A friend of mine was moving into a smaller apartment and he wanted a strong radiator cover that can hold his TV, as it's in front of his bed and had no other space to have his TV.
I used red oak veneered plywood since I already had it already at hand.
I cut it to width using a Cutting Guide and my circular saw. It was still 8 feet and length and having a cutting guide for long pieces like this can be quite handy.
Once I cut them to width, I cut them to length and then used pocket holes using my Kreg Jig Tool.
When using pocket holes, I tend to get the problem of the plywood shifting when screwing in the pocket screws, so I recently started using 90-degree corner clamps to better clamp the plywood pieces and prevent them from shifting.
Once all the pocket screws were installed, it was quite sturdy. After talking to my friend, I thought it would be ideal to add an additional opening on the side of the radiator cover to allow for more ventilation since his bed is only a couple inches from the face of the cover.
I used a Forstner bit to make the openings at the corners then used a jigsaw to rough cut the opening, leaving about 1/16 to 1/8th of an inch from my marked line. I then used a straight piece of wood and a flush-trim router bit to make a clean straight cut around the perimeter of the opening.
For the bottom cross brace to hold the sides, I used 1x2 hardwood as using plywood was not strong at all. I used pocket holes to keep them secure.
With the opening made, I noticed that side of the cover felt a bit weaker so I cut a piece of hardwood to brace the back of the side at the corner to minimize swaying. (metal corner brace)
Once the main structure was made, I cut strips of 1-inch wide plywood to wrap around the inside of the front face of the cover to allow for the Union Jack sheet metal to be installed. (you can also just use 1x2 material).
In addition to the front, I lined the inside walls with sheet metal to minimize heat absorption by the plywood.
The sheet metal was cut using some aviation snips and I would recommend wearing gloves to avoid cutting yourself (had to learn the hard way).
Before spraying them with paint, I had to clean the sheet metal with dish soap as they had an oily residue over the sheet metal.
Once clean, I added 2 coats of metal primer and 2 coats of metal paint.
The radiator was stained with black India Ink and the entire wood radiator was finished with oil-based polyurethane.
I heard that using wood as a radiator cover works but they're not as efficient as full metal radiator covers, as the wood will absorb some of the heat. To counteract that, I added 3 coats of oil-based poly and lined the inside with sheet metal.
It was hard to research this, but there may be a risk of using a radiator cover as a TV stand, it may depend on the type of radiator (water vs steam vs gas vs electric) and if the electronic is directly in contact with the top of the radiator (so perhaps if your tv is on a stand, it might not be at a high risk of getting hot). So take these into consideration and do this at your own risk.
Other tools used
Sheet metal screws
Spring Clamps
Straight Edge
Bessey Bar Clamps
Any Questions? Let me know down below!
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