Building a stand for my Rowe BC150 changer
I had been on the hunt for a decent change machine at auctions, on eBay and Craigslist. I went and looked at a few, but most of the time they are really beat and not working and I really didn’t want another project. I finally found this one from an ad off Craigslist and bought it for about $200, fully working.
This BC 150 by Rowe would work with my .900 size tokens, so I was one step closer to going all token in my game room. Of course it wouldn’t be practical to use if it was sitting on the floor, so I needed a stand. I checked Happ, a few other distributors, and Rowe directly; and the prices they quoted were ridiculous considering it was just a piece of painted sheet metal. I decided I could build my own. it would look better and function the way I wanted. I whipped up a sketch or two, bought materials and set to work.
I got a nice piece of birch plywood from Menard’s and ordered some standard black laminate as well. Total cost was around $120 for wood, laminate, contact cement and misc supplies. I wanted to raise the unit up high enough to make it comfortable to use, but also wanted to keep the overall height in line with my game room paint scheme. Total height about 63″ aff, 18″ deep and about 9″ wide. (email me if you need exact dims) The stand would fully enclose my changer and I’d mount it directly to a column wall. I cut the pieces and did some dry fit testing.
The pieces fit great so I started the assembly with some glue and finish nails from the nail gun. Clamped it together and used blocking for added support. The changer weighs a lot when it’s full of tokens, so I had to make sure it was sturdy enough to handle the load.
After the assembly dried I cut the laminate into manageable pieces and prepared the surfaces with contact cement. Once the cement dried I stuck the surfaces together and smoothed them out. After a short dry time, I used the router to trim the edges flush.
Just watch out for voids in your plywood edges. I completely missed this first one and then was so ticked off I did it again! Ugh. At least this was the back and wouldn’t be visible when installed. A void is a portion of the plywood that is void of material. When using a trim bit with a bearing, the bearing uses the edge to guide the cutter. No material equals no guide for bearing. Cutter slips into workpiece creating this mess.
I laminated the other side and then cut the slots for t-molding with a slot cutter bit and my router. I also painted any exposed surfaces with black Rustoleum latex paint. I wasn’t worried too much about the interior and the bottom as they would be hidden. I cut my t-molding and notched the corners to make the 90 degree bend. Used a small hammer to help tap in the molding and she’s done. Here’s a few finished shots and a few with the changer installed in the game room, pre-flood. The hole in the base is for the power cord and the notches are there to accommodate the base trim. That’s it!
Tags: BC150, change machine, Rowe, tokens