How to assemble this

[LarryS.]

Hi all,

I want to put together a cabinet for our new kitchen island, and construct it from birch ply (which I’ve already got)

you can see below the design, my question is does anyone have assembly tips. Basically there are a lot of pieces going in different directions which I can imagine would be tricky to get together in one go.
ill be using a domino for most of the connections.

Any advice appreciated, thanks

paul

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Start in the middle and work outwards? Damp cloth to remove excess glue.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[billw]

I'd make the section with horizontals 1 and 2 first, then the section with horizontals 3 and 4, then put them together since there's only one piece joining them at the same time as putting the side pieces on. Easy to just put the base on at the end.

 

[LarryS.]

Now you’ve said it that seems the obvious answer, wheres the facepalm emoji when I need it ?

 

[Hornbeam]

You could use a combination of dominoes for the main horizontal shelves and housings for the verticals. That way you could glue up in stages. Main carcase and shelves first and then slide the dividers into the housings. Housings cut with a router either straight through or stopped. I find less joints at a time is much less stressful
Ian

 

[doctor Bob]

I'd make the top and bottom parts first, then attach sides and slide that middle vertical in at the end.

 

[Jacob]

I'd mark up with lines for all the components, drill holes for screws, then build from outside inwards (easiest to keep whole thing square) glue and screw joints and careful alignment to the lines. Top or bottom first, single middle piece last.

 

[custard]

Step one. Calibrate your Domino. There are two things to be calibrated, the location of the central scribed line on the transparent window, and the location of the pins/paddles to the right and left of the cutter. They're not shipped calibrated, although as the years have gone on there's a higher chance of receiving a machine that's accurate right out of the box.

Step two. Calibrate your saw. If all the components are perfectly square, parallel, and cross cut with precision, then it'll all go together like a dream. But any tiny discrepancy will make assembly tricky, you can tickle the edges of ply with a plane, but the face veneer is so thin that you're pretty much stuck with what you've got.

Step three. Carefully inspect your ply. Is it truly flat and of even thickness? I've had sheets of premium birch play that varied in thickness within an individual sheet by over 0.5mm. If it's not right do you want to return it and get better stuff? In any event unless you've got B/B or better you'll have to decide which is the show face.

Step four. Decide which is the reference edge, it's normally the front edges. Mark up all the components using a coding system that makes it impossible to misalign or mix things up.

Step five. Decide in advance your glue-up strategy. If you're on your own, or don't have many cramps, then you may want to glue up in two or three sub assemblies, I would and I've got loads of sash cramps and I've been doing this for a long time!

Good luck!

 

[--Tom--]

If it were me I’d do it in phases, top 2 shelves together and bottom 2 shelves together, probably dry fitting the sides to keep everything aligned and square but removable so you can assemble all the pieces once you have the two subs

 

[LarryS.]

Thank you all so much for the advice, I’m a lot more confident with the input given, I’m aiming to get it done in a week or two so will let you know how it goes, even if it goes badly
Happy New Year

Paul

 

[LarryS.]

Bit of progress today, with help from an assistant

 

[LarryS.]

So I assembed all the inner panels with dominos, but the accumulation of joints, and all of them being in the middle of panels meant the difficulty and stress levels climbed throughout! However i got there in the end and got the whole central assembly ready for glue up, my plan now is to glue the lot but then screw the sides, top and bottom and back panels in (as none of those will be visible in the install).

I'm also wondering if anyone else does their woodwork in a onesie? Or is my daughter an innovator

So thanks again for the advice, it made all the difference


Paul

 

[LarryS.]

Complete