Replies

1. 
   YesIWood | Apr 21, 2006 08:04am | #1

   Fordman,

     PB and MDF will fail if you put and weight inside these cabinets.  I built mine out of Birch plywood (3/4") and mounted them to the wall.  Takes paint great.  Did mine in white and really reflects the light well. 

     You can practice your cabinet making skills while making them and enjoy your results for years to come. 

   Enjoy your new adventure, I sure do.

    

   Joe

   Is it really saw dust or wood dust?

1. 
   highfigh | Apr 21, 2006 04:57pm | #2

   If the MDF is dado'd and glued properly, it won't fail. Screwing the joints in addition makes them even stronger, but like anything else, the amount stuffed into the cabinet makes a difference. I have made woofer boxes for cars that were dropped on concrete and aside from nicking a corner, they just bounced. However, the added weight of MDF serves no purpose at all. I would use good birch plywood, too. Cheap birch is a waste of time, effort and money. I made a case for some drawers under my bench and the cheap garbage warped after I asembled it. I made my kitchen cabs with good plywood and they're great, even though I made them in the middle of summer with the added humidity. Much lighter and easier to hang them, too.
   "I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."

2. 
   Piccioni | Apr 21, 2006 11:11pm | #3

   I haven't had the problems with 'cheap' plywood that some have. I went with 'paint grade' maple veneer 3/4" plywood.

   I ripped them into 16" wide x 8 foot strips. I then crosscut those strips into 2-31 1/4" and 2-16" pieces (all ignoring kerf). I rabbeted each end of the 16" pieces and glued and screwed to make a 32" x 16" cabinet boxs. By cutting some 16" wide pieces to 30 1/2" I got shelves that fit the boxes. A 30 1/2" x 3" nailer goes inside across the back, screwed at each end and on the top. You fasten the box by screwing the nailer into studs.

   This goes very fast because the sizes all come from 16" rips.  They are plenty strong, and, like I said, I've had no problems because of the material. The 3/4" paint grade plywood costs about 1/2 as much as Baltic Birch (which is great stuff) and, because the birch is in 60" square sheets here, I figure I had fewer cuts and less waste.

   One day, maybe, I'll make up cheap melamine doors for the units

3. 
   SantaBarbaraSawDust | May 10, 2006 01:31am | #4

   If you are thinking of making cabinets for your home, after the garage cabs are done, it makes sense to practice working with the material you will be working with later.

   Terry
   Santa Barbara,CA
4. 
   a_Furnitologist | May 10, 2006 04:58am | #5

   I'm with everybody else...use the project as practice for your kitchen. Experiment with different hinge. Try building  European style 35mm and try one with a face frame.

   Could work out to be your most useful project.

   Neil

   http://www.furnitology.com

    

    

1. 
   user-200815 | Sep 11, 2006 12:03pm | #18

   As others have suggested, why not make at least the wall hanging cabinets out of solid woo - if you foresee doing solid wood furniture at some point down the road. Ash for the carcase and ply or glued up actual boards for the door panels. Make at least two identical cabinet carcases and doors so that when you fill it with modules specific to your storage needs, you can interchange modules between them. If you make the doors 2-3" deep you can store things in the doors as well - IF you use piano hinges to deal with the additional weight. By adding storage space to the doors you effectively double our wall storage space.Doing "real" cabinets as opposed to MDF or shop grade ply will let you try out more types of joinery and you can use shorts and scraps to make modular tool racks and try finger/box joints, half blind dovetails and through dovetails as well. If the resuling joints aren't perfect just say "it's just shop furniture" and get the practice in for the "real furniture" later. Great joinery practice AND you can try out various finishes on different kinds of wood. If you get "blotchies" you've got "it's only shop furniture" to fall back on.You'll be amazed how much stuff you can get into a wall hanging tool cabinet like this if you go "modular". I finally stopped at a 3x3 x4" deep drawer - with half blind dovetails.http://home.comcast.net/~charliebcz/RightToolCabinet.htmlMy wall hanging cabinets are behind the SCMS station - shown in the first picture. 5' 10" wide miter table to the left, 3' to the right, the garage door ins on the 5' side and I've got room to the right for overhang if needed. Wood coming in gets split ends, checks, cracks and other major defect areas cut out first thing and the cut offs get tossed before I get the "hoarding wood" thing going.SOME DAY - I'm going to build a lower cabinet to replace the old kitchen cabinet the SCMS is on - someday.OH - put everything that's on the floor, other than your real workbench, on locking casters - the kind that lock both the wheel and the swivel (you'll need two swivel casters to steer things).Rather than build slap together - functional but not very attractive or challenging - shop furniture, kick it up a notch and get a lot of practice in before getting to "real furniture".charlie b

5. 
   DougF | May 10, 2006 04:10pm | #6

   I take a somewhat different approach to utility grade cabinets in my shop: I use MDF for all of the base cabinets and I use good baltic birch drawers on full-extension guides rather than fixed shelves.   I would not however, use MDF for hanging cabinets for the reasons others have cited.  MDF works well under compression but has little resistance to sheer force.

6. 
   Rennie | May 10, 2006 04:26pm | #7

   When I put my shop together I looked at the cost of plywood and hardware, and at the time involved in building and finishing the cabinets, and decided to go down to the local HD and buy the base Mills Pride boxes. Did the whole shop in 1 day for a few hundred bucks. They are easy to clean and brighten up the shop.

   I have so little time to spend on projects - I wanted my time to go to those things I've always wanted to build.

   Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.
   Frank Lloyd Wright

   
1. 
   bww_maryland | Aug 19, 2006 04:38am | #8

   Rennie, I've seen  your north wall a couple times.  A quick question:  do you have a fence on your countertop for your miter station?  I building something similar and am worried about losing countertop space to a fence.

   Thanks for your thoughts.

1. 
   rhagenstein | Aug 19, 2006 06:40pm | #9

   I'm looking forward to a responses on the question of having a fence or not for the miter saw.  I have one that extneds to either side of my saw.  I am starting to feel like it takes up way too much valuable counter top real estate.  What would be ideal is a setup that could be put in place quickly when a stop for repeated cuts is needed, but that would be out of the way for the other 99% of the time.  Thoughts or ideas?

1. 
   bww_maryland | Aug 20, 2006 02:35am | #11

   rhagenstein, i'm curious what other's are going to say as well.

   i built my benches ~ 30" deep to accomondate my 10" SCMS, but if I were to put a permanent fence, it'd be ~8" from the front.  With ~8' on either side, this is a complete waste of counterspace and in a small shop I can't afford this.  i think i'm going to build fences that "wing nut" down in 3 locations that i can move to the back of my bench relatively quickly if I want to use for other reasons.

   I hope for additional replies w/ creative solutions.

   - brad

2. 
   colebearanimals | Oct 18, 2006 11:39pm | #19

   Hi ,   How abuot using a fence ( for your chop saw ) that is set down in the work surface ? Use a Biesemeyer cut-off saw stop, or something similar, leaving enough room on either side for clearance. The stop itself would have to be modified so that the part the wood contacts is above the work surface. Then when not in use simply lift the stop off and set aside. I am assuming your chop saw will be permanetly mounted.        have fun ,      colebearanimals

2. 
   Rennie | Aug 21, 2006 03:18pm | #13

   Hi bww,

   I do not, as yet, have a fence, though it is something I have given some thought to over the years. I also feel that most renditions of MS fences take way too much valuable real estate.

   The tops of my cabinets are 3/4" MDF with 1/4" hardboard on top. The best idea I've come up with so far (though not yet tried) is to drill a series of holes in the top into which a fence fitted with dowel pins could fit. This would give me a fence to which I could attach stops, etc. to, and still allow me to reclaim the real estate when needed.

   Has anyone tried such a solution? With what success?Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral. Frank Lloyd Wright

1. 
   user-65387 | Aug 25, 2006 03:02pm | #14

   For my miter saw station, my fences are two 'wings' attached with hinges that fold down when not in use. When folded down, the unit is 3' wide, but when I raise them up, I have 9' of working surface. The unit is mobile, which is handy when working on long stuff. The fence uses slots for the adjustable stop. So far, I am pretty happy with it.

   -Tom

2. 
   BossCrunk | Aug 25, 2006 09:12pm | #15

   Clean shop... is the refrigerator full of good beer?

1. 
   Rennie | Aug 25, 2006 10:32pm | #16

   Clean shop... is the refrigerator full of good beer?

   Boss my friend,

   It normally holds lots of soda, water, beer (reserved for 'non-shop time'), and a little wine. However, should you ever be inclined to visit Idaho, I can stock it with whichever beverage you like most.

   (PS. It took me 2 days to get it clean enough for the pictures. Has not look as good since)Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral. Frank Lloyd Wright

1. 
   BossCrunk | Aug 27, 2006 01:26am | #17

   You never know....

    

7. 
   Moksha | Aug 20, 2006 01:38am | #10

   Fordman,

   Over the last month I built these cabinets in my garage from 3/4 MDF,
   they are 3' across 4' high and 18" deep. They have a lot of stuff in them now and I cannot detect sag or movement. Not certain I would recommend MDF to you or do it again in the same way; however, it does seem to work. Used lock miter joints to hold the frame together.

   Moksha

   
8. 
   DougF | Aug 20, 2006 07:13pm | #12

   I use MDF for base utility cabinets and ply for hanging cabinets.  The MDF is great for compression loads but does not perform as well under sheer loads.  I have not encountered any problems with drawer slides handling 75 - 100 lbs loads in the base cabs but I also use longer screws than come with the packages and I install more of them per slide.  I only use drawers, no fixed shelves. 

9. 
   BigK | Oct 22, 2006 12:04pm | #20

   Fordman,

        I made a long run of wall hung cabinets using MDF for my shop about 5 years ago. Was following an article in American Woodworker magazine. The cabt's are about 15 3/4 wide and deep and around 30 high. They were assembled using butt joints, yellow glue a 16 ga trim nailer. The only thing was I knew better then to trust the 1/4" plywood back for hanging and added a hanging strip using scraps of the 3/4 MDF.  I have never had any problems with any failures with these cabinets and I have a couple that are full of catalogs, phone books, etc. Shop cabinets are supposed to be fast, easy to build, and reasonably priced. I did take the time to paint them white and that was time well spent. Generally I tend to overbuild things if there is any question of strength or quality. My only complaint about using MDF was how dusty this stuff is to machine; but for my new shop addition that I am building now I will build cabinets the same way.