bicuits and 12mm MDF ???

[Tusses]

yay or nay ?

I'm making a pigeon hole storage system for my wife out of 12mm MDF.

the boxes will be 16 x 16 x 16 to get the most out of a sheet. It will have a 6mm ply back .

I thought about using biscuits and butt joints but there isn't much meat left each side of the slot.

Knowing my Wife - they will get crammed full of all sorts of heavy stuff , and may even get used as ladders to put stuff on top :lol: the shelves will be reinforced along the front edge !

so I thought the only way it could work is if I keep the shelves long with short vertical dividers .

what ya recon ? (I dont usually use MDF ! )

 

[Racers]

Hi,

In 18mm the slots for a No10 biscuit connect if you do one from each side, you might get away with No0s, 12mm is thick enough for biscuits you will have 4mm each side of the biscuits, but No0 aren't very big you will need to use lots a dado would be better and quicker.





Pete

 

[Argee]

I agree with Pete Maddex - housing joints will be enough, as the glue will do the work. The joint will only need to be deep enough to locate the divider and prevent sideways movement, so 2mm or 3mm will suffice. When I made a torsion box base for my saw I used a very shallow dado to assist with assembly - worked very well. The picture shows what I mean. OK, so the MDF is 18mm, but the dado is very shallow and did the job. Clamping it square is the only difficult bit.

Ray.

 

[Shultzy]

Tusses, I've just glued up two drawers of 12mm mdf with butt ends. I've used "0" biscuits as these use 8mm holes ("10" are 10mm and "20" are 12mm). As this is the first time I've used mdf I'm a little concerned that the biscuits might swell and "blow" the sides out.

 

[George_N]

I've made drawer boxes in 12 mm ply using No. 10 biccies...worked just fine in ply and I don't see why it wouldn't work equally well in MDF.

 

[Tusses]

I guess the thing I have to remember is that those flimsy 3-4mm bits either side of the biscuit become a strong 12mm bit again when the glue dries !

 

[Anonymous]

I'm making a pigeon hole storage system for my wife .......

:shock: Bit cruel if you ask me.......


you didn't?


Oh OK.

 

[Tusses]

I'm making a pigeon hole storage system for my wife .......

:shock: Bit cruel if you ask me.......


you didn't?


Oh OK.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[DangerousDave]

Tusses, I'm in the middle of making built in robes out of 18mm MFC and I've been using biscuits to align the but joints which are then srewed from the outside of the carcass. Any bits that are going to be high stress (e.g. shelf that supports hanger rail) I've added KD blocks. This combination makes for an extremely robust construction. Have used biscuits in 15mm, but never 12mm. Like you say when the glue dries you have the overall thickness again. I think the main issue with using biscuits in thin stock is that the outline of the groove can show on the surface of the stock, dont know if this would be a prob with MFC.
HTH