Step by Step construction

instruction.
A complete bill of materials.
Exploded view and elevation
drawings.
How-to photos with instructive
captions.
Tips to help you complete the
project and become a better
woodworker.
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WJ036
Americas leading woodworking authority
Battery Charging Cabinet
Published in Woodworkers Journal Woodworking Favorites: Top
Projects and Techniques for Your Shop and Home
WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL
2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

14 SHOP PROJECTS
WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL 2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Battery Charging Cabinet
I
f youve got more cordless tool chargers than outlets, keeping all your batteries charged and
organized can be a problem. This compact charging cabinet stows multiple chargers
and batteries neatly, and the contents hide away behind a tambour door thats easy to
build. A weekend of shop time is all it takes to turn charger clutter into an efficient charging
systemand its a fitting way to learn tambour door construction, too.
If youre one of those woodworkers who wholeheartedly
believes that he who dies with the most tools, wins then
chances are, your shop has more portable power tools in it
than you can count on both your handsand feet. And if
youre a thoroughly modern woodworker, chances are good
that an ever-growing number of those portables are of
the cordless variety.
The downside to having all this
high-tech hardware on hand is that youre
likely to have tools made by three or four
different manufacturers, each of which
requires separate, dedicated
batteriesand battery
chargers. Its all too easy
to end up with a half
dozen chargers and
extra batteries sprawled out across your benchtop.
Our solution to keeping a gaggle of different battery
chargers organized, neatly stored and plugged in is to build
a wall-hung cabinet especially for them. This charger cabinet
has four trays that accommodate six or more battery chargers,
as well as a handful of spare batteries and accessories.
Each tray is wide enough to handle any of the battery charg-
ers currently on the U.S. market and is angled forward, to
make it easier to plug in or remove batteries. Charger cords
run neatly through the bottom of the trays along the sides
of the cabinet to a multi-outlet powerstrip, which is screwed
to the bottom of the cabinet. A tambour-style door encloses
the entire interior of the cabinet, to keep dust and chips from
fouling battery contacts or sensitive charger electronics.
The cabinet is designed to mount directly to your
shops 16" on-center wall studs. Its slender and tall, to
WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL 2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Tray Exploded View
Use your drill press to drill and counter-bore
holes in the tray sides. Placement isnt critical,
but use your first side as a template for drilling
the others for a uniform appearance.
1
1
2
2
3
16 SHOP PROJECTS
fit the narrowest spot and save on
wall space.
The intent from the start was to
create a good-looking cabinet from
hardwood but keep the design easy to
build. We assembled the trays using
simple, but strong, rabbet joints and a
captured bottom, then screwed the
trays to the cabinet sides using wood
screws. We also used an unorthodox
shortcut method for making the tambour
door and the grooved track it slides in
without painstaking work or elaborate
jigs. Although these construction
methods may be called quick and
dirty by purists, they are aimed at
producing a strong, functional piece of
shop cabinetry that looks terrific and
doesnt take a week to build.
Relatively few parts are needed for
the charger cabinet, as you can see in
the Material List on page 18. There are
two solid-wood cabinet sides, each
with a grooved track for the tambour
door (routed using a special router
fence setup), four trays with solid-wood
sides and plywood bottoms, a narrow
bottom rail that joins the cabinet sides and supports a powerstrip and a
tambour door. The door consists of 59
narrow wood slats held together by a
canvas backing glued and ironed into
place as the tambour is held and
aligned in a simple shop-made jig.
Start the cabinet project by cutting
and assembling the parts for the four
identical trays (pieces 1 through 3).
The trays serve as the major structural
elements that support and align the
sides of the cabinet. Cut the solid-wood
components to size, making sure all the
long sides are exactly the same length,
as any variation will negatively affect
the way the tambour door slides.
To capture the plywood bottom of
each tray, cut a groove along the inside
of each side, positioned as shown in
the drawing on the top of page 18.
Next, cut out the four plywood bottoms
and take them to the drill press. Using
a Forstner bit or hole saw, bore two
1
1
4" diameter holes in each bottom,
positioned as shown in the drawings.
Setting up for repeatable cuts is critical for
the trays in this project, as they also serve
as structural elements in the cabinet. You
can add a little strength to the glued-up
corners (right) with several thin brads.
WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL 2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Use a disc sander to smooth the corners of the sides to the marked radii. The
goal is to end up with three 1/4-round, identical corners on each cabinet side.
Use a sharp carpenter's pencil and a bevel gauge set to 70 to mark out where
the tray bottoms meet the cabinet sides.
BATTERY CHARGING CABINET 17
These holes accommodate the plugs on the charger cords. As long as
youre at the drill press, go ahead and bore three holes in each of the
trays short sides (see drawings) for the flathead screws that attach the
trays to the sides. Since placement isnt critical, mark out hole positions
on one side, then use it as a template to drill the other sides, as shown
in the photo on the facing page. Countersink the holes (on the inside-
facing surfaces) for the screws.
To create a strong, simple joint that joins the tray sides, cut a
rabbet on each end of each long side piece, using a dado blade in the
table saw. A miter fence with a built-in stop helps to keep the work
dependably square and in position as its cut, as shown in the bottom
photo on the facing page. Or, use your miter saw for these cuts.
After sanding the inside surfaces of the tray sides and ply bottoms,
glue and clamp them together. It is important to make sure at this stage
that none of the tray pieces are twisted. After clamping, check each
Make a runoff block
with 3/4" x 1
1
2" x 8"-
wide scrap wood
and screw on a
2" x 4"-long cross-
piece at 90, as
shown above.
When youve routed
the track, use a
chisel to create a bit
more relief space at
the corners.
This tambour track routing method doesnt
require a routing template or a rub collar.
Instead, we used MicroFences two-point-con-
tact router fence, which rides against the edge
of the cabinet side. The contact points guide
the cut at a fixed distance from the edge, even
around rounded corners. The trick is that the
shape of the sides edge determines the shape
of the routed track.
As such, the cabinet must have two rounded
top corners and another at the bottom rear.
This provides the curved track for the tambour
when the door is opened all the way. It takes
some skill to guide a two-point fence around a
corner, so practice on scrap first.
You could make your own fence for this job,
but MicroFences router fence makes this sort of
groove routing really easy. This is because the
MicroFence comes with two semi-circular guides
that mount in place of its normal straight fence
bar, making it just right for our track routing
method. If you decide to make or adapt your own
two-point fence, be sure the two rounded lobes
have 1" radii and are set on center, 2" apart.
PRECISION
TRACKING
WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL 2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Cabinet Exploded View
4"
7
/16"
1
/4"
7
/16"
10
1
/2"
1
/4"
1
/4"
1
/8"
7
/16"
1"
70
C
L
Bumper
20
7
/8"
31
1
/4"
8
1
1
10
2
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
3
/4"
3
/4"
1
/4"
7
/32"
1
/8"
1
1
10
2
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
3
/4"
3
/4"
1
/4"
7
/32"
1
/8"
3
13
/16"
1
1
/8" Dia.
13
/16"
Tray Bottom
(Top View)
Cabinet Sides
(Side View)
Tray Front
Machining
Detail
(End View)
Tray Corner
(Top View)
Side
Corner
Detail
Right-hand
side
Bottom Rail
(Front View)
Trays can be
spaced as
required to
accommodate
your storage
needs.
1
2
2
3
4
4
8
18 SHOP PROJECTS
MATERIAL LIST Cabinet
T x W x L
1 Tray Sides (8) 1/2" x 2
1
4" x 8"
2 Tray Fronts and Backs (8) 1/2" x 2
1
4" x 17"
3 Tray Bottoms (4) 1/4" x 7
15
16" x 16
3
8"
4 Cabinet Sides (2) 3/4" x 11" x 40
1
2"
5 Tambour Slat Blanks* (64) 5/16" x 13/16" x 17
1
2"
6 Tambour Backing (1) 1 yard,10 oz. cotton duck
7 Door Pull (1) 13/16" x 1
1
8" x 16
3
4"
8 Bottom Rail (1) 13/16" x 2
1
2" x 17
1
2"
9 Bumper Stops (2) Screwed-on rubber
*Trim to fit after door is glued up; cut extra slats to select from
WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL 2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
BATTERY CHARGING CABINET 19
Use a band saw to rip the thin tambour slats from a
thick blank. Choose the best-looking slats for your door.
7
3
/4"
1
15
/16"
13
/16"
3
/8"
1
/2"
C
L
Tambour Door
Exploded View
Tambour
Slat Detail
Door Pull
(End View)
Jig rails must form
perfectly square
corners.
1/2" x 2
1
2" x 51"
3/4" x 24" x 58"
Tambour Slat
Glue-up Jig
3/4"
Construction-
grade plywood
1/2" x 2
1
2" x 22"
9
/32"
3
/16"+
13
/16"
5
5
6
7
Canvas
Side
Making this tambour door requires about
59 slats (pieces 5). Select wide, 13/16"-thick
lumber with a clean, evenly planed surface.
Crosscut your blanks 17
1
2" long and perfectly
square with edges jointed square and parallel to
one another. Youll need enough stock to yield
about 64 slats (a few extra to choose from). It
helps to cut the slats on a band saw, since the
blades thin kerf wastes less wood. Set the rip
fence to cut strips 11/32" thick. Rip slats from
the edges of the blanks you prepare.
When all your blanks have their edges cut
once, clean up their edges on the jointer and rip
another set of slats. After repeating this process
a few times, check to make sure the edges of all
blanks are still parallel.
Once all the slats are cut, its time to run
them through your thickness planer once (paying
close attention to grain direction), shaving down
the rough side. This should produce a big stack
of slats each 5/16" thick, with two clean and
parallel surfaces.
CREATING
TAMBOUR SLATS
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To begin assembling the cabinet, align the
trays on the marks you scribed earlier and
secure them with screws. The trays are the
structural members that join the cabinet
sides and hold them square.
20 SHOP PROJECTS
Use wedges to
hold and align
the slats in
your jig. Tamp
the slats flat
with a hammer
and block
(right), then re-tighten the wedges.
Once the slats are set in the jig
good-side-down, youre ready to
apply the lightweight (10-oz.) canvas
cotton duck (piece 6). Dont cut it to
exact size yet, just trim one long
edge straight with a razor blade and
straightedge.
We used an iron to quick-cure
the glue. Fully heat it to high before
you start. Quickly apply a thin layer
of PVA glue to one face of the
canvas and slats (see the sidebar
on the next page).
Place the canvas on the slats,
aligning the trimmed edge with the
long stop of the jig (if the glue is
starting to dry, dont worry; the irons
heat will reactivate it). Without
dawdling, iron the entire surface of
the canvas with large, back and
forth sweeping passes. It will only
take a minute or so to cure the glue.
Remove the glued-up tambour from
the jig right away, and flex it to be
sure the joints between slats move
freely. If adjacent slats are stuck
together, clean them with a damp
rag. Knock off the slats sharp
edges with some 120-grit paper.
Trim the canvas using a sharp
razor and straightedge. Cut it back
3/8" on each long side of the door
and flush to the edges of slats at
each end.
TAMBOUR
ALIGNMENT JIG
tray for square by measuring diagonally,
from corner to corner.
After the glue has set and the
clamps are off, reinforce the corners by
driving a few 1"-long brads into each
end, as shown in the inset photo on
page 18.
The two sides of the cabinet
(pieces 4) are made from 4/4 wood
thickness-planed down to 3/4". Take
care to make sure each end is square.
After picking the good face of each
cabinet side, lay them both good-face-
down on your bench, edges aligned.
Draw a line 1" in from the back edge of
each side and, using the dimensions in
the Cabinet Side View Drawings on
page 18, measure out and mark the
bottom, back corner position of each
tray. Then, using a bevel gauge set to
70, mark a fine line with a carpenters
pencil where the bottom edge of each
of the trays will go (see the photo on
page 17). The pencil indents the wood
so you can still see lines after the
sides are sanded. Label their front
and top edges, so you dont rout the
wrong surfaces.
Clamp the two cabinet sides
together with their inside faces facing in,
using three or four clamps positioned
well away from the ends. Set a pencil
compass to a 3" radius and mark a
quarter circle at the two top corners
and at the single bottom rear corner.
Now rough-cut the corners just shy of
the pencil line. With the sides still
clamped together, use a disc sander to
smooth all three corners down to the
marked radius.
Routing the Tambour Track
A narrow groove routed around the
edges of both sides, as shown in the
Cabinet Side View Drawings, page 18,
creates a track to guide the tambour
door. The method we used to rout this
track requires a special router fence
setup, as described in the sidebar on
page 17. To provide a surface for the
fences guide to ride on where the
groove enters and exits the end of each
side, youll need a runout block. This
block is clamped to the end and front
edge before routing at those locations.
The tambour track is routed with a
1/4"-diameter straight bit. You can use
a fixed-base or plunge router, but a
laminate trimmer is easier to maneuver
than a full-size router. Rout the track in
three passes, each successively deeper.
Move the router carefully around the
corners, using constant and full pres-
sure to keep the edge guide always
against the edge of the work. Dont
worry if you make a slight goof,
because most of the length of the track
itself is hidden by the tambour, and
small divots wont affect its operation
too much.
Once the track routing is complete,
use a chisel to widen the inside radius
of the grooves at each of the track
corners. This adds a little relief and
allows the tambour to negotiate the
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BATTERY CHARGING CABINET 21
With the cabinet assembled, gently slide the tambour door into its track. This step will require
a bit of patience and care, since even slight racking or one misaligned slat can hang things
up. If the door sticks, slide it back a nudge and try again.
GLUING THE
SLATS TO
THE CANVAS
Quickly apply a thin layer of glue (yellow
or white woodworking glues work equally
well) to one side of the canvas and then
the slats.(This takes quite a bit of glue.)
Quick-set
the glue
with a hot
iron. After
the glue
has cured,
cut the
canvas back 3/8" on each long side of the
tambour. Cut it flush to the edges of slats
at each end. If the canvas starts to lift,
apply a dab of glue and stick it back
down, ironing it as necessary.
Place the canvas on the slats, aligning
the trimmed long edge to the long stop
of the jig (dont worry if the glue starts
to dry; ironing will reactivate it). Press
the canvas flat using a round-edged
block of wood.
corners more easily. Sand the track
grooves smooth along their entire
length, using either a foam-backed
sanding pad or a short strip of 120-grit
sandpaper wrapped around a small
piece of stiff foam. For areas that fuzzed
up or splintered during routing, start
with coarser, 80-grit sandpaper. All
surfaces of the track groove should
end up very smooth, with their top
edges slightly rounded.
One result of this track-routing
method you may have noticed is that
the radius of the routed track is slightly
less than that of the corner itself. To
make them match, clamp the cabinet
sides together again as you did before,
and sand the top corners down to a
radius of 3
1
4". The bottom corner wont
show so you can leave it alone.
To complete the cabinet sides,
round their top and front-facing outer
edges with a 1/4"-radius piloted
roundover bit. Dont rout the straight
portion of the back or the bottom
edges, as these should stay square for
attaching the bottom rail and mounting
the cabinet to the wall. Finally, sand the
routed edges and inside faces of the
cabinet sides smooth.
Turn your attention to page 19 and
the sidebars throughout this article to
build the tambour door (pieces 5 and
6). Once youve completed all the
steps, youll still have to make and
install a U-shaped pull (piece 7) from
solid wood. (See the Door Pull Elevation
Drawing on page 19.) Cut the 3/8"-
deep channel in the underside of the
pull with a 1/2"-wide dado blade in the
table saw. After rounding or beveling its
ends with a rasp or stationary sander,
glue the pull to the end slat at the
bottom of the door. When the glue sets,
nail through this slat to further secure
the pull.
The next step is to assemble
the cabinet and do a trial fitting of the
tambour in its track. With one of the
cabinet sides on the benchtop, carefully
position the bottom edge and back
corner of each tray, following the lines
marked earlier. Drive in the three
#8 x 1" screws that attach each end of
each tray to the side, as shown in the
top photo on the facing page. Once all
WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL 2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
22 SHOP PROJECTS
With the tambour glued up, its time to trim
the door to its final 17
3
8" width, using a table
saw and crosscut blade. Start with the canvas
side up, positioning the edge that was butted up
to the long stop in the jig against the saws rip
fence. Next, rabbet the slats to create a wood
tongue on each end. This makes it easier for
the door to negotiate the corners of the track.
Fit the table saw with a dado blade thats at
least 5/16" wide and set its height to produce
a tongue thats just a skosh over 3/16" thick
(see the Tambour Detail Drawing, on page 19).
Set the rip fence to produce 9/32" long tongues
on each side of the tambour. With the canvas
side up, carefully feed the tambour over the
blade, using a push block to keep it flat and
ensure a full depth of cut. Its easiest to unroll
the tambour as you feed it through the cut, then
roll it back up again at the back of the saw.
Sand all surfaces of the tongues to round their
edges slightly, to help it slide easier. Roll the
tambour up and sand the slats with the outer
corners of each tongue exposed.
Roll out the
tambour as you
trim it on the
table saw. Then
createtongues
on the ends of
the slats by
forming a rabbet
with a dado
blade (inset).
FINAL TRIMMING
DETAILS
the trays are attached, carefully flip the assembly over and set it atop
the other cabinet side, and finish screwing on the trays to join the
sides together.
With the cabinet lying on its back, gently insert the tambour into its
groove at the bottom edge. Work it slowly up the front and all the way
around the track to the back (see top photo, page 21), pulling it back
and forth to wear it in slightly. If the tambour hangs up in the corners,
check to see if any of the tongues or sections of the groove need a
little more trimming or sanding. Stay with it until the tambour slides all
the way around the track without too much effort.
Finishing Up
When youre finally pleased with how the tambour fits into the
cabinet, remove it from its track. Youre just about ready for finishing.
But first, make the bottom rail (piece 8) that joins the cabinet sides and
provides a place to mount the electrical power strip (see the Elevation
Drawings on page 18 for details). Using a dado blade in your table saw,
cut the short tongues that fit into the track grooves. Check the rail for a
snug fit, but dont install it just yet.
A wipe-on finish such as satin polyurethane gel makes a good
finish for this project. Spread finish over the surfaces of the assembled
cabinet, the good side of the tambour door and the bottom rail, then
wipe the excess off. Wipe finish on and off the edges of all the tambour
slats, then leave the wet tambour door rolled up on its edge to dry
without adjacent slats sticking together. After a few hours, do a quick
touch-sanding with 320-grit sandpaper and apply a second coat of
finish. The result is a serviceable finish that looks great on the outside
of the cabinet, and okay on the insideperfect for a shop project.
When the finish dries, apply a bit of paraffin or candle wax to the
slat tongues as well as the tambour track all the way around. Reinstall
the tambour and position the door pull at the top of the front track
curve. Now screw on two rubber bumper stops (pieces 9) against
the edge of the last slat and directly over the track groove. These
keep the door from sliding too far open.
Drive the cabinets bottom rail flush with the front of the cabinet,
as shown in the photo on the left page. Then drive two #8 x 1
1
2"
screws into pilot holes drilled into each end to secure the rail. The
screws let you remove the rail in the future, in case you need to adjust
the tambour. Mount the power strip to the underside of the bottom rail
with a pair of screws.
Mounting the Cabinet
Hang the cabinet by toe-screwing directly through each side into
the wall studs. First, drill four holes spaced evenly along the straight
portion of the back edge of each side, angling them at about 45. Next,
position the cabinet on the wall so that it straddles a pair of wall studs.
WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL 2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
BATTERY CHARGING CABINET 23
One of the last steps is to drive home the cabinets bottom rail. A power strip is mounted to
the rail. It provides electricity to all the battery chargers.
QuickTip
Support and level the cabinet, then
drive the #8 x 2"-long bugle-head
screws into the studs. If your walls lack
properly spaced studs, screw a piece of
plywood to the wall, and then mount
your cabinet to it instead.
Now for the fun part: filling the
cabinets trays with your chargers
and other gear. Feed each chargers
electrical cord down through the holes
in the bottom of the trays and plug
them into the power strip. Wind up the
excess cord and use wire or plastic ties
to keep them neatly coiled. Plug the
strips cord into an outlet, and your tool
batteries will always be juiced up and
ready for action.
Egg-cellent Solution
Egg cartons can form convenient bases to support knobs and such for painting or finishing. Punch a small hole
in the base of each recess in one half of a carton, then screw the knobs in place. This way, the knobs stay put
and separated for applying the finish, your hands end up cleaner and the carton forms a handy drying rack.
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