This is my second product design for my X-Carve CNC machine by Inventables. Not liking the look of magazines just laying around all over the place, I decided to design and make a simple, small and functional magazine rack. This magazine rack measures roughly 16.5″ in length, 12″ in height and 8″ in width.
Design
This design affords 4 surfaces for high personalization and customization, and 2 for branding or “Easter Eggs” placement. After a couple of sketches using Inventables’ Easel software (image below) I decided on 1/2″ plywood but first I wanted to make a prototype to ensure my design translated well into function. For the prototype I used a pre-cut 2′ x 2′ x 1/2″ MDF from Home Depot.
Carving
A good practice prior to carving is to measure the true thickness of the material and add that exact information to the software to ensure through cuts without any problems. In this case, the MDF board was 0.512 inches so I made the necessary corrections throughout the design to make sure the parts would fit together during assembly. I also use a 1/4″ x 2′ x 2′ sacrificial MDF board underneath. Both came under $15.
The layout was purposely designed to fit in a 2′ x 2′ board with a minimum amount of waste. I believe I achieved just that. Of the left over material (see below), 6 pieces (2 hearts, 2 triangles, 2 pieces from under the legs) can be used or re-purposed for other projects. I screwed the 2 pieces from under the legs to the bottom panel to prevent the magazines from slipping inside the rack. Later, I modified the design and added two 1/4″ grooves to the bottom panel so in the future these pieces can be simply glued in place.
Assembly
Once the X-Carve is done carving out the pieces and you’ve removed the excess tab material, the assembly process is really simple. A strong wood glue such as Titebond II Premium Wood Glue is recommended. That is the glue I used. If nailing is desired, use brad nails up to an inch in length.
Always test the fit prior to applying glue. Dry runs are great practice! Apply adhesive to the groves on an end piece (in this case the one with the heart) and fit one of the long panels (the one with the flower) as shown below.
Fit the other long panel (the one with the flower) as shown below.
Apply adhesive to the remaining grooves and slide in the bottom piece, as shown below.
Apply adhesive to the remaining end cap (in this case, the one with the heart) and fit it over the previous assembly to achieve the fully assembled magazine rack as show below.
Add a couple of magazines as shown below to get an idea of how your final product will look like once finished.
For this particular magazine rack, I used a caulk, primer and paint I had available from previous project. So what you see below is what I had available at the time of this project was completed.
Below is the finished magazine rack. I need to build two more and those will most likely be made of a nice plywood with a stain and/or clear finish.
Below you can see where I placed the 2 pieces that came from under the legs of the end pieces to prevent the magazines from slipping.
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