So my work around for using a lathe was some spindle bases that I picked up at Menards for $7 each. The frame core is 3/4" 2' x 4' birch and the dowels are are actually not dowels but round trim with a beveled side sold by the foot at Home Depot. Supplies I had to pick up that i didn't have were sanding blocks of various grits. Sandable, stainable, paintable wood glue that will also act as filler. 1" threaded wooden dowels, Tack cloth, A couple bits for my Dremel a drill bit and some wood screws.
Firstly i just used a vice grip to remove the the threaded inserts for the spindle bases. They just twisted right out easy peasy.
Then it was to all the measuring the wood pieces for all the cuts. Was kind of difficult to get them exactly as I need them to be so they would fit together how I wanted them too but i will cover that a little more in depth in a moment. Also figuring out the proper depths and widths for router lines and not to comprise the integrity of the birch plywood that is used for the frame base.
The cuts were not difficult to make jut setting the table saw to the appropriate depth and milling them through the saw though I didn't have the proper saw or blades so i used a friends table saw and had someone else cut out the piece of birch for me and router the rabbet out for me as well to save time and omit any issues i might have had as i don't have a lot of experience with a router.
So here are all the pieces I have so far cut with about 5 hours of hand sanding to fine tune lines and edges before they are assembled. As I anticipated the cuts were not precise and even with the sanding the didn't fit absolutely perfectly so I ended up with some gaps on the inside and outside of the pieces. After the pieces are assembled all gaps will be filled with wood glue and then re-sanded. I started assembling them with pre-drilled holes in each piece and the frame for the 1" dowels that I cut into 1/2" pieces then used the dowels and wood glue to fit them together. After the glue had a few minutes to set up and keep the pieces in place I clamped them together. Once all the pieces are glued I will pre-drill holes through the backside of the frame and use a couple wood screws through out to keep everything together snugly.
Thats as far as I have gotten and will post up again when I have made more progress.
