Custom Birch Ply Furniture

 by Phantomn
Contest WinnerFeatured
This is an instructable about the piece of furniture I made for my A Level design course. It took me the best part of 4 months with about 4 and a half hours a week. I think it came out well and my Dad (who i made it for) really likes it. It is made completely from birch plywood, except the hardwood (sapele) strips on the drawers and shelves.
It was designed to hold all of my Dad's records, some of his CD's and his sound system. Since then he has treated himself to a new record player and amp, to go with the furniture apparently! I think all of the wood I used came to about £150 - £175 definitely no more than that.
 
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Step 1: The Specification & Initial Design

int des 1.jpg
int des. 2.jpg
spec.jpg
It's really important to come up with a wide range of designs that match the specification you have. My specification was fairly long at about a page of A3 but it could have gone on to be much longer.

Then I started to design Ideas around the spec and what my Dad wanted.
I hoped to come up with about 6 initial ideas, but thought 5 was in the end enough.
These designs were then shown and then we picked the favourite, which happened to be the final idea on the Int. Des. 2 sheet.

Now we have a rough idea we need to develop the design for production, scale it to actual size and make sure it will actually fit the specification.

mganpate says: Dec 12, 2012. 12:19 PM
pls send cad drawing on mahesh.gan.143@gmail.com pls pls nice design
shuja.shaher says: Jan 21, 2012. 7:45 AM
beautiful and functional
great
mr.frob says: Jan 17, 2012. 5:36 AM
beautiful design
Phantomn (author) says: Jan 17, 2012. 3:06 AM
Thanks again, really appreciate the comments! If you really like it don't forget to vote! (shameless self publicity ftw) P
Katzsta says: Jan 16, 2012. 12:42 PM
Beautiful piece of furniture. Excellent design, craftsmanship and style. Great work!
handyman1940 says: Jan 16, 2012. 10:33 AM
This I will do, I wood however put a backing on it though.
I give this a 5 STAR rating
Treknology says: Jan 16, 2012. 6:06 AM
This is a project for the true appreciation of vinyl. Regardless of any flaws, it still gets five stars.
Rich99 says: Jan 15, 2012. 4:15 PM
next time, dry assemble. 8>) nice work!
dc0de says: Jan 15, 2012. 3:29 PM
Great work... inspiring!
ginger20037 says: Jan 15, 2012. 1:18 PM
I love it! Such a beautiful project!
ArtsyFartsyGirl says: Jan 15, 2012. 12:47 PM
This is truly beautiful! I bet your Dad is so proud of you and it!
dawg065 says: Jan 15, 2012. 10:27 AM
i can see this being used a dresser.if you don't own records.this can be used for almost anything.thanks for the instructable.
rancidbry says: Jan 15, 2012. 10:23 AM
Really amazing! Will you post your CAD and CNC files so we can try building it?
wjbean says: Jan 15, 2012. 10:16 AM
I've got to say this is just gorgeous. Forgot a shelf? Damned hard to tell. I'm very interested in doing this project, but with my own design. Thanks for sharing and showing what is possible with "lowly" plywood.
zoltzerino says: Jan 15, 2012. 8:50 AM
Hooray for A-Level Product Design! (Expect to see a couple of slideshows from my coursework up at the end of the (academic) year).

What CAD software did you use? Looks like you've got one in Ubuntu and I assume Solidworks produced that wonderful rendering.
Wildrat says: Jan 15, 2012. 7:26 AM
You did a good job! You have me thinking now.
I will pass something along I figured out for myself. I used to mentally beat my self up because I would make some small mistake that noone would ever see till I brought their attention to it. Don't beat yourself up over these things. I actually believe now it gives projects a personality. It shows it is something handmade, not off the factory particle board conveyor line.
There is nothing like real wood furniture!Again Great Job!
Phantomn (author) says: Jan 14, 2012. 4:25 AM
Thanks for the positive feedback! I'm glad you like it. =]
ChapDad says: Jan 13, 2012. 11:48 PM
Really nice bit of work. Sometimes the only way to get the perfect bit of furniture is to build it yourself.

Also nice to see the most important part of making furniture, the initial design consultation and the many many sketches. I'd give you an A for this, and I hope your teacher did too.
Mr. Noack says: Jan 13, 2012. 7:54 PM
Very slick design Sir. Well done! Great sketches too!
jessyratfink says: Jan 13, 2012. 11:16 AM
What a wonderful piece. Seriously great work. :)
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