Cabinet construction for The Tiddles

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jasonB

Established Member
Joined
26 Nov 2004
Messages
5,044
Reaction score
3
Location
Surrey
A couple of weeks back The Tiddles was asking about cabinet construction in this thread and I said I would take a few pics of a job I had comming up.

Its just a small wardrobe/storage cupboard in a spare room so nothing fancy, just MDF for painting and white melamine carcases.

I'd done some other work in this room previously and then left it for the painter to decorate, this is the space that the wardrobes will go into. Unfortunatly the painter was still working in the hallway so a lot of his stuff was still in the room so I couldn't move the old chest of draws out the way.

PICT0121.jpg


First job was to level up and fix the base, this was just regularised 3x2, the front to back members are positioned to come under the carcase sides. Once level it was fixed with angle brackets and an MDF facia fitted. Due to the client wanting a higher hanging space than originally planned I had to bring the front out another 150mm, so much for stopping the skirting short to save scribing/cutting. There was only about 8mm of slope on the floor so not too much hastle, the bathroom which is next along the corridor needed 30mm or so to get a level floor.

PICT0122.jpg


The carcases were then made up face down on a bit of spare carpet underlay and then stood into position on the plinth. The two outside ones have been roughly positioned in this picture.

PICT0123.jpg


You may just be able to see some 50mm wide strips of MDF screwed to the sides of the carcases. These are shown better in the next shot, they project beyond the front of the carcase by about 10mm and act as a spline to locate the faceframe. This can be seen to the left with a suitable 6mm slot cut with a wobble saw in the spindle. FF and doors are from 22mm MR MDF, the FF is 46mm wide (left over width on the side ones for scribing)

PICT0125.jpg


The middle carcase was then assembled and fitted. All three carcases were then finally positioned, joined together and fixed to the walls, rafters and plinth, most screws behind hinge plates the others fitted with plastic caps.

Faceframes were then fitted, as its just painted MDF they were screwed through the front and filled with two part filler. Unfortunatly I was not so lucky with the sloping ceiling which was a bit bowed, should not show once its all painted white :wink:

PICT0126.jpg


That just left the job of shooting the door bottoms that had been left over length and then hanging them, final gapping will be done after the painter has finished with them.

PICT0127.jpg


Jason
 
Nice one Jason.
Is it just the camera angle or are the bottom rails narrower than the midrails?
Couple of questions :roll:
Do you use mdf stiles/rails rather than tulipwood cos of cost?
Are the shelves dominoed and screwed, and supported bya back rail.
Are the backs rebated or just nailed on?

Ta
 
Jason, do you just screw your hinges straight into the MDF?
Are there tricks of the trade or special screws??

Also any WIP on the door construction (that an silly person might understand).
 
Trousers

I allowed 20mm extra on teh bottom rails but had to shoot 30mm off so yes they ended up a bit narrower but several of the room doors are like that having been trimmed for thicker carpet/underlay than was originally used 100yrs ago.

Cost is not really an issue with most of my clients, with the MDF there is no risk of movement/twisting.

Shelves and the rest of the carcase are done wit biscuits and carcase screws, just basic 6mm white faced hardboard backs on these ones fixed with 25mm ring shank nails at approx 100mm spacing.

Lurker

This one is just inset concealed (kitchen type) hinges but if I were using butt hinges then 3.5x40 screws into 2.5mm pilot holes

This should show the door construction, groves done on the wobble saw

PICT0043.jpg


PICT0044.jpg


Jason
 
OO thats clever!!
The loose tenons obvious but I'd never have thought of that!
Guess I could do the same on my router table

Thanks, thats sorted a job for me
 
NO the painter will do the caulking once its got a coat of primer on it.

No secret just a good old fashioned compass and then a quick tweak with the block plane.

Jason
 
I might go over to using chipboard for my carcases too, it saves the client a lot of painting and its more durable as well I bet.

I normally do the lot in mdf.
 
Yes its just the cheap SF one but works OK, not ideal in bright sunlight and can get a bit weak in large rooms. I mostly use it for running a datum round a room at the top of kitchen carcases or for tiling bathrooms.

And here is one I did in another room thats just been painted, hardest part was hand planing the cornice to look like the plaster one, would take a blind man to see the difference.

PICT0001.jpg


And this is another wall of the room with a door & frame that I made to take the stained glass panels that were previously in a partition. Gap at the top is a bit off as on returing to the job the day after building the partition & fitting frame the client asked if the whole lot could be moved 6", didn't go back totally true due to runn out in floor.

PICT0016.jpg


Jason
 
Fantastic, that situation is almost exactly like mine, except the slope of the ceiling starts much lower. How would you approach it if you didn't have the doors coming right down to the carpet? I was thinking of having the skirting running along the front of the units, would you bring the verticals down to the skirting?

Aidan
 
Build like it is above and then fit three bottom faceframes just like the top ones but they only need to be say 50mm wide. You can then plant your skirting onto the faceframe.

Plinth may want to be higher depending on your skirting height.

Jason
 
Thanks jason,what is your background are you a cabinet maker,how many years have you been in the trade,great work.
 
Yep been at it about 15yrs, was a surveyor/contracts manager before that.

Some of the finished fitted stuff here

J
 
Jason

That is a really useful thread. Things that are routine to you - get a level base, make the units square but undersized, scribe a separate piece to fit the walls - are the sort of thing a beginner might not think of, and are rarely covered well in DIY books.

Thanks for sharing!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top