel grill work can be purchased at the junkyard in various
dimensions. Painted to a suitable color it will outlast the wood version

While I might recommend against wooden grilles for large areas in
center of a floor, virtually all are near walls that don't get foot
traffic. Think you're over-reacting a little here...

IMO, YMMV, $0.02, etc.... :)

Subject

Take a look at Fred Bingham's book, Practical Yacht Joinery", he
explains it in detail including photos.

You make several teak grates for a boat.

Even using a sled and a dado as Fred does, they are a PITA to build.

Very satisfying but still a PITA.

HTH

Lew

miey wrote:

Hello,
I pulled out an old gas furnace in my hallway, which is tiled, and I'm
left with a small section, footprint, were the tile went around the
base of the furnace. It's about 6"x 12". I have no replacement tile to
repair this so I was thinking I could just make a fake floor air
grille to cover it up. So, all I need now is to find out how to
construct one of these. Any and all help appreciated.

Just a comment here, but if this is an area that's going to have traffic
then make a dummy grille with a strong solid backing or somebody's going to
put their foot through it.

One apartment I lived in some _moron_ designed with a heating and air
conditioner register in the floor inside the back door. Lost one GF who
could have passed for a supermodel the third time she put a heel in that
damned register. Then one day I put a combat boot through it and the next
day I started looking for another apartment.

Mike

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On old TS trick for angled holes in a wood grille
1. Make an angled fence for your TS miter gauge & make it long enough
to support the wood blank all the way across from corner to corner
2. Set up your dado to whetever width you want the openings & raise it
to just over half the thickness of your wood ( maybe 1/32")
3. Lay & clamp the wood strips between the fence & your blade
4. Mark your fence with the number of passes it will take to cut dados
all the way across your board from corner to corner
5. Cut dados on one side
6. flip the board & cut dados on the other side. (also rotate it 90
degrees)
You should have your grille. It will take some experimenting to get
the angle of the holes you want. If you don't mind square holes, you
could just use the fence & cut one side, flip, & turn 90 degrees, cut
the other side, move the fence & etc. Let me know how it works for you

On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 00:53:55 GMT, miey wrote:

Hello,
I pulled out an old gas furnace in my hallway, which is tiled, and I'm
left with a small section, footprint, were the tile went around the
base of the furnace. It's about 6"x 12". I have no replacement tile to
repair this so I was thinking I could just make a fake floor air
grille to cover it up. So, all I need now is to find out how to
construct one of these. Any and all help appreciated.
Mike


At this point, the only one who knows that the space in question is
related to the furnace is you.

I would get outside of that box quickly and develop a feature that
would best fit into the room.

A pediment for a full size mount of a grizzly bear might be one
solution.

Then again, a shoe buffer might fit well into that space.

All kidding aside - try to think about it as others will meet it - it
might make your choices simpler.



Thomas J. Watson - WoodDorker

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1 (webpage)

In article ,
Tom Watson wrote:

I am not offering a solution but just asking a few questions that might
be helpful.
1 How thick can you make the grille?
2 Why do you want it made of wood?
3 Is there a solid floor below the grille? Is it a dirt trap?
4 Why do you want a grille? Is it only because that was there before?
5 Have you tried to get a tile that is a replacement?
6 There may be other decorations more interewsting than a grille.

Dick

On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 00:53:55 GMT, miey wrote:

Hello,
I pulled out an old gas furnace in my hallway, which is tiled, and I'm
left with a small section, footprint, were the tile went around the
base of the furnace. It's about 6"x 12". I have no replacement tile to
repair this so I was thinking I could just make a fake floor air
grille to cover it up. So, all I need now is to find out how to
construct one of these. Any and all help appreciated.
Mike


At this point, the only one who knows that the space in question is
related to the furnace is you.

I would get outside of that box quickly and develop a feature that
would best fit into the room.

A pediment for a full size mount of a grizzly bear might be one
solution.

Then again, a shoe buffer might fit well into that space.

All kidding aside - try to think about it as others will meet it - it
might make your choices simpler.



Thomas J. Watson - WoodDorker

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1 (webpage)

miey wrote:
Hello,
I pulled out an old gas furnace in my hallway, which is tiled, and I'm
left with a small section, footprint, were the tile went around the
base of the furnace. It's about 6"x 12". I have no replacement tile to
repair this so I was thinking I could just make a fake floor air
grille to cover it up. So, all I need now is to find out how to
construct one of these. Any and all help appreciated.
Mike

This month's Canadian Woodworking magazine has an article on how to make
these grills. It just arrived today.

http://www.canadianwoodworking.com/



--
Will
Occasional Techno-geek