Okay I started a thread a month or so ago about the price
of materials. At that time I was in the design stages of
a DIY audio rack that was a Klone of the Spider Rack ($1600.00 + Dollars)
from Finite Elemente`.
I ordered the raw oak from Lowes it's 2"x2" (1.5" x 1.5")
planed top choice (no knots) 18" long. I cut these down to
12" long they get sanded gently and 00 steel wooled then
drilled all the way through the center with a 5/16" hole
and finaly they get 3 coats of Minwax high gloss wipe on
Polyurethane.
The hard part was locating a piece of thick walled Aluminum
tubing for "cheap" (or free). Everywhere I looked wanted
minimum orders of 5+ feet (hundreds of dollars) and that's
where knowing people comes in handy.. Make a phone call to
a friend who works for Alcoa.. You can't find a better
place to get Aluminum considering that's what they do!
So I got a nice piece of 3 1/4" OD x 2 3/8" ID x 18" long
Aluminum Tubing. The rest of the parts get ordered from
Reid Tool (
www.reidtool.com ) this is where I will get the
80/20 Inc. 1515 Lite Aluminum T-Slot material, all thread
and other needed items ( $172.00 worth). The goal was to
do this project for under $250.00 total if possible.
I am currently under that thanks to the freebie chunk of
Aluminum. The Oak from Lowes plus the Irwin 6" x 5/16"
Auger plus the Minwax and the 00 Steel Wool came to $113.00.
If I had to buy the Aluminum from a small supplier plus
pay to have it machined it's doubtful I could could do the
project for less than $300 or so dollars (which would still
be a bargain for a rack of this caliber. This is hardly the
average MDF and Allthread Flexy Rack.
Where do I stand?
I have to get the Aluminum Tube cut down into 1.5" thick
rings and have 3 5/16" holes drilled at 120 degree seperation
then they need to be finish bead blasted.
The beams need drilled yet and I need to figure out how to
get the radius into them where they will sit against the
rings.
And I need to get my order with Reid placed so I can get
the leg material, fastners and allthread here.
Here is a picture of my concept render and below it are
some progress photo's. More to come! and when I am all
done I will try to have a materials list and assembly guide
for anyone who wants something more high end than the
typical Flexy Rack.
Pardon the mess I call my "garage"
