Tabletop Oak Art Easel
Introduction: Tabletop Oak Art Easel
I hope this project can inspire you to design and build your own tabletop art easel. I decided to try my hand at painting, and wanted a good easel to work on (it turns out that I'm pretty bad at painting--even after classes--but it's the fun that counts!). I also needed this easel to collapse and be stored in a small space.
Of course, you can buy art easels; however, many of them aren't sturdy or well-designed. If you want a solid wood easel that can collapse down, you're talking more than $150. I made this on the cheap with some leftover oak pieces and few bucks worth of hardware. I visited some art stores to study the art easels on the market, and I think mine is better. I also think that with a little patience anyone can build their own super sturdy art easel.
Supplies
* Wood (preferably oak, which is hard and strong)
* Wood Glue
* 1/8th rubber padding circles (or other material to increase the friction between base and rotating structure)
* Short scrap strip of leather or something to be used as a handle
Take a look at the hardware photo for images of what these refer to.
* Female Star Knob (example here) or other hand wing nut
* Threaded inserts (example here)
* Brass Hex Machine Screws (example here) or other screw fastener
* Standard Threaded Rods
* Washers
* Wing Screws
* Hex Screws
Step 1: Design Your Art Easel
Your specific needs may vary. So first things first, take some paper and sketch out what your easel will look like. Do you need to adhere to certain dimensions or other design constraints?
Take your time and mentally organize how all the pieces will fit together. The photos above obviously show the finished product taken apart. I hope that these photos can help you visualize how it'll all come together. 668
I designed my easel so that all of the structural parts can be detached and stored within the base.
In my design, here are the basic structural parts:
* The base - the sturdy foundation that sits on the table
* The rotating arm - this is the structure that rotates up from the base and physically holds the canvas
* The detachable Ledges - there are are two ledges that attach to the arm, but can be removed and stored. The first upper ledge holds the canvas and the lower ledge holds the brushes.
* The two vertical guide rails - these are fixed guides that are built into the rotating arm. They create a channel along which the adjustable mast rail can adjust up and down.
* The adjustable mast rail - this extends the canvas capacity of the easel by extending upwards along the two guide rails. This also holds the top canvas gripper. Wing nuts inserted through the guide rails pinch the adjustable mast rail into place at a desired height.
* The Top Canvas Gripper - This adjustable piece is affixed to the adjustable mast rail and locks the canvas into place on the easel.
Step 2: Cut Your Wood
Once you have all of your measurements, take your time to cut all of the wood to the appropriate lengths. Because my design required precise fits, I made sure the power miter saw/table saw were square, and I also squared and planned my pieces.
Step 3: Plan and Cut the Joinery
My design called for a number of lap joints as well as doweled butt joints to connect the horizontal cross beams to the main vertical arm beams. In my case, I clamped the two side vertical arms together and chiseled out cavities for the horizontal beams (clamping them together ensures that the joints are in the exact same position along both vertical arms).
Continuously dry fit the horizontal beams into the cavities, chisel away small increments and make adjustments until everything seats perfectly.
Step 4: Cut Out Vertical Rails and the Vertical Mast Rail
The two vertical guide rails are going to be rigidly affixed to a top horizontal beam and a lower horizontal beam. The vertical mast rail will slide up and down between the two rails to expand the capacity of the easel. The width of your vertical mast rail will dictate how far apart your two guide rails are.
As you can see, I designed my vertical mast rail to have a triangular concave groove along both edges. The rigid guide rails are designed to have a corresponding triangular convex edge.
Step 5: Dry Fit the Main Structural Pieces, Glue It Up and Clamp It. Then Sand.
Arrange all the pieces and ensure they all fit together correctly. I chose to use dowels to reinforce the joinery, so that required an extra step; however, I'm not sure this was absolutely necessary, although the result was a super solid structure. 787