Hi all,
Just returned from the Borg with two sheets of birch plywood to make a rolling cabinet to hold my planer. The design is a basic box with 3/4″ sides, top, bottom, back and a single shelf. What is the “best” way to join the parts together for strength. I have this fantasy that if the top rests on top of the sides, then I can join the whole thing with about a thousand biscuits. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Darren Brown
“Come on guys, what do you need, a refresher course? It’s all ball bearings these days.”
Replies
Well, if you can settle for 18 biscuits, take a look at what I built. The attached photos/drawing will give you an idea of what I did. I also included a photo of my sander cabinet which is identical except for the offset.
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting
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Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
So, Bill, whadya keep in all those handy drawers? Lots of storage there!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
"So, Bill, whadya keep in all those handy drawers? ..."
Leave it to you to be nosy about what's in my drawers!!!
Anyway, the drawers in my roller cabinets are quite handy since I'm operating in our garage. Under the router, the two bottom left drawers are filled with clamps; bottom right is newpapers; next up on the right is bandsaw blades; top left is files and chisels; top right is rulers and marking templates; second from top right is hot stuff -- glue guns, soldering pencils.
Under the sanders is mostly (and no surprise here) sanding stuff; small drawers on the right hold sandpaper and disks; larger drawers hold ROS's, belt sander, 10" buffer, etc.
My next roller cabinet will be a shorty for the scroll saw. I've got it designed but have been busy with the pieces for the exhibition in a couple of weeks. Of course, I suppose the debate is still open about the applicability of a scroll saw in 'fine woodworking'... lol
Take care.
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting Click Here if you're interested in a good,inexpensive website host.
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
"Leave it to you to be nosy about what's in my drawers!!!" ROFLMAO!
"debate is still open" I dunno, didn't seem to have legs, did it?
"...pieces for the exhibition...." Did I miss something? Tell us about it! (another thread, obviously)forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
"... "...pieces for the exhibition...." Did I miss something? Tell us about it! (another thread, obviously)"
The photos I posted in 21311.6 on the Scroll Saw thread. I made a copy of David Mark's mahogany side table (wenge accents), a quilt rack I designed (with walnut accent and maple leaf), and I'll probably take a night stand (one of a pair) to the exhibition. It's a juried fine furniture exhibit at the Florida State Fair. This will be my first such exhibit. I'll deliver the items on February 4; judging is the 6th. If I get a prize on anything, I'll be surprised but it will be good exposure.
When a woodworker friend suggested I enter, I thought, "Yeah, right." He's entered for many years and knows the level of competition. After showing him some of my work, he was very insistent that I enter. My first thought was the typical about fairs: baking, sewing, animals, etc., but this Fair has everything from baking to wine making to fine furniture. It also has woodcarving and woodturning competitions.
I'll post photos as soon as I have everything ready to go. I've got my own backdrop and photo lights that I can setup in the garage to make some decent photos.
By the way, if you ever get over to this corner of the planet, you've got a place to stay with us. That way, you can check out my drawers first hand.
:o')
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting Click Here if you're interested in a good,inexpensive website host.
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
uhhhhh, gee Bill, I don't know what to say! ROFL.Best of luck at the show. Sounds like great fun and I hope you do well!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Well, "best" means different things. It depends on aesthetics, durability, ease of construction, etc.
For a basic shop cabinet, I'd dado in the bottom and shelf into the back and sides. Glue the joints and fasten through from the outside with screws (in properly sized pre-drilled holes).
Let the sides hang down below the bottom shelf 2" or so. Install wooden blocking in the four corners for attaching casters.
An alternative is to use 2 x 2 corner boards all along the under edge of the shelf and vertically up the inside corners in lieu of dadoes. But it doesn't look as good.
The top carries the weight, so placing it on top of everything else is good. If you can route a dado all around the underside of the top, it would add strength. Then you are not depending on zillions of biscuits. You'd only need a few. Again, corner blocks are an alternative.
Darren
I have this fantasy that if the top rests on top of the sides, then.............
No reason at all not to do this.
As BArnold showed you ( a very nice workshop cab.).
Make sure you glue the box as well as all the other things you do, it will add rigidity to the whole thing.
Doug
Don't forget to have at least two locking wheels on it. It's a royal pain when a machine decides to go for a walk just as I decide to use it. SawdustSteve 20 deg. F and dropping
Darren,
I failed to mention in my first post that I used 1/4" ply for the back of my cabinets. There's really no need for 3/4" on the back since the 1/4" will keep it in alignment, especially with the contact points I have in my design. On the front, the horizontal 3/4" pieces are 3" wide drawer stretchers. The vertical panel in the center of the cabinet is full depth for addtional strength and rigidity.
Regards,
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting
Click Here if you're interested in a good,inexpensive website host.
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Darren,
I design I used on mine was a basic box about the same footprint as the planer base. At the base of the cabinet I attached a 1" x 4" box frame work that entended 4" deeper than the box. I secured 2 - 2" fixed wheels to back of the framework so that the wheels would contact the floor when the cabeinet was tilted back. It is extremely easy to roll and when it is set in place, it does not move. I use the roller bar on the top of the planer to tilt it backwards. Effective, better than lockable plastic wheels that will slide when hogging long boards and a whole lot cheaper. I used a simple M&T frame and panel construction with biscuits to join the vertical frame members. I could have just as easily used 3/4 material and screwed the edges as suggested by another poster but I had some time to kill and, hey, what the heck.
Doug
Edited 1/21/2005 9:38 am ET by Doug
D:
When I made my cart for the portable planer, I made it with dados and rabbet joints and reinforced the joints with glue and screws. I also made the top set on top on the sides. It has worked great!
Also-- Glad to see you are a big "Fletch" fan. What a great flick.
"My car just hit a water buffalo. Can I borrow your towel?"
Thank you,
The Great Marko
To all who posted,
Thanks, you guys gave me a lot of information. I've decided to go with biscuits and will reinforce with screws if it seems to need beefing up. I cut all my parts this morning so there's no turning back now. With a huge snow storm heading this way I'm glad I'm deep into a new project and the fridge is full, and I have a Lie-Nielsen Low Angle Jack, Delta 22-580 Planer and bench top mortiser that haven't even tasted wood yet. (Multiple Stealth Gloat) I'll post pictures when I'm done.
To Marko, you're the first one to pick up on Fletch. Bravo.
"I see you've remodeled the garage. Must have cost you hundreds."
Darren Brown
"Come on guys, what do you need, a refresher course? It's all ball bearings these days."
" ... With a huge snow storm heading this way I'm glad I'm deep into a new project and the fridge is full, ... "
Fridge??? Full??? Amber Bock???
That'd be worth leaving Florida!!!
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting Click Here if you're interested in a good,inexpensive website host.
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
I built my planer cabinet from the plans in Wood Magazine last year for a rolling shop cabinet. It has three drawers with slides from Lee Valley that are also the drawer sides. It was cheap, fast and easy to build, looks good, and provides lots of useful storage. In fact, this is the second cabinet I built from those plans; my sander lives on top of the other one that doesn't roll. I'll look up the issue numbe if you want.
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