Folding Bookstand | Popular Woodworking Magazine

It begins out the dimensions of a smartphone and opens to make your studying (or cooking) simpler.

How-to books, cookbooks and sheet music are inconvenient to make use of whilst you’re within the workshop, kitchen or live performance corridor. That’s why bookstands (and music stands) had been invented.

These, nevertheless, may be cumbersome. And so the mechanical minds of the 19th century devised a number of intelligent methods to fold up a bookstand so it may possibly slot in your pocket.

This model is predicated on a number of British and Chinese variations I’ve studied and is designed to be sturdy and straightforward to make with normal workshop gear. It requires lower than one board foot of wooden to construct, so root by way of your scrap pile and get began.

How It Works

Make a gap. Glue up the rails and stiles of the center part to create a gap for the kickstand and foot of the venture.

The bookstand is mainly a bunch of sticks which were glued or riveted collectively. The center part of the bookstand is created by gluing up three items of wooden, which creates a gap to carry the kickstand and the foot of the piece – these bits of wooden make the bookstand adjustable.

Around the center part are sticks which can be hooked up with copper rivets, which work like hinges and permit the entire thing to unfold. If you’ve by no means used copper rivets, don’t fear. Installing them is as straightforward as drilling a gap and hammering a nail.

Note: To make the nomenclature straightforward for this venture, I name horizontal members “rails” and vertical members “stiles” – identical to in a door or a face body. 

Begin with the Middle Section

Quick work. The two fences on this jig permit you to slide the middle meeting left and proper to bore the holes and counterbores precisely 7⁄8″ aside.

The center part of the bookstand is what every thing else is hooked up to, so it’s a great place to begin. Cut the rails and stiles of the center part to dimension in response to the chopping record, then glue and clamp the elements collectively. After the glue is dry, sq. the ends of the meeting and make a jig to drill the counterbores and holes for the rivets.

Note that every rivet requires a counterbore for the pinnacle of the rivet and a counterbore for the “burr” – the washer-like a part of the rivet. On the center meeting you want counterbores on the entrance face of the highest, and on the bottom of the underside. It sounds complicated, however you’ll determine it out while you research the images.

The holes for the rivets are 1⁄8” in diameter. The counterbore is 3⁄8” in diameter. I used a particular boring bit from Timberline (No. 630-100) that bores the opening and counterbore in a single operation.

Make a hinge. Drill a 3⁄32″ gap by way of the center meeting and kickstand. Then use a nail because the barrel of the hinge.

The jig is produced from scraps and permits you to bore all of the holes and counterbores within the center part with one set-up. 

The two fences on the jig are 25⁄8” aside. This permits the middle meeting, which is 13⁄4” vast, to slip left and proper so you possibly can bore your holes precisely 7⁄8” aside. Set the depth cease of your drill press so the counterbore is 1⁄8” deep. Drill all of your holes.

Next you have to create hinges so the kickstand and foot of the bookstand can pivot out. The “hinge” is merely a 3⁄32” gap by way of the center part with a nail pushed by way of to behave because the barrel. To do that, press the kickstand and foot into the opening within the center part. They ought to match cosy inside. Center them within the opening as greatest you possibly can. Then mark a location for the hinge barrel. It must be 3⁄32” from the face of the center meeting and in a spot that enables the items inside to pivot. The actual location isn’t essential in any other case.

Drill the opening for the kickstand, then flip every thing round and drill the opening for the foot.

The final step on the center meeting is to chop a 7⁄8“-radius curve on the underside fringe of the center meeting. Mark it with a compass and rasp or sand it to form.

Rails & Stiles

Sand the curve. Mark the 7⁄8″-radius curve on the top of the center meeting and sand it to form.

The rails and stiles that connect to the middle part are easy as compared. The very first thing to do is make a drilling jig to carry the rails and stiles so you possibly can drill a gap and counterbore for a rivet within the ends that’s centered on the piece and situated 7⁄16” (on heart) from the top. And you have to sand a 7⁄16” radius on the ends of among the items.

Even less complicated. The jig for drilling the holes and counterbores within the rails and stiles is much like the opposite jig, however the workpiece doesn’t slide.

There are three totally different sorts of elements – prime rails, backside rails and stiles. Here are the operations you have to do to every piece:

• Top rails: Bore a gap and counterbore on one finish. Flip the piece over and switch it round. Bore a gap and counterbore on the opposite finish. Sand a curve on each ends.

• Bottom rails. Bore a gap and counterbore on one finish. Sand a curve on that finish.

• Stiles. Bore a gap and counterbore on one finish. Sand a curve on that finish.

The Ledge

Around the top. Shape the 7⁄16″-radius curve on the rails and stiles with a rasp or a belt sander.

One final little bit of labor is to create the underside ledge, which is what your books or sheet music will sit on. These ledges are merely glued to the underside fringe of the underside rails.

The proper nail. This 6d nail is 3⁄32″ in diameter and suits completely within the gap. A couple of hammer faucets units the nail for good.

Feel free to embellish the ledges as you want. I planed a 1⁄8” bead on the entrance edges.

Finish Before Assembly

Safety ream. Opening up the opening by 1⁄64″ makes it much less possible that your riveting will cut up the work.

It’s greatest to complete all of the items earlier than riveting them collectively. Remove all of the machine marks. Clean up the perimeters. Break any sharp corners with sandpaper. You must noticed the kickstand to ultimate form. Its actual form isn’t necessary, nevertheless it does want to finish in a 1⁄4” x 1⁄4” level.

Cheap rivet setter. A 1⁄4″ dowel with a gap in the long run makes a wonderful (if momentary) rivet-setting software.

Then apply a end to all of your elements. I used a linseed oil and beeswax end that’s good for objects that gained’t see laborious use.

After the end dries, it’s time to place issues collectively. The first step is to attach the middle meeting to the kickstand and foot. Push nails by way of the 3⁄32” holes you drilled earlier. Tap the heads with a hammer to set them. Snip the heads off and file what’s left flush.

On Riveting

Swift snip. Nail snips make fast work of sentimental copper rivets.

Riveting is straightforward. My greatest recommendation right here is to take it sluggish and don’t use an excessive amount of pressure; it’s straightforward to separate the work. The first step is to ream out all of the holes with a 9⁄64” drill bit. This reaming will enable the shaft of a No. 12 copper rivet to suit completely.

Press the shaft of the rivet by way of the items you want to be part of. Press the “burr” onto the highest of the shaft. It ought to cease after 1⁄16” or so. You must “set” the rivet by urgent it onto the shaft. You can purchase a rivet-setting software, or you can also make one from a 1⁄4“-diameter dowel.

Careful pounding. Tap the rivet with care. Each hammer strike may ship your nail set skittering towards the completed wooden (and catastrophe).

Here’s how: Take a 3″-long part of dowel and drill a 9⁄64“-diameter gap into the top. Then place the dowel over the shaft. Tap the dowel till the rivet stops transferring. Snip the surplus of the shaft as shut as you will get. Then file the highest of the rivet flat. Then mushroom – aka peen – the highest of the shaft with a nail set or different software.

Folding Bookstand Cut List

The Final Bore

Bore with care. I used a 3⁄8″-diameter Forstner for this job. Run the drill as much as full velocity earlier than plunging into the foot. A quick-turning bit ensures a clear entry gap.

With all of the elements assembled, bore holes within the foot of the bookstand to obtain the kickstand. We saved this step for the top to make sure that the holes had been in the fitting place for the ultimate person.

Stand the bookstand on a flat floor and regulate the kickstand till the venture is at a perfect angle for you. Mark the foot the place it meets the kickstand and drill a shallow 3⁄8“-diameter gap at that location. The foot of the kickstand ought to drop proper in. If you want, transfer the kickstand to a different location, maybe one perfect for a thicker ebook, and repeat the method. Then, costume the edges of the holes with high quality sandpaper and apply just a little end.

This bookstand may be altered to carry books (or digital tablets) of just about any dimension. The solely precept that needs to be obeyed is that the stiles can’t be longer than the rails – in any other case it gained’t fold up properly. Obey that straightforward rule and also you’ll be capable of maintain nearly any studying materials with out an help out of your fingers. And that’s an thought that can by no means exit of favor. PWM

Christopher Schwarz is the editor at Lost Art Press and a furnishings maker in Covington, Ky.