Any suggestions on how to make your own wooden grate / grill for a cold air return? I thought I saw an article about this, but can’t find it in my collection of Fine Homebuilding magazines.
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What do you want it to look like? The only restriction with the returns is not to create to much restriction.
This is a return grill in cherry.
Are you sure it wasn't Fine woodworking? I remember an article also, many years ago.
One easy way is with a dado blade and a pile of spacers. Place a few spacers against the TS fence ( the width of the dado x 2) and dado a board length wise ( rip cut) and then remove a spacer from the group and run again, ( you want to flip and do both long edges at each setting) remove another and repeat.
Now flop the board OVER and do the same from the back side, but crosscuting.
You now should have a grid that has 3/4" holes where the dadoes intersect.
Clear as mud?
It will take some math and head scratching to get the layout to match the OA dimension of the return, but you get the drift..makes neat trivets if you screw up and have scrap.
EDIT: Oh wait, you said floor grills? I dunno, that way would make a trap door if stepped on. You probably want half lapped 1x2 or 1x3 ( On edge, like a box divider) for strength.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Edited 2/19/2009 7:13 pm ET by Sphere
Mine are white oak "joists", about 1/4" X 2" wide, spaced about 1-1/4" apart, running the length of the register. These have dados cut about every 2-1/2" in which which strips of white oak, a little fat of 1/4", are laid. Pinned and glued. (Dimensions are just guestimates.) The "rim joists" have 1/4"X1/4" dados at the top to accept the "joists", which have been notched to fit, and pinned.
Pretty easy to make. Just a bunch of strips with small cross-braces let in.
Here's a pic that shows one -- on my To-Do list to re-build. Sorry about the file size -- any smaller and it's hard to see the grate very well.
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Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Mike, is that your work on the cabinetry and fireplace trim.? Very nice!
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
Yeah. Thanks. The pic is for a blog entry I'm working up over at Knots.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
The tree inlays look amazing! That is really beautiful. I hope you wrote how you did those.
Looks like wood burning to me. I recently made some Ginko doors for a customer, his wife burnt in similar scenes.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Wood burning? Nah. I save that for the wood-fired oven. Tastes (and smells) way better! ;-)
These were carved with a set of hobby-type gouges. (Didn't have nice ones small enough on hand, and good new ones were too expensive for this one-shot deal.) So they have a lot more relief than just woodburned.
Took a snapshot of a tree (a white oak, since that's what the cab is made outa),
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posterized it on the PC, blew it up and printed it at Kinko's, glued it to the panel with some 3M spray mount, and cut away the tree with those teeny-tiny gouges. Then I used my patented Miracle Precision Wood Staining Device (watch for Vince selling it soon on TV!) to stain it dark brown.
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(OK, it was a brown sharpie.) ;-)
Only took about an hour or so to carve and stain each door.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Cool, once did a similar thing with colored epoxy as an inlay.
Really nice job ya did there.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Thanks.
Speaking of filling with colored epoxy, I used some black for My Lovely Assistant's V-Day present.
Picked up a nice Epiphone 5-string bass cheap, popped out the frets and filled the slots with black epoxy. Took a bit of work to get the fretboard/fingerboard flat enough, but it's a really sweet 5-string fretless now. Too cool.
I was thinking about you as I was doing it, thinking I may hafta give you a shout when I ran into that bump in the fretboard, but it all worked out.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Becareful messing with slots, they can close up and allow a neck bow. Either you dodged that bullet, or fixed it (G).
We often use maple veneer strips so as you can still see the fret locations.
Also, your side pos. dots are now "off" they are located where the middle of the frets were at 3,5,7, etc. When marking a fretless, the dots go in the actual line of the fret.
Happy Thumping.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Whatever design you end up going with, remember that "form follows function", i.e., do not restrict the needed airflow of the return air grille. Any experienced HVAC service guy will tell you that the biggest problem with forced air systems (except for dirty filters) is that of restricted return air pathways. Return air can never be too big.