Woodworking 101 - Repro Centipede cabinet handle

joeycuda

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I made a replacement top-o-the-cabinet handle for my Centipede and will document the little project. I was missing it, got a part from someone, but the particle board was a bit swollen, so I made a new piece. The original piece was 3/4" particle board with 1/4" plywood on top. Instead of particle board, I used 3/4" birch ply and 1/4" oak ply for the top piece, as I had scrap around.

First off, I checked the angle of the cut on the original piece, set the tilt of the blade to that, and set the fence so that I would be cutting the angle and the wood to the proper width. I ran it through the saw and got this:

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I then cut the new 3/4" piece and the 1/4" ply top piece to the proper length:

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Next, after taping the 1/4" ply piece to help prevent veneer blowout, I cut it to the proper width:

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I then marked up the main piece with pencil, on the bottom, for the holes. I drilled holes, same radius as the original curves/cuts, probably same as was originally done. I got a cheaper set of forstner bits and just figured out which radius/size matched:

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Next, using a drill press, I cut the holes, making sure to use a sacrificial scrap piece underneath. If you don't have a piece of wood underneath to drill into, you get a messy cut and blowout:

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Using a jigsaw, I finished cutting the area out, following the pencil guide lines I made:

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Ta da:

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Glue and align the two pieces together. I used Titebond woodworking glue:

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Using the old piece, I marked the new piece for the 3 holes using a nail through to dimple. I then drilled for the holes, sanded, primered, sprayed with a few coats of satin black:

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Nice work, I like to see people's methods for making stuff. I fricken LOVE that drill press. Such a classy looking tool.
 
Nice work, I like to see people's methods for making stuff. I fricken LOVE that drill press. Such a classy looking tool.

Thanks. I really lucked on finding that on Craigslist. I want to think I paid around $150 for it and found a near perfect match in a spray can. Had to pretty much disassemble the whole thing, polish chrome, clean, degrease, repaint, reassemble. It's 50s vintage I think and heavy iron.
 
Thanks. I really lucked on finding that on Craigslist. I want to think I paid around $150 for it and found a near perfect match in a spray can. Had to pretty much disassemble the whole thing, polish chrome, clean, degrease, repaint, reassemble. It's 50s vintage I think and heavy iron.

Awesome. I really wish this country took pride in making tools and things that still that look classy, and outlast any of the garbage made today.
 
Very nice press Joey. I want one like that. I bet it doesn't drop the whole chuck assembly if the metal is a little hard or thick like my year-old press does.
 
Very nice press Joey. I want one like that. I bet it doesn't drop the whole chuck assembly if the metal is a little hard or thick like my year-old press does.

Thanks. I don't think I'll ever need another one. I found there are actually forums and quite a few sites and groups into restoring old woodworking tools.

One thing to note.. you have reach back around at the motor to flip the on/off switch. If you were really careless, you could get your hand too close to the belt and pully on the motor. There are no safety mechs or guards on it.
 
I found this one from the 70's near me:

I love that. I really dig how there's a safety 'cover' of sorts, yet it looks like part of a design and shape and not just an ugly guard. Have you considered doing the whole repaint and polish on that? Nice piece....
 
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