First go to your local Home Depot
and pick up the items you will need. Here is the location we will be
working with in the photo below
on the left. Take the cardboard and make yourself a template to exact the
curvature in the grove above
the glove box as shown in the photo on the right below by cutting it to
length
first and then holding your
hand in the right position so your fingers exactly follow the contour while
holding a
pencil vertical and creating
the mark.
A little finish trimming make
be required. but once you have the contour exacted by trying the fit you
are ready to transpose the contour
to the larger piece of wood as shown below in the left hand photo.
We can then use the template
to check to make sure the contour is the same 1½" above the groove
and
then transpose that to the smaller
piece of wood. The photo on the right shows both pieces cut out with a
scroll saw. We aren't going
to worry about the distance out yet and you can actually play with
that if you wish making different
designs or just a straight cut as I did with curved corners.
In the photo on the left and
on the large piece of wood left hand side you can see a little mark denoting
the distance out that I have
planned on. Since I had not yet decided for sure what I wanted that to
be I left
that side for last. If you prefer
to take advantage of the straight edge, move your template to the straight
edge and make your marks
from there instead. This however will leave no room for mistakes or any
change in plans. The 4" wide
piece will take advantage of the full width only trimming the edges for
curvature.
As you can see in the photo
on the right, I have already cut the holes and the the center cut outs.
I marked
the holes to exact a Pepsi Can
and actually used the can to mark the hole before cutting. The square holes
are for Cigarettes and I used
the pack for those markings. You can decide what you might want
to put in that space. Maybe
Cassette Tapes, another drink hole, whatever your heart desires, as we
are customizing here.
The photo on the left below show
both pieces finished cut. I have determined the distance out I wish to
use and the contour I desire.
Now, if you will notice the photo on the right below. It shows the back
side
of the bottom piece. If you
haven't noticed yet, the area above the glove box slopes down. If we don't
want our drink holder to also
slope, we are going to have to create a support for it on the slope. I
did this
by using some of the left overs
from the larger board where I cut off the distance out to my desired
distance. This piece is going
to have to be on an angle. The width of the piece or the angle of
mounting does not make a huge
difference here while making it. The mounting location however will
be determined by it. Don't pay
attention to the fact the piece is backwards in this photo because it was
only to show the piece. It would
actually be turned lengthwise 180°
Once you have cut a similar
piece (for reference mine was 7/8" wide) you can go ahead and mark its
location as in the photo on
the left below by holding your bottom piece level with your support in
place and
scribe the mounting location
on the bottom. Trust me, what seems to be the hardest piece to figure out
is really the easiest. Not only
does the width not matter but the angle is not crucial unless you want
it to sit
exactly flat on your dash. If
it isn't, noone will notice. (We are talking the support here and not the
base for
the drink holder as someone
would notice if that wasn't level) I just took my piece and with the belt
sander,
sanded about a 45° angle
on it. The photo on the right shows the bottom marked and ready for mounting
Ok, this is kind of optional,
but before you go ahead and mount the support piece we can do the routing
on the bottom piece first so
our support does not get in the way. If you do not have a router, you can
skip
this along with buying felt
in your color choice. The felt will however protect your tray from getting
stained from condensation the
cold can will leave behind and quiet the whole thing down when going over
rough roads. The photos below
show the pieces properly aligned on the left, and marked for routing
using the top piece as a template.
The top piece will set back from the edge of the bottom piece due to
the curvature of the dash. This
location must also be determined when you mount them together later,
however the routing must closely
match the permanent mounting location. The photo
on the right below shows the
bottom routed out to accept the felt inserts. The bottom finish of the
routing is not crucial to have
a good finish as the felt will cover it. I did this freehand so a little
touching up
with the moto tool was in order
on the edges. The depth was about 1/8"
Now we are ready to mount
the back support using the scribe you made for it's location. Pre drill
the support piece so it does
not split on you. Of course this requires a pretty small bit as the nails
are
pretty small. The photo on the
left below show the holes pre drilled and the photo on the right show the
piece glued and nailed to the
bottom. I ran a bead of glue down the inner groove just for the heck of
it for
more adhesion in the photo on
the right. You can use Elmer's glue also if you do not have wood glue.
It
will hold just as well, maybe
not for as many years, but time wise it isn't a concern.
Ok, now we come to staining the
parts and cutting the dowel rods to tie this all together. Cut the dowel
rods at 1½" in length.
Now we need to either align the two pieces or used the routed out circles
to align
the pieces. If you have not
checked your routing and aligning skills, now is the time to make sure
the top
piece is oriented to the bottom
where you want it to be according to the areas you routed out. The routed
areas are a little forgiving,
but the mounting orientation of the two pieces isn't. It doesn't really
matter if the
top piece exactly matches the
contour of the dash, but it will matter if it is too far inward to allow
mounting
of the bottom piece once it
is assembled.
The photo on the left
below shows the two pieces being held by clamps in the correct orientation
and drilled
for the dowel supports. It also
shows the dowels cut to length, pre drilled and sanded for staining. The
photo on the right shows the
stained dowels. There is something wrong with the photos below that kind
of
struck me, but I figured it
out. Did your observation skills play the same trick on you?
Shown below are the finish
caps I obtained from an old Dodge Van drink tray. These caps and
mounting washers can be obtained
at RV places and some hardware stores. A little searching might be in
order for those or a little
inventiveness or maybe a custom RV shop. Can't help you there with definite
places.
Shown on the right is the drink
holder complete minus varnishing. I removed the top piece to do the
varnishing.
All that is left is the
varnishing.
Once you have completed varnishing
with the top and bottom detached as shown in the left photo below we
can move on to drilling and
mounting the bottom half to the car. Two screws straight down in the back
should be enough to hold it
in place. Under the dash in that area is something below that is hard enough
to
attach things to. I am not sure
but it is probably thin sheet metal as in most dashboards today. Drill
the
tray in two locations about
an inch from the back, just outside the two dowel rod locations. As shown
in the
photo on the right I have taken
an ordinary finishing nail and punctured the vinyl dash at the drilled
locations. The small holes can
be seen. Now take a small drill bit and drill straight down to give pilot
holes
for your screws. Make sure you
choose a drill bit that is slightly smaller than the solid part of your
screw, not
the outer threaded edge. We
want to push the metal out a little and get a snug fit.
Now we can mount the lower
half. I used two drywall screws. They really can't be seen, but if you
prefer you
can get some brass screws of
about the same size and length. They need to be about an inch long minimum.
Longer won't hurt because it
comes through in the space above the glove box. Shown below left is the
bottom
half mounted. On the right side
it shows the unit completed along with drinks and smokes,,,
Here are two more photos
of what it looks like empty from outside and through the windshield.
If you remember my Rear Access
Panel Modification this will make the second Oak Wood Modification
to my car Here's a reminder
of what that looked like
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For questions send e-mail Last Update
02/09/99
