Laser Cut Printer Stand

I created this a few months ago, at TechShop San Jose (www.techshop.ws) to address limitations on Printer Stands I'd seen. Store-bought printer stands usually don't have enough storage for my liking...

It is 19" Wide, 15" Deep, and 6.75" high.

It will hold Standard and Legal-sized paper reams just fine.

The cuts are straightforward using a 60-Watt Epilog laser engraver.  I'll provide the files and steps in cutting and building the printer stand from 1/4" and 1/8" MDF.

All files are Corel Draw Version15, which is the default save for their X5 version.

MATERIALS:

1/4" MDF (I cut at 9% speed and 90% power) for:
Top, Bottom, and Center shelves
2 sides
1 back

1/8" MDF(I cut at 19% speed and 90% power) for:
2 Center vertical supports

Top and Bottom shelves are the exact same.  This file will build one-at-a-time.

1/4" MDF is used for these.

Not much to say about this step...

I created an ellipse in Corel Draw, converted it to curves, then removed one-half of the ellipse.  That's how the front of the shelf has the indents...

Again, this is cut out of 1/4" MDF

Once more, 1/4" MDF is used for the sides of the stand.

You'll need to cut 2 sides.

The back of the stand is also cut out of 1/4" MDF.

These are the only pieces made of 1/8" MDF.

They are the exact same, but during the construction you'll see how they are used in a sneaky way to 'share' a mortise in the Center Shelf...

Okay. Now you've got the 8 pieces to build the Printer Stand.

Next step will start by assembling the Bottom, Sides, Back, and bottom Center Support.

I strongly suggest dry-fitting the whole Printer Stand before applying any glue. This helps to get you comfortable with the assembly process before you've got a bunch of gooey glue all over the place.

The Back and Sides are straightforward when attaching to the Bottom.

Either Center Support (1/8" thick) will work to attach to the Bottom of the Printer Stand.

If you'll notice, there are shorter tenons and wider tenons on the side of each Center Support piece.

For this Center Support piece, the shorter tenons go up, and each tenon will share a mortise in the Center Shelf.  We'll look at that in a little bit...

It takes a bit of manipulation, but the Center Shelf will slide into the Sides, Back, and the bottom Center Support.   Help from someone else may be needed.

Once it's in place, you'll notice that half of the mortise in the middle of the Center Shelf is occupied, and the half is empty.  This empty part will become occupied in the next step.

Okay. Here's the bit of sneakiness.

Now you can slide the top Center Support into the mortises along the middle of the Center Shelf. Again, the short tenons go toward the bottom.

Okay. Things should be pretty well aligned here. 

Place the Top Shelf on the remainder of the assembly and get it all squared-up.

Trusting you have dry-fitted the whole stand together, now's the time to take it all apart and glue all mortises and tenons as you assemble the Printer Stand.  I use a yellow Wood Glue to keep these together.

I used bar clamps to hold it together while the glue dried for about 3 hours.

Okay. Off to create MORE STUFF @ TechShop San Jose!!!