This week, I’ll be posting a couple of projects that were inspired by the Gadget Station series. I certainly took inspiration from a number of sources when making the Gadget Station, so its very cool for me to see others take inspiration from it. This CD storage case was submitted by Brian. Let’s see what he has to say:

Let me first say that I love the site and all the podcasts! Your comical approach really appeals to the masses and all the great information is a solid reinforcement to your dedication to our craft. Great Job!

I am in my late twenty’s and live in the North GA mountains. I grew up watching Norm on Saturday mornings instead of cartoons. He taught me all the basics, and I still watch him to this day. Later in life I discovered David Marks, and he changed how I look at my projects and that there is an amazing rainbow of woods available to us. Most recently I have found your site. I love the fact that you combine all the great influences into your podcasts. You are a very fortunate person to have learned directly from these masters. I enjoy building furniture of all kinds, but my real passion is woodturning. I specialize in segmented turning and have included a link to some of my work.

Now then, enough with the brown nosing. One of my favorite projects was your gadget station. The use of woods, as well as the Greene & Greene and Asian influences grabbed my attention immediately. So using your inspiration, I designed and built my own smaller version to hold cd’s. It is constructed of walnut legs with a poplar body (spalted on back), and a spalted sycamore door. You may notice there is no handle on the door. I embedded magnets in the door to close it and also magnets in the spire on top to then grab and open it. I used a set of barrel hinges from Rockler to allow the door to drop down and be concealed at the same time. This touch anchored the medieval castle theme, I felt I had going on. Well, I hope my cabinet did you some justice. Keep up the great work.

This Viewer Project comes from Margaret from Magnolia Works. Let’s hear what she has to say!

I decided to answer your challenge to build a Gadget Station. I built one in Greene & Greene style, designed after a lantern in the Gamble House in Pasadena, California. My Station is made of genuine mahogany with ebony accents. It has a layered stained glass panel in the door, glass shelves with 1/8″ slots and stepped back panels for cord access. The drawer has vents in the bottom for air circulation and is sized for a surge protector. Thank you for your inspiration!

Margaret and her husband Todd do some amazing custom woodworking and produce some beautiful Greene & Greene inspired pieces. Definitely take a moment to check out their website: Magnolia Works

This week’s project is submitted by Mike. Let’s check it out:

“Just as I finished up my gadget station, my boss told me about your website and your gadget station. Mine is a built-in that goes in a wall between the hall that goes to my garage (my main entrance into my house) and my basement stairs. The front of it (the drawer side) goes toward the garage hall and the back (the door side – kind of looks like a medicine cabinet) goes in the basement stairway. It is made of aspen and poplar and painted white. I normally don’t like to paint my woodworking projects, but all of the trim in the house is white, so I figured this would match better. The box is put together with glue and biscuits. I used delrin for the drawer slides and used the drawer fronts as a positive stop to set the drawer depth – it worked out pretty well.”

“I put an outlet in the basement wall side of it and plugged in a power strip. It is currently used to charge two cell phones and my camera battery. The drawers store our keys, my wallet, our cameras and my portable GPS. It also has a plastic bin in the top of the the inside of the door. I use that to put bills and mail that eventually need to go down the basement to my office. The door still needs a knob (I forgot about it when I bought the knobs for the drawer) and the paint around the basement side still needs to be touched up, but I am onto my next project, so that can wait.”

This week’s project is submitted by Chris. Let’s check it out and see what he has to say:

“I’ve been watching your videos for the last few months, and find them very enjoyable. I watched Part 1 of the gadget station last night, and what you’re working on is very much like a project I built for myself earlier in the spring.”

“Back in the old days, Stickley built a desk called the #706. It’s a small secretary-type desk, and the top of it is basically a gadget station with a drop down door for a laptop (like your first station, but this one has a better way for supporting the door). For somebody who wants a gadget station but also needs a small desk for a laptop, it’s perfect. That’s what I use mine for.”

“The desk itself was built entirely with hand tools…vintage panel and back saws, hand planes (most vintage, but a few new Lie-Nielsen and Veritas planes), and chisels (short chisels are Ashley Isles, long chisels are mostly vintage). The top and bottom shelf are attached to the sides using hand cut wedged through-mortises. The back is ship lapped pine boards. The door utilized haunched mortise-and-tenon joinery with floating solid panels. I will admit to using a random orbit sander to get the inside of the door perfectly level though, but I did get it pretty close with just hand planes. :) I finished the desk with shellac….something like 18 coats padded on.”

“It’s built with clear pine…I’m a total hand tool person so quartersawn oak was not going to happen (original Stickleys in QS oak looks AMAZING though). One pic is when it was brand new and one is with the adjustable shelving system I built for it. Devices that need charging sit in the middle (iPod, cellphone, etc.), and the side shelving is wide enough to accommodate CD/DVD storage. When not in use, the laptop stands on edge and leans back against the shelves….it tilts backwards slightly so it won’t fall out.”

“You’ll see that the door’s pivot location is about 1/4 from the bottom, so the shelf in the desk actually supports the door when it’s open (better than using mechanical supports). Overall, I’m really happy with it….maybe somebody else watching the videos might find the design to their liking as well, or maybe this will give you a little inspiration or something.”

Want to see this project being built? Start Here!

If you are interested in the Gripper system I showed for cutting small parts, you can pick one up in our Amazon.com Store. And if you are looking for the finishing DVD I mentioned, you can find that right here.

This series is now available on DVD! Order your copy today!

This series is now available on DVD! Order your copy today!

This series is now available on DVD! Order your copy today!

This series is now available on DVD! Order your copy today!