# Diamond wine rack



## spaniel (Apr 10, 2016)

I looked and looked for a prior post on here with measurements to make a diamond wine rack to no avail. So I figured out my own. Math is hard and my space has very specific space restrictions, but surprisingly, it looks like it all worked out. Go Go Pythagorean Theorem…


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## AZMDTed (Apr 10, 2016)

Well done. it looks great. I assume the beveled top left corner was not for the fun of it


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## Runningwolf (Apr 10, 2016)

Very nice, did you dado the boards? ?upper left corner. Would it have been easier to stain it first before putting together? I like it!


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## TonyR (Apr 11, 2016)

Back to geometry class. Looks good


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## bkisel (Apr 11, 2016)

Looks nicely done.

What keeps the rack from racking? Is it just the diamond design or will you be adding some sort of backing or bracing?


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## spaniel (Apr 12, 2016)

AZMDTed said:


> Well done. it looks great. I assume the beveled top left corner was not for the fun of it



My wine cellar is the space underneath my stairs. I sought to maximize the number of full diamonds, which required it to be just high and wide enough to need to take a couple inches off that top left corner to clear the incline of the stairs coming down.


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## spaniel (Apr 12, 2016)

Runningwolf said:


> Very nice, did you dado the boards? ?upper left corner. Would it have been easier to stain it first before putting together? I like it!



Yes, I dado'd the boards to overlap. It is not actually fully assembled, I only put in one screw per joint on the angled boards to make sure everything fit. I will disassemble to sand/stain and then re-assemble and add all the extra screws that have not been put in yet.


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## spaniel (Apr 12, 2016)

bkisel said:


> Looks nicely done.
> 
> What keeps the rack from racking? Is it just the diamond design or will your be adding some sort of backing or bracing?



Everything fits pretty tight, it's pretty structural as-is. However the joints will receive metal bracing on the back, and then the entire thing will be anchored to studs.


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## olusteebus (Apr 13, 2016)

darn nice rack there.


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## AZMDTed (Apr 13, 2016)

spaniel said:


> My wine cellar is the space underneath my stairs. I sought to maximize the number of full diamonds, which required it to be just high and wide enough to need to take a couple inches off that top left corner to clear the incline of the stairs coming down.



That's great planning. Not everyone thinks of how they're going to get something in place until just after they say 'ahh sh..'


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## trolo (Apr 13, 2016)

really nice!!!! About how many bottles per diamond do you think you can fit?


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## spaniel (Apr 13, 2016)

trolo said:


> really nice!!!! About how many bottles per diamond do you think you can fit?



16 bottles per full diamond. I have not set the partial diamonds with bottles to see for sure how many. But the when full it should be around 300 bottles. This would be a full, high production year for me.

The rack fills the majority of the space. Another smaller rack will probably add another 100 or so in capacity. Some space and awkward locations will be set up for beer aging (bombers etc).

My contractor messed up the staining on the wine cellar door, so I'm going to be a bit delayed in making this functional as I have to strip and re-finish it. But the WisperKool Slimline 2500 is installed and ready to go.


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## spaniel (Apr 13, 2016)

AZMDTed said:


> That's great planning. Not everyone thinks of how they're going to get something in place until just after they say 'ahh sh..'



Haha. Here's what I did. Not exactly master mathematician, but brute force approach. With a minimal wood shop, this is what I do. I have a $150 Sears table saw and hand tools do do this:
- Confirmed that 13 inches inside diamond dimension would hold 16 bottles.
- Measured space. Determined rough horizontal/vertical dimension which would maximize bottle volume.
- Drew out plans, with prodigious use of Pythagorean Theorum, to estimate how big it would need to be to maximize full diamonds. Due to 3/4" board width and 45 degree angles there was some uncertainty here.
- Fixed vertical dimension and constructed the frame. Left horizontal framing pieces uncut. Prayed I would be close enough to make it work as I knew there was 1-2" play in my predictions.
- Cut first 13" piece in bottom right.
- Cut rest of pieces leaning parallel, ended up I believe 16.5" vertical difference drop top of prior board to bottom of next one. I would measure the estimated length of each one, cut the first 45 angle, then cut the board 1" longer then predicted. Then I would shave it down until it fit "perfectly". There is calculation then there is reality, and I bank on reality.
- Similarly cut boards going the opposite direction.
- Carefully put opposing boards in place on top of the first set. Marked edges of dado slots.
- Disassembled and cut dado slots in first set.
- With length established for full diamonds, fixed length of rack and cut horizontal frame boards.
- Cut boards for top left corner to clear stair decline. 
- Reassembled and checked fit by inserting second set of boards. Marked exactly 2 needed adjustments.
- Made small top left corner frame piece.
- Disassembled affected pieces to make small corrections.
- Reassembled, with 2nd set boards now in slots, marked them for dados.
- Cut second set dados.
- Fit boards. Everything fit.  

Now to countersink all screw holds (3 per joint), sand, clean, finish, and final assembly.


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