Home Depot employee not impressed by flexy concept (and a few questions) (1 Viewer)

[Mike_A]

so i went down to homedepot yesterday to pick up the parts for my flexy rack. went with (4) 4'x2' sheets of red oak plywood (~$14 each) and (6) 2' threaded rods (5/8th inch) and the necessary bolts/washers. I figure at those sizes, i won't have to do any cutting at all. the height will be just right i think for my 32" sony tv. the 4'x2' shelves may be a bit wide/deep, but i think it'll be ok.
anyway, i couldn't find a couple of things, including the neoprene (sp?) washers, veneer edging strips/tape, or acorn nuts to top off the rods. well, when i went to get help finding these items, the guy i managed to find was like "you're going to use that beautiful plywood with those rods? it'll be soooo industrial looking." not too impressed i guess, but then again, he obviously has not seen what a nice flexy can look like.
anyway, i ended up not finding of those items at homedepot. I got the veneer edging at lowes, but never did find the acorn nuts or neoprene washers. any ideas where to pick these up?
i plan to finish the red oak with clear polyurethane unless someone has a better suggestion here? the veneer strips i found are red oak as well and match the plywood perfectly
also, i picked up an 11/16" wood boring bit (speedbor brand). i thought i'd go slightly larger than the 5/8" rod, as many here have suggested. but i'm slightly worried this type of bit will splinter the plywood's veneer. it was the only bit that was 11/16".
last question (well last about the flexy): any tips on keeping all the holes straight if i don't have access to a drill press?
Another interesting bit from lowes - they had precut 12", 18", and 24" plywood (both oak and birch i believe) perfect circles - they looked ready to be dropped into a sonotube! i wonder if anyone's ever tried this? or is it too hard to find a sonotube that happens to be those exact diameters? they were about $10-15 each, depending on size. seems like it'd save some cutting when building a sonotube, although i guess you'd still need a router to make the driver cut out.

 

[Joe Hsu]

huh...sorry, no assistance to the rest of your thread, but the pre-cut circles at Lowe's sounds interesting. If that were the case, I'm sure there are sonotubes that size, and you could probably get them to make the driver cut for you too.

As a college student w/o the proper tools, that would be a huge help...although, I hear UM has a wood-shop on campus available to students. If I can scrape together the cash, I'm gonna build a sonosub and shake the apartment complex.

 

[Gregory]

I work at the Home Depot so I know not all associates are of highest caliber. I hope I'm a step above the rest. A member at the HTF and a proud flexy owner.
We don't carry acorn nuts big enough for flexy racks. The are online sites that sell them but I don't know right off the top of my head.
If you are using a paddle bit for drilling(I'm 90% sure that's what you bought) you can place a scrap piece of lumber below the shelf and with some pressure on the wood from the top, the amount of splintering will be greatly reduced. Just make the entire width of the paddle is into the scrap before you stop drilling. Any of the small splinters will be covered by the washers, but you won't have to worry about the top ply splitting as the bit comes out the other side.
You'll still have to be careful when assembling the rack. The threads can catch in the holes and chip the veneer if your holes aren't perfectly aligned. You only have 1/16" larger hole than rod.
Good luck and we expect pictures
Greg

 

[Chris Carswell]

If you have any clamps, clamp all of your wood together and put a spare piece on the bottom like Gregory said to do. Then drill them all at once. All the holes will be lined up and the splintering would be minimal. Any bad piece flip over and use for the bottom

 

[jeff peterson]

I got all the hardware for my flexy from here McMaster-Carr .
Good prices, fast shipping, and they have EVERYTHING!

 

[Mike_A]

joe - well my concern is in finding a supposedly 18 or 24 inch sonotube that really is that exact diameter so the precut circles would actually fit snuggly as they should. and i don't think they'll be doing any driver cut outs for you either unless you get really lucky and find a nice employee with access to a router in the store. the wood shop idea sounds much more promising. if not the one at school, i'm sure there's a private one somewhere in town that'll do it.
gregory - by no means was i implying anything against HD employees I just found it funny what the guy said. overall, i was very impressed by the knowledge the various employees had and got quite a bit of help from all of them. oh, and don't worry - there will be plenty of pics of the whole process
so now i'm just debating between chris and gregory's suggestions for drilling the holes...i'm worried that i'll go in at a slight angle if i try to drill all the boards at once and end up with a crooked rod or two in my flexy.
jeff - i'll hvae to check out mcmaster-carr - i poked around their site before, but preferred to get as much as possible locally, just to keep it simple. the black anodized hardware they have is very tempting...
one last thing - i was debating what kind of feet or wheels i should put on. any suggestions there? i was actually tempted to order the wheel set from salamander designs - they look like they screw directly onto the threaded rods and it's only $30 for a set of 6. anyone ever seen these? here's a link to more info on those wheels.
anyway, i won't be starting until next weekend - i'm about to leave for the weekend to attend a good friend's wedding. bachelor party is tonight, so i don't think i'll be in any condition to drill much of anything tomorrow

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Well, when i went to get help finding these items, the guy i managed to find was like "you're going to use that beautiful plywood with those rods? it'll be soooo industrial looking." not too impressed i guess, but then again, he obviously has not seen what a nice flexy can look like

Mike, I visited a local member with a flexi who did a great job of “de-industrializing” his rack. He had cut tubes – galvanized pipe, PVC, or something like that and slipped them over both the threads and nuts between all the shelves. I’m not sure how he finished it – paint perhaps, but it gave a very clean look!

Not sure what he did for the tops, though. But you still might want to look into it.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Mike_A]

wayne - i actually considered that, but more because i was worried about the threads scratching components or tearing up cords (mainly concerned about xbox controller cords there). i may still do it, but not in the initial build. i think i like the look of the flexy personally - i don't care what some HD employee says . i have to figure out the exact heights of all the shelves as well before i start cutting tubing to fit inbetween.
definitely a good suggestion for those that don't exactly like the flexy look though...
oh and i think the easiest way to clean up the top might be to go with a carriage bolt that would be relatively flush with the top. the other option would be to go with acorn nuts on top, although that wouldn't be quite as clean as the carriage bolt. i'm going with the acorn nuts myself - just ordered from mcmaster-carr, who also had the neoprene washers.