Hi Everyone,
I’ve recently finished what was for me a complicated project that had many parts to it, the more so because it was 2 cabinets that were similar but not identical. Despite my best efforts to mark everything at times I became confused and spent a fair amount of time trying to double check all the layouts for joinery, and still screwed up! Does everyone use the triangle system for labeling their parts or is there other methods out there to consider?
Replies
The triangles are pretty much the standard. If I had 2 cabinets at the same time I would use different color pencils.
I also use the cabinet makers triangle, and label one cabinet and its parts A and the other cabinet and its parts B.
I do single, double, triple triangles....
But, I also use masking or painter's tape and Sharpie a lot of times.
I recently completed a six cabinet built-in (installing this week). It had 7 doors (two sizes) and four drawers. Some stuff was close in size, some was wildly different, but ti was also symmetrical out from the center. I used pre-lacquered BB ply and the triangles really wouldn't have done me much good. So, tape it was.
But, I'm also building myself a guitar storage cabinet out of quartersawn mahogany. I have a number of parts that need to remain in order... All my styles and rails (including the doors) are lined up sequentially, as are my drawer fronts. Triangles and white chalk have been my friend on that project!
Triangles. Double triangles if building pairs or there are duplicate parts. Ellipses with a tail for direction if there is a third set of something for no reason I can recall; just habit. I use dots 1, 2, 3, etc. for mating joinery components; mitered corners in a frame for example.
metal stamps work well
I'll scribble stuff on with pencils like lower left drawer front etc.
I use triangles for panel glue ups and numbers or letters to match tenons with mortises or to keep drawer parts in order.
I also use a trick I learned from one of the Phil Lowe video classes, I use a small chisel and mark Roman Numerals for matching parts. You can often hide them where joints will come together eventually, or on the back of pieces that won't be seen later. I just did a cabinet with 9 drawers, all the same size but each one custom fitted to it's opening, marking all the parts of each drawer was critical, so I could cut all the sides etc. at once, but still know which pairs went together. Nine drawers also meant that I had 28 drawer runners, each one fitted to its own spot. Roman numerals were a life saver.
Thanks for all the replies. Seems like the improvement I need isn't in the system as much as my approach to using a system. Maybe it's worth the extra time for me to work on groups of assemblies instead of doing all the similar pieces at one time. For instance cutting all the mortises,tenons, tongues and grooves on one side of a frame and panel cabinet versus doing all the mortises in all cabinet stiles at one time. Something to ponder...
If I'm making. piece and all fo the mortises or all the tenons or whatever are all the same size, I try to do all fo them without changing a machine setting... It's just easier.
But, I will admit, I end up going back to remake, or make a piece I missed, more times than I want to....
For me, the bottom line is, it doesn't matter what system you use, as long as you use it. Getting into good habits is always a good move!
I'll recommend the triangles approach, and I also use an 'equal' sign across matting surfaces, much as you would do when you layout biscuits and domino cuts.
The Triangles and equal signs provide orientation, and matting surfaces, however, on larger projects (and smaller ones, as well), I'm rigorous about a numbered cut-plan (I use MS-Excel), where each part has its own number, with nominal dimensions - I'll breakdown the build into large components (Table Top, Legs, aprons, ...), and each component has x-number of sub-components. As I make the rough parts, I pencil-mark them.
When I build a kitchen, I have hundred of parts, some might be 1/16" different from each other.
I use chalk to label each part. Different colors for rails and stiles. Sanding and a blast of compressed air cleans everything up once things are assembled
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