# thoughts on construction of a record cabinet



## reck123 (12 Jul 2020)

Hello 

I am building record cabinet from plywood with oak veneer for a friend and wanted to run a few questions by the forum.

size: 200cm long x 90 high x 50 wide

I plan to either glue solid oak on to the exposed ply edges and flush trim or use the iron on edge banding stuff you get.

What do you think would be the best route to go. Apply solid wood edging before assembling or build a face frame for the whole cabinet and flush trim.

construction wise

I think I am going to go for biscuit joinery to assemble the whole carcuss and shelves,

The ply will be 21mm and joined with biscuits.

i may reinforce the top and bottom edges with a few oak Dowels or screws and plug the screw with a oak plug. 

Do you think this is necessary for strength or will the biscuits suffice.

Would you attack the glue up in stages or go at it all at once.

Any thoughts on my construction method would be perfect and alternative suggestions welcome.

At the moment I am mostly building projects for friends and charging materials and a little bit more until my confidence and ability improves.

But just as a ball park what would you guys charge for something of this size?

Thank you and looking forward to hearing your input


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## MikeG. (13 Jul 2020)

reck123":goiu6slm said:


> ...........Do you think this is necessary for strength or will the biscuits suffice........



If you make the horizontal pieces as a solid board (ie each of them is the full length of the cabinet), and the same with the vertical end pieces, then biscuits alone will be more than enough. Don't get involved with iron on edging. It's a piece of plastic, and you can always see the glue-line. It looks shoddy. Make proper solid-timber lippings.

Have you sourced your veneered ply? Because my experience is that it is very hard to find ply with a veneer on both sides these days, and obviously that's what you need.

Your first drawing......no. Just no.

Your second drawing would look much better if the intermediate verticals finished on top of the bottom shelf instead of continuing to the floor.


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## reck123 (13 Jul 2020)

thank you very much for a reply. thats very helpful. I have never tried the iron edge banding stuff and was afraid it could look naff so will go with solid wood lipping

I actually live in Berlin (although a brit) there seems to be quite a variety of sheet material here double sided oak veered plywood aswell. 

just out of interest what about the first drawing offends you?

with the drawing below how would you suggest providng support below the cabinet.


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## AndyT (13 Jul 2020)

I think Mike's right and wrong on the edging. You can buy "oak effect" plastic edging which would look wrong. But I have used real wood iron on edging on bedroom shelves where the somewhat bland veneer was actually a good match for veneered boards. It also changed colour from UV light in the same way so it continued to match as the shelves aged. Possibly a better match than solid wood. 

I would question the measurements though. With an LP measuring about 305mm, you'll have a lot of spare height above the records. (If you could go just a little higher you could get three rows in instead of two.)

And the depth is very generous - you'd probably need strips near the back to stop the records all being pushed back out of sight. But maybe that's part of the plan - people say LPs are just for display these days, while music comes from a streaming service.


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## reck123 (13 Jul 2020)

Thanks Andy,

il continue to explore the range of iron on a stuff and maybe try a sample.
I think your very right about the depth and think I will reduce it to 40cm.

the internal height of each cube is 360mm. I chose this as I thought it would be nice to have a bit of air above the record to get your fingers in. but still not sure if this is too much. 

thanks for the input thats very helpful.


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## MikeG. (13 Jul 2020)

reck123":38p8dyjx said:


> ......just out of interest what about the first drawing offends you?



The plinth/ kickboard. It looks weak and unbalanced with the ends of the unit overhanging like that.



> with the drawing below how would you suggest providng support below the cabinet.



Any old thing on the underside of the bottom shelf taking the load down to floor level. It could be a long member running the length of the back (like the kickboard), or it could be a series of short cross members, roughly underneath the vertical shelf dividers.


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## Racers (13 Jul 2020)

The IKEA Expedit is the go-to thing for record storage, I have a 5x5 one, it's the only piece of furniture in my lounge I haven't made. 
I would have a look at one to get the dimensions. 

Have a look at these pictures to see what happens when you build it the wrong way round. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=ikea+ex ... &prmd=sinv

Pete


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## sunnybob (13 Jul 2020)

As an ex record collection owner... :lol: I have a couple points for you to consider. 

Theres no point in having lots of space above the LP, it will be pulled forward from the front top corner, not lifted.
Theres no point having lots of space behind the records. Its just a dust haven and it allows some records to slide back further than others and make the whole thing look untidy (most LP collectors have an OCD streak) If the LP's are pushed to the back and there is about an inch of space at the front, its good.

If there are enough LP's to fill that rack, theres an awful lot of weight there and it can all fall sideways. Will the cabinet have a back for bracing? Say yes, please say yes =D> 

If its a growing collection, LP's need to be kept vertical at all times, you wouldn't want a half shelf full leaning across that space, you'd have flower pots in no time. So if you can provide some form of movable bracing that would be good. Mine had small round holes and metal hoops that could be moved as the spaces filled up. A very solid bookend type thing would work as well.
Nothing to add on construction, I dont do internal furniture 8) 8)


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## Artiglio (13 Jul 2020)

I went for a sort of random mix, based on solid timbers available. (Elm and ash so far)


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## Artiglio (13 Jul 2020)




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## u38cg (13 Jul 2020)

Nice to see a real turntable in the wild 

I just want to emphasise the point alluded to by a couple of other posters - vinyl records are astonishingly heavy in bulk and should be treated with respect.


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## owen (14 Jul 2020)

I would build it as per your 3rd picture but with rebates for the shelves to sit in. Then make a faceframe for the whole thing, without lips above the top and bottom shelf so you can slide the records out. Also, with extra supports underneath the plinth area as Mike suggests, could just be offcuts of ply under each vertical piece but you'll want to check the floor it's sitting on is nice and flat first otherwise it could rock.


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## Eric The Viking (14 Jul 2020)

Baize is a good choice for the surface of the shelves, as it won't wear the sleeves as much as a solid wood surface or Melamine veneer will. The gramophone libraries in the BBC used to have that, but I am not sure if it was a mat or stuck to the surface. 

And you really do need extreme rigidity too. As Bob and others have said, vinyl LPs and 78s (worse!) are very dense. I would put the shelves in housings at least and consider putting the vertical dividers closer together.

Regarding turntables in the wild, here's one of mine:






Sorry for the quality - the camera on this tablet isn't brilliant. The only way I get to keep this monster in the dining room is to let the DC put a plant pot on it when it's not being used.


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## sunnybob (14 Jul 2020)

Way beck when I had a record collection, I had a Garrard 401 deck with an SME 3009 arm holding a Shure V15E cartridge
Just how old does that make me? :roll: :lol: 8)


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## Eric The Viking (14 Jul 2020)

Not that old. If you had said Garrard 301, for example... 

The Garrards were good turntables, but we had very few 401s. The 301s got little proper maintenance, and used to rumble terribly. They had a BBC drop-start design, with an aluminium platter, around 13" diameter, on which the record sat, which was lowered onto an already turning 301 underneath. 

The Technics SP10 series have massive motors, and come up to stable speed in around 1/8 - 1/6 revolution. Because the Garrard-based ones had taken longer to stabilise, the BBC maintained the new ones could only be trusted after 1/4 rev, and set the muting circuits on the first Technics models to 1/4 turn at 33RPM. But you could switch the muting off. and so start on tighter cues. IIRC, on the RP2/10 (the one in the picture, which was the final Technics model the BBC made as "coded equipment"), the audio circuits get a 'speed stable' signal from the turntable, so the muting only lasts as long as it's needed. There's a LED you can see through the panel covering the electronics cards, which flashes when the muting operates.

The main reason I have that particular Gram desk is for 78s. The Sure SC35C cartridge will accept a 78 stylus, as well as microgroove, which is handy as you get a "stereo" output (useful in audio restoration). 

The BBC arm in the picture is rather "agricultural", intended to survive being used by people in a hurry (and back cueing). I have another BBC Technics-based design that is slightly later (and about which I can find no technical information), but which has an SME Series 2 arm. Its audio performance is much better, and its varispeed will go from about 10 RPM continuously up to 85.

If you want the ultimate, it's the EMT 940 series - superb in every respect (except for the scorching on the illuminated pushbuttons). EMT is/was the professional brand of Thorens. It didn't do the records much good, but they would cue themselves up by reversing direction (and the counter ran backwards). And that was actually pretty accurate too. Lightweight composite plastic platter, with "electronic mass" that really worked. Speed stable in the blink of an eye too. The BBC did a few mods, but not elegantly (I think EMT did them to BBC spec.), but still a superb turntable:




They are definitely not designer furniture however. The pic above isn't mine - it's the BBC general purpose version of the 950. I wish I had one, but not the divorce that would come with it!


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## Sheffield Tony (14 Jul 2020)

Eric The Viking":2s0zatk8 said:


> Baize is a good choice for the surface of the shelves, as it won't wear the sleeves as much as a solid wood surface or Melamine veneer will. The gramophone libraries in the BBC used to have that



Gramophone, green baize ... my word, that takes me back. My mum had this "radiogram" thing, that had a green baize lined record cabinet on one side and a cabinet that opened to reveal a turntable on the other, with a glowing radio tuning dial under it. The whole thing was finished in a shiny wood effect melamine or something, and had the aroma of scorching dust. If you were lucky, it would occasionally produce sound in stereo, though usually only one speaker at a time chose to work.

No useful advice to add to what's been said except another vote of NO for iron on edging. It will get torn off where the records slide in and out over it.


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## Eric The Viking (14 Jul 2020)

Sheffield Tony":2xkasiwb said:


> If you were lucky, it would occasionally produce sound in stereo, though usually only one speaker at a time chose to work.



The BBC had studios like that. In a training studio in around 1978, an EMI TR90 tape machine caught fire under my hand ("they all do that, sir"), and we had a studio in Bristol where you could set the faders, but not actually use them during a recording as the contacts were too dodgy. 

There was also a huge recording machine for film dubbing (a "Keller"), which lifted the mechanics for maintenance, out of the cabinet on hydraulics (it was a bit heavy), but jammed when you pushed the switch. The only solution was to sit on one end of it (or lean heavily on your hands), and ride up with it as it lifted. We made Attenborough's "Life on Earth"series on that one...


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## xy mosian (14 Jul 2020)

By all this talk of Garrards etc. takes me back.
Not long into my first job, my boss walked in with a Garrard, or was it Thorens deck, this was an autochanger. Now later on, into the seventies auotchangers, autochangers worked with a stack, as most will know. These stacks moved the arm out of the way to drop another disc onto the one just played and then brought the arm back to play the fresh disc. As the 'played' stack got deeper there was some slippage of the disc being played and of course the needle angle in the groove changed.
Now this Thorens, or was it Garrard, deck had an off platter stack. When the arm came to the end of the disc, it moved out of the way, another arm came over and picked up the played disc by using a gripping arrangement in the centre hole, the spindle was sprung loaded to allow this. The disc was swung out of the way and placed in a 'played' stack. Said arm moved aside and selected the next disc from the un-played stack and placed it on the turntable for playing. A fine sort of horizontal JukeBox really.
Sadly this turntable did not work as it should and played discs were removed from the deck picked up, and thrown across the room in a manner between a mechanical Frisbee and a Clay Pidgeon launcher. Fortunately the repair was relatively easy, un hooked spring or similar, anyway within my abilities. Still the lab lads, me included, had fun having fielding practise.
Later on I had the job of mounting a 12" sme arm to a deck so that we could play a direct cut 12" aluminium disc of Leon Goosens, Oboe player I think. That disc was produced for a loudspeaker comparison test which took place in the late 40's. Several manufacturers took part, and Briggs won. He said it was because his speaker was the only one to match the amplifier. I suppose the disc could be regarded as a master, sadly I cannot recall whether the test was a live versus recorded sound test. No I wsn't there but read of it in company histories.
All part of an irrelavant history now of course.
xy


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## Eric The Viking (14 Jul 2020)

IIRC, the family were woodwind players: Leon, and Sidonie (daughter) also. She might have been Clarinet though.


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## sunnybob (14 Jul 2020)

Eric, have you been to Washford near Minehead?
I expect so when it was a broadcasting station. Its a theme park and has a BBC museum among many other attractions. I expect you would feel right at home :shock: :lol: :lol:


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## woodhutt (14 Jul 2020)

reck123":scy1ruwc said:


> Thanks Andy,
> 
> il continue to explore the range of iron on a stuff and maybe try a sample.



Back on topic. While always favouring solid wood lipping, you can make your own iron-on edge banding. 

Cut your veneer strips slightly wider than needed.
Dampen the 'show' surface to reduce curling and flip over.
Using a mixture of 9 parts PVA glue (yellow or white) to one part water, brush on a coating and allow to dry.
(N.B. I always use distilled water for dampening and the glue/water mix to avoid getting the 'black spot' from the tannins in the oak.)
Once dry, lightly sand off the glued surface to get rid of nibs and re-coat with the glue/water mixture and allow to dry.
Ironing-on will reactivate the glue and once dry again the edging can be trimmed flush. 

I have successfully used this method for edge banding a replica Victorian sewing table and after 15 years of constant use (SWMBO is a keen sewer  ) it shows no sign of lifting.
Pete


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## xy mosian (14 Jul 2020)

Eric The Viking":11spmb5a said:


> IIRC, the family were woodwind players: Leon, and Sidonie (daughter) also. She might have been Clarinet though.


Thanks Eric.
xy


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## Eric The Viking (15 Jul 2020)

sunnybob":2p60c3he said:


> Eric, have you been to Washford near Minehead?
> I expect so when it was a broadcasting station. Its a theme park and has a BBC museum among many other attractions. I expect you would feel right at home :shock: :lol: :lol:


 You're half right: there was an aquarium and a broadcasting museum co-sited in the old BBC art deco transmitter building (same vintage as Droitwitch, Daventry, etc. I think). The museum has moved out into a former pub in the next village, but it hadn't yet reopened when I was last down that way in 2017 or 18.

It is a good collection though - I hope it survives Covid19.


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## flying haggis (15 Jul 2020)

remember the EMT's well. used to love the reverse function and as you say built like a tank.

and just for Eric
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EMT-950-orig ... SwpLBc9XQY


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## reck123 (18 Jul 2020)

Thanks all for your thoughts this has been a incredibly helpful resource to draw plans from. 

@sunny bob. I see what you mean 
There will be an extra 2-3 cm air above the records. Friend wanted this but also due to his height requirements I have to split the difference across all sections to keep it in aesthetic proportions. 

Thanks for your thoughts @Owen and @Eric the viking. I have made a drawing based on your recceomendation. So carcus is biscuit jointed but shelves rebated in. Is this what you meant? 







Here is the other version based of @mike G's board positioning for building just with biscuits.






Personally I prefer the look of the all biscuit jointed version and its speed of construction over the rebate version. But understand rebated versions merits of perhaps more strength for the shelving.


I checked out the local range of edge banding stuff in my local store. And it good quality and real veneer and not decor stuff.
Here is the manufactures (also in English)
https://www.h-heitz.de/sitesengl/index.html 

will do a test piece and see how I feel about it.



@sunny bob.
Embarrassingly I didn’t think about a backing material for bracing. Do you think this is absolutely necessary? Would be quite costly to get another sheet of veneered oak just to cover the back. 
Would you just reccomend rebating this into the back?

I discovered a sheet good here in Germany called ‘tischlerplatte’ (translates to carpenters sheet). Which essently has a solid wood core made up of pine or something like that then then covered with oak veneer. Seems to pretty common here for furniture building and praised for its stability/ strength and flatness.

Ill insert a picture. Not sure if there is anything similar to this in the uk.





Thank you all and looking forward to your final thoughts before I pull the trigger.

Best regards from Berlin,

Nick


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## AndyT (18 Jul 2020)

A back is a really good idea but if it's hidden by the records it doesn't even need to match. Lower grade ply is fine. 3 - 6mm thick. 

Your sheet material looks like blockboard. It used to be common here till about 80s/90s when MDF arrived and displaced it. Good useful stuff.


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## reck123 (18 Jul 2020)

Thanks Andy,

Will go ahead and rebate a 6mm back in to the biscuit jointed version of the cabinet I think then. 

just googled it. yep looks like the same stuff.


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## Eric The Viking (18 Jul 2020)

An old friend, a record collector, famously had to move from his Clifton flat, when his landlady realised the floors might collapse under the weight of records. Don't underestimate the mass involved. I know square openings (or golden ratio, etc.) look aesthetically pleasing, but personally I would have more uprights, so the unsupported spans of the shelves are shorter - quite a lot shorter in fact. And yes, housings (the slots) are a good way to add strength while keeping it all neat. 

Remember, though, that biscuits aid alignment, but really don't add any strength. If you look on YouTube you will find a number of popular woodworkers have experimented (Matthias Wandel is probably the most high-profile one), and proven this.

A back is a very good idea. It stops racking, and it also stops dust getting into the sleeves from behind. If you want a very secure fixing, cut battens to line up with the uprights, and screw through those, with the back as the "jam" in the sandwich. Panel pins and similar arrangements are purely for cheap knock-down furniture. On every bookcase we've owned with that sort of back, it has come loose in use. At that point the shelves are usually fully loaded, and weakened - not good. 

Finally, in the libraries of several National Trust properties, I've noticed that the shelves have thin leather or fabric "dust falls", hanging down from the front of the shelf above, to discourage dust and sunlight getting to the tops of the books. There's a paper on the problem here. I haven't seen this done for LPs anywhere, but it would be a pretty good idea, especially if the room has a carpet.


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## thick_mike (18 Jul 2020)

sunnybob":nnfi0d1v said:


> Way beck when I had a record collection, I had a Garrard 401 deck with an SME 3009 arm holding a Shure V15E cartridge
> Just how old does that make me? :roll: :lol: 8)



That’s pretty much the set up I have now...


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## reck123 (18 Jul 2020)

Eric The Viking":35b8a41m said:


> An old friend, a record collector, famously had to move from his Clifton flat, when his landlady realised the floors might collapse under the weight of records. Don't underestimate the mass involved. I know square openings (or golden ratio, etc.) look aesthetically pleasing, but personally I would have more uprights, so the unsupported spans of the shelves are shorter - quite a lot shorter in fact. And yes, housings (the slots) are a good way to add strength while keeping it all neat.
> 
> Remember, though, that biscuits aid alignment, but really don't add any strength. If you look on YouTube you will find a number of popular woodworkers have experimented (Matthias Wandel is probably the most high-profile one), and proven this.
> 
> ...




Thanks for that Eric. since you put it that way. maybe I am massively underestimating the weight of the records.

I like the clean appearance of the mating edges in the biscuit version. guess a domino would be great in this situation. 

would the regular shelf pins(never used them) suffice or better in this instance to go more bombproof with the rebate housings for the shelves of the verticals.

so I think i might then in that case go with the housing method you suggested..... 








biscuit the top and bottom long panels (bottom panel supported underneath by cross members) and verticals. . then router slots in the sides of the verticals and slide the shelves in.

Am I right in saying that using this housing method for the shelves not only increases the weight capacity but will also will add more rigidity to the cabinet overall?

my veneered blockboard material is 19mm thick. what do you think the minimum depth for the rebates should be? 4-5 mm? 

thanks again. This has been very helpful in helping me put a solid plan together before I get started.


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## Eric The Viking (18 Jul 2020)

At the start of lockdown I had to upgrade the shelf supports on our library-strip bookshelves, as we had a few of the brass ones snap, sending stuff crashing down from quite a height. Unless your client wants to use the same shelves for books, ornaments, etc., all the shelves need to be around the same spacing - say 13" or 14", as LPs don't vary in height, unlike books. When we changed them out, we found a lot of the original shelf clips had fractured but not given way completely.

I'm not sure about the rebates - it all depends on the shelf width, I guess, along with how thick the uprights are and if you intend to secure the shelves to the back as well - that would help with sagging. Someone who does more of this than I do will be along in a minute, I guess.

Ask your client to put, say, a 12" stack of LPs gently on the bathroom scales to see how much they weigh. That will give you some idea. The problem is they will be equally heavy all the way across the shelf. If, for example you put a hi-fi separate, say a tuner or amp, in the space, the feet would keep the weight close to the ends of the shelf, but not so with a group of LPs held vertically. As I said narrow compartments will be much stronger than wide ones.


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## u38cg (18 Jul 2020)

Eric The Viking":1ohsu9q9 said:


> Ask your client to put, say, a 12" stack of LPs gently on the bathroom scales to see how much they weigh.



The first ten LPs off my shelf (including, to be fair, a Sandy Denny double album) weight about 2.3kg on my kitchen scales.


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## reck123 (18 Jul 2020)

Thanks both.

I have told my friend about the back panel. who is very against it and wants to keep it open. 

I have now weighed a a 30cm stack of records and my mind Is blown 21kg. my shelf span at the moment is 47.6.

I now think I ought to add another row of compartments to reduce this length.
also in terms of sagging what about if I used solid oak panels for the shelves rebated in to the block board.


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## reck123 (10 Sep 2020)

Hi Again all,

I wanted to chime in again on my progress with the record cabinet and ask a few questions again.
I ended up using 19mm oak veneered blockboard.

At first I tried out some of the 1mm iron on edge banding stuff and whilst it looked really convincing I thought it felt pretty delicate and Im not used to not being able to profile the edge and since this cabinet is fairly basic in terms of design a few chamfers wouldn't go amiss I thought. I have now added solid oak lipping on all the panels which I feel was time well spent and brought the quality up a notch.

So far I have completed the easy biscuit joinery (dry fitted) for all the carcass of this project and added a recess for the back. (5mm oak veneer plywood)






now just need to build some quick supports for the kick board area underneath and finally the shelving.

As advised in this thread I am going to try doing some stopped rabbits/housing to fix the shelving in place. 
I understand this has significant strength benefits for heavier items such as records.
I am pretty daunted by the process at the moment and would obviously rather biscuit the shelves in or use shelf pins to play it safe.

my concerns are as follows. with the material only being 19mm thick and the need for parallel housings on both faces of some panels what amount of material can I get away removing?

I thought 5mm depth seemed a reasonable amount leaving 9mm in the middle of the panel which seems a bit fragile although I guess once the shelves are in and glued that won't be an issue any more.

next is the method.

I have found several youtube videos for making exact fitting rabbit/ housing jigs involving sandwiching and clamping two pieces of mdf or template material either side of the stock removing the piece leaving the desired width and placement, then using a top bearing guided flush mortising bit to clear out the waste leaving behind the exact area of groove recessed.

I experimented with this last night on some test material and only had a flush top bearing guided bit with quite a bit of cutting depth meaning I had to use 25mm material for a template to get the shallow depth I need.

the thicker 25mm template stock was not ideal and made it hard to make small adjustments and the router could easily clip and damage the template when plunging.

my first few results were pretty rubbish resulting in a sloppyish fit and visisible gaps on the edges.
my last attempt I clamped a bit tighter and got an exact thickness replica.
I had to bash the test shelf in to position/submission.

I guess with a bit of sanding this would help and the veneer was quite brittle when hammering the piece home. 
I guess what I am most worried about is I when try to insert the shelves once the biscuit jointed carcuss has been glued and the fit of the adjacent housings being slightly off 

it seems the room for error of tolerances seems to be none if the opposite housing is half a mm out of from the other them I'm going to have a hard time squeezing the shelves in unless the housing is made intentionally a little lose.

my notches were pretty rubbish but this is something I can work on in pratice. 

I have since ordered this bit from cmt with a much shorter cutting area and more suited for this job and removing hinge areas. I will do a few more tests with this piece. 






If anybody has any advice from doing this sort of operation or advice in general thatI would be greatly appreciative. so far this forum has been such a great pool of knowledge to draw from.

best regards,

Nick


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## spb (10 Sep 2020)

The usual approach for housings like that with a router is to either fit a guide bush, or just arrange your template guide so that the edge of the router base rides against it. Then you can use a regular straight cutter set to whatever depth you need without worrying about the bearing height.


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## reck123 (10 Sep 2020)

thanks for your input sub.

in terms of glueing this whole thing I guess it would make sense to glue it up it up in stages otherwise I feel like if I attempt the whole thing at once the glue will setup to fast and I'm screwed. plus I think I'm one or two long clamps short.

I thought I would start of glueing the two side panels to the lower long base panel first and clamping everything square.

then add the vertical dividers (with housing routered) and top piece and glue then come back and trim the shelf pieces to correct width and fingers crossed slide them in to their respective slots successfully.

or does it make more sense to slide the shelfs in to the vertical panel dividers whilst glueing in those and the top piece so everything lines up fits together as it should.

thanks,
Nick


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## LBCarpentry (10 Sep 2020)

I’d always opt for a solid timber face frame. I prefer to use a 25mm - 30mm solid timber face. Build the carcass in ply first and then cut in and fit the face frames after, as I like the lower frames to be flush with the inside edge, top frame to be flush with the outside edges and central frames to be central. This does of course give a small lip but I accept that. I simply cannot stand flush trimming. Never seems to go well for whatever reason - probably lack of patience.


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## reck123 (10 Sep 2020)

thanks for your input lbcarpentry although I'm not quite sure what you mean?

I have already lipped each piece/panel with solid oak and routed/planed flush before sizing parts for assembly


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## spb (10 Sep 2020)

reck123 said:


> thanks for your input sub.
> 
> in terms of glueing this whole thing I guess it would make sense to glue it up it up in stages otherwise I feel like if I attempt the whole thing at once the glue will setup to fast and I'm screwed. plus I think I'm one or two long clamps short.
> 
> ...



What glue are you using? The setting time, and the way it behaves when half set, makes a huge difference. With something like Titebond 2, for example, while you've only got 3-5 minutes to get the glued pieces together (open assembly time), you've got a further 10 minutes or more where the glue's still flexible and you can nudge them into position (closed assembly time). 

I think the way I'd approach that, if you're happy with the alignment of everything on a dry fit, would be to glue all the vertical pieces into the base, then while you're still in that 10 minute closed time glue the top on, then get everything squared up in the clamps. At that point you can let it set before sliding the shelves into the housings from behind and gluing them in place. If you've done the dry fit and have all the pieces, clamps and any clamping aids you need laid out and ready to hand, the actual glue up can go quicker than you think.


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## reck123 (10 Sep 2020)

thanks for that sbp,

I actually bought some titebond 2 extend glue for this which apparently has a slower open time. seems a bit on the runny side but will test it out.

yes I think that seems to be the most sensible approach.

I will do that first initial glue up shown below and as I need to join two clamps together to get the length to clamp that horizontal piece ( maybe make some clamping squares out of mdf) . then go ahead and add the top and verticals on the second glue up.





will practice my rabbet skills over the weekend.
any thoughts on the groove depth on my 19mm material is welcomed. 
I thought 5mm as having another 5mm groove in the other side leaves me with 9mm material in the middle and this feels like the minimum I should leave behind.


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## MikeG. (11 Sep 2020)

Cheap white glue from Homebase gives you at least 20 minutes open time, plus a bit more time to nudge things around. If there is any complexity in a glue up I wouldn't use anything else (on internal jobs).


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## TheTiddles (12 Sep 2020)

I think your housing depth is about right. Do think that once you’ve glued the shelves in you effectively haven’t got 9mm material in the middle, you are back to 19mm but with compromised continuity. 

I made something a bit like this but way more shelves and during glue up it wasn’t straight. After just a few minutes I could only get it apart with a sledge hammer, the structure is very strong inherently.

Aidan


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## reck123 (13 Sep 2020)

thanks For your input tiddles and mike

I spent some time playing around with the width of the jig last night trying to get a decent fit on some test scrap. where it is neither too sloppy or too tight where you have to bash it in with a mallet. took more than a few go's achieve. aiming for a fairly snug fit but one quite easy to insert.


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## TheTiddles (13 Sep 2020)

reck123 said:


> thanks For your input tiddles and mike
> 
> I spent some time playing around with the width of the jig last night trying to get a decent fit on some test scrap. where it is neither too sloppy or too tight where you have to bash it in with a mallet. took more than a few go's achieve. aiming for a fairly snug fit but one quite easy to insert.



Remember to leave room for the glue plus swelling

Aidan


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## reck123 (13 Sep 2020)

good shout, thought to add a piece of paper to the stock when setting the width of the jig to account for a little space either side


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## Nick b (5 Oct 2020)

So I have finally finished my record cabinet and delivered it to a happy customer/friend. Since this thread contributed massively to the construction and design of this cabinet I felt it right to post the finished product in here.
Thank you all very much for your input and guidance which was a great resource to go from.

I ended up putting solid wood trim on every block board panel and going for stopped rabbets/housings for the shelving which was a first for me but took my time and practiced on scrap and they came out great. Really happy with the outcome and she's solid as a rock.

Thank you all once again and what a great place it is here.


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## AndyT (6 Oct 2020)

Tidy job! Looks solid, well done.


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## Eric The Viking (6 Oct 2020)

That looks really solid and smart! I particularly like the colour and lippings.

If you have, or know anyone with a sheet metal bending brake, you might offer your client some section dividers (like book-ends). The ones we used were simply 3-4mm thick aluminium sheet rectangles, bent through a right-angle to give a "foot" around 5-6" long which goes under the records so their weight holds up the vertical "book-end" part. Obviously, the edges are smoothed, and the horizontal bit has a rounded bevel so things don't scuff. Poshness would mean adding baize or felt to the horizontal bit, too, to protect the sleeves, and your nice shelves.

If he intends to fill it completely from the outset, then it's not so important.


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## Sheffield Tony (6 Oct 2020)

Looks good, glad to see good solid lippings and not iron-on-fall-off stuff ! Good to hear it is solid a s a rock, it needs to be for LP's, they are surprisingly heavy.

But most of all, thanks for coming back with the pictures ! It is always good to see the end of the story


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## reck123 (7 Oct 2020)

Thanks all for the feedback and solid advice.

@Erictheviking that sounds like a great idea. seems he's just filling it up with lp's but something i'll defiantly make a note of.

the colour by the way is from osmo's range of hardwax oils and is the 'honey' one. 

since the client already had quiet light pale wooden floors he wanted the oak to have a darker appearance so we tried some samples and went with this.


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