Hexagon Shelf
Introduction: Hexagon Shelf
Hexagons are the best and I had a blank wall in my livingroom. Putting one and one together, I wanted hexagonal shelves in my livingroom. The ones I made have a stained wooden outside, and a white inside. The hexagons are designed to be assembled without screws to keep the structure. The shelves have a wooden back used for reinforcement and mounting.
I had previously already made a set of three, so the three made here needed to be a good match to the ones I already have.
Supplies
To make 3 shelves I used:
* 18mm Solid finger jointed panel 30x200cm (This is I think the right name, but in dutch we call it "timmerpaneel")
* 9mm plywood sheet 61x122cm
* 6mm dowel pins
* Woodglue (I used polyurethane woodglue)
* White paint, primer and Oak wood stain (use whatever paint you fancy)
* Caulk plus finishing materials like soapy water
* Screws and plugs for mounting the shelf
The tools I used:
* Table saw
* Miter saw
* Jigsaw
* drill with 6mm wood drill bit for the dowels
* drill for the mounting hole and countersinking bit
* 2 small ratchet straps
* 1 glue clamp
* Paint tools
* Caulk gun
* Hammer drill with right stone drill for the plug (for mounting the shelves)
Step 1: Cutting the Sides
The shelves are each made from 6 pieces of wood, each cut to 30 degrees on either side. A miter saw was used to cut the whole board in 9 strips with roughly 18.7cm on the short side 20.5cm on the long side. If you are making your own, the exact dimension is not important, only the angle and that all planks are the same. Mine needed to match a previous set, so I needed to be precise here.
Each cut the board is placed against a hard stop which my saw has, and then the cut is made at the 30 degree angle. The board is then flipped, placed against the stop and cut again. This step is repeated until you have the desired amount of pieces. Be sure the plank does not move while cutting. With angled cuts the saw tries to move the plank sideways, ruining the cut.
My board was 200x30cm, which yielded me with 9 strips of roughly 20x30cm. I want my shelves to only be 15cm deep, so with a table saw I halved each plank. This gave me 18 planks in total, making 3 shelves.
Step 2: Cutting a Slot
To hide the back board of the shelf, a slot needs to be cut in the wood, roughly half the depth of the plank (in my case 9mm). It needs to be at least as thick as the back board, which in my case is also 9mm. 431
I made an 11mm wide, 9mm deep slot. This slot is on the side which was cut, so the clean chamfered side becomes the front. Make sure the slot is in the short side, else your slot will be on the outside of the shelf.
The table saw is set to 9mm tall. The fence is set so the cut is around 8mm from the back edge of the plank. Then each piece is carefully cut on the saw. The fence is then moved to make another cut with the furthest edge 18-19mm from the back edge. The final cut is placed somewhere in the center. I was left with two thin strips of wood which I removed with a chisel. if you are willing to make another cut you can simply remove all the material with the saw.
Step 3: Dowel Holes
The shelf is held together with dowel pins. Each plank has three 6mm dowel pins per side.
To make the holes more accurate I made a 3D printed tool to align my drill. I have included versions of this tool with 5, 6, 8 and 10mm holes. I used the 8mm one with a metal bushing, but if you are careful the tool should last at least a few shelves. The tool needs to be oriented with the side with the holes on the printbed.
If you cannot make this tool, you can simply drill 3 holes in each side, and then use dowel center pins to mark the dowel holes in the other side of the plank before drilling.
Step 4: Making the Back
The back is made of plywood. This back provides strength and place to mount the shelf. Measure the inside of the hexagonal shelf, and mark this shape on the wood, with enough allowance to fill the slot in the planks. A jigsaw was used to cut this shape out of the plywood once. 599