D.I.Y. dog feeding station

First, cut the sheet of plywood into a piece that measures 320mm x 585 mm. Next, find the centre of the 320mm x 585mm form ply. Measure 160mm down the length to mark the centre. Then use a piece of timber as a straight edge to draw a centre line across the width of the board.

Place the dog bowls where you'd like them on the centre line. Put a combination square on the edge of the ply under the bowl. Then mark the centre point for each bowl on the centre line by lifting the bowl.

With your 5mm drill bit, drill out part of the centre points that you have marked on the board. Then drill two additional holes either side of that. Use chipboard screws to fix the ply off in these two places, ensuring that they are out of the way of the router. This will secure the board while you use the router.

Our large bowl is 242mm in diameter, so subtract the width of the lip measurement, ours was 10mm and then halve the total. We will set the router arm to this measurement of 117mm. Our smaller bowl measured 203mm in diameter, so subtracting the lip measurement and halving it meant the remaining measurement was 97mm.

With the router in position, set the depth so it just goes through the board. We've placed a scrap piece of timber under the benchtop so that the router doesn't cut into our workbench. Cut the hole for the large bowl with your router. We used a trimmer to cut for the smaller bowl.

Set the drop saw to cut at a 45-degree angle and mitre one end of each length of Tasmanian oak.

For your second cuts, measure, mark and mitre the other ends of the four lengths of timber. A good tip when cutting your second mitre is to keep your pencil line visible so that you can allow for error.

Square a line across the centre of the two faces of timber for the side panels. Clamp the timber to the workbench and drill two holes in each face with the 32mm spade bit about 100mm from the ends. Draw a pencil line across the tops and the bottoms of these circles. Then use a jigsaw to cut along the lines to create your handles. 

Lay out the frame, making sure the side panels match with the ply top and square off nicely. Once you have them in position, apply PVA glue and fix them all off using the nail gun. Then fix off the top panel to the frame using a nail gun.

Putty over the nail holes and edges to fill any gaps. Then give it a light sand with an orbital sander or with 120-grit sandpaper. If the feeding station is going to be outside or have water in it, it's a good idea to seal the wood with a varnish.