Will biscuits do the job?

[scooby]

Hello

I only have rough dimensions at the moment, but I need to make a cabinet of around 20" deep, 36" wide and 60" tall. Open front with 2 horizontal shelves.

The cabinet is visible from both sides and being open fronted I need to use a fixing method that can't be seen. Normally, that wouldn't be too difficult but the material is 5/8" beech venneered chipboard.

I don't have a dowel jig but I do have a biscuit cutter for my router. Would biscuits and glue do the job or should I use dowels (and measure them out carefully as I'll need quite a few along the 18" edges).

I was considering getting a pocket hole jig to give the biscuits a bit of added strength, even though getting screws to grip in chipboard can be a hit and miss affair.

So it's either :

1. Drill a lot of dowels 'free hand'
2. Biscuits and glue
3. Biscuits, glue & pocket hole screws.

If no.3 sounds feasible could someone recommend me a reasonably good pocket hole jig (mainly used for 5/8" & 3/4" thick materials). Something around (or under) £25?

thanks

 

[johnelliott]

I think that will be strong enough with just biscuits, as long as you find a way to get the back to contribute to the strength of the cabinet, by fixing ot to the sides and top and base. I can't see the pocket screws helping at all

John

 

[Colin C]

I second that about the biscuits as I have just done a unit about the same size with them and it had glass doors on it .

 

[JFC]

I think biscuits are better than dowels because the spread the load over a greater area . You also cant dip dowels in your tea but they are good for stirring tea :lol:

 

[engineer one]

as long as you use good, fresh glue, and fix the back rather than place it in a groove, then biscuits alone can be very solid. what you need is to
clamp it for at least 12 hours very tightly.

i made a television cabinet which is 36 x36 x18 in beech mdf about 10 years ago, and whilst the tv has died, it is still working well. i even put casters on it, and pocket doors worked really well.

so maybe titebond and a screwed back all around the edges would be the way to go.

go for it
paul

 

[Colin C]

I think biscuits are better than dowels because the spread the load over a greater area . You also cant dip dowels in your tea but they are good for stirring tea :lol:

I think someone has been waxing again :wink:

 

[Scrit]

I agree that biscuits will make a more than satisfactory job, but I'd suggest that the following will give much greater rigidity:

1. A back of the same thickness as the main carcass glued and pinned or screwed into an all-round rebate at the back of the carcase

or

2. A thinner back, say 6mm veneered plywood, glued into a groove inset from the rear of the carcass by 16mm (5/8in) and used in conjunction with pocket-hole screwed braces at the top, bottom and middle of the structure outboard of the inserted back (i.e. out of sight at the rear). Your braces need to be 64mm or wider and could be made from the same material as the carcasses.

The latter approach should be both lighter and more rigid than the first and is similar to the approach I've taken in the past with children's furniture (albeit dowelled instead of biscuits)

Scrit

 

[scooby]

Thanks all.

I've got a couple of recently purchased bottles of titebond glue ready to use. The back is either going to be 3/4" ply or 2 jointed pieces of the same 5/8" beech chipboard. This will be fitted inside the cabinet so as not to be visible from the side. Think I'll get a kreg mini pocket hole jig to use fixing the back to the top,sides and bottom.

Hope it goes ok and relatively quickly as I'm not keen on working with chipboard :?

The only problem I see is the clamping as I the only cramps I have large enough are sash cramps to which:

1. I only have 2 and...
2. I *think* 1 isn't long enough...doh

 

[Colin C]

Try using band clamp, like you use on the car with a ratchet

 

[scooby]

Try using band clamp, like you use on the car with a ratchet

Ah, good idea I've got some ratchet straps in the garge which should do the trick. I'll make up some corner protectors and they should work..hopefully. Cheers.

Just been thinking, using the router (with the biscuit cutter) has some serious limitations:

1. The sides will fix to the underside of the top (usual construction method) and then I'll use decorative bead around the edges of the top. However due to the config of the router I'll have to either stand the top board upright (so I can hold the router upright) or lie the board down and hope the router at 90 degree angle (which doesn't really appeal to me :shock: ). Also, either way I'll have to cramp some 3"x2" on the side so the router bed has more to sit on, as opposed to wobbling about on a 5/8" thick edge.

2. I want to permanently fix the middle and bottom shelves (ie. with biscuits). Due to the middle being, well in the middle and the bottom being 3-4" up on top of a plinth results in them being t-joints that are out of the routers capacity.

So I was thinking of getting the Ferm biscuit jointer from screwfix for £30. I've had a few instances where a jointer would have been perfect but used alternative methods due to not owning one. For that price even if I don't use a great deal, it isn't a waste of money. I haven't used one for ages so I've got aquick question before I do purchase one.

1. I need to do 2 T-joints for the shelves. On the 2 sides the biscuits need to be roughly 4-5" and 18" up from the bottom edge. I was thinking, could I cramp a straight edge across the side panel and keep the edge of the jointer's fence tight against this to get the biscuits at the correct height and inline?

What size biscuits do I need for 5/8" thick materials (or might be 1/2", I haven't been told what I'm using yet). No.10's?

Hope that made sense :?

Cheers
Jon

 

[jasonB]

Fot the top part of the "T" joint use a 4mm straight cutter in your router, only use the slot cutter(biscuit set) where the router base can sit on the face of the board..

Clamp up part of the job, put in your pocket screws to hold the joint and you should be able to remove the clamps. Make sure you have the shorter kreg screws as the standard ones are meant for 3/4" board and/or adjust the collar on the drill bit

Jason

 

[Sonic]

I used to do biscuit slots with a router, but not often, 'cause it was a pain to get them lined up ! Then I bought the Ferm BJ, and it is sooo much easier.

Now I know that various people will say that the Ferm is a piece of pooh etc etc, but it works well enough for what I do with it. Like most things in life, you get what you pay for, but also as with most things, there is a law of diminishing returns - you need to pay more and more to get each incremental improvement. And a Ferm BJ is better than none at all !

Mind you I just made a load of doors, and used dowels - there weren't no room for even little biscuits.

Colin

 

[Scrit]

Of course a really good solution would be a Record or Marples #148 dowelling jig with long bars (or silver steel rod)..... :lol:

Scrit

 

[JFC]

I agree you cant knock a ferm BJ !

 

[Colin C]

I agree you cant knock a ferm BJ !

Just be careful that the height locking handles dont come loose as the ones no the one I had did some times , so double check