Refer to the hinge instructions for details on adjusting the door position. table saw (you may be able to get by with having the store cut your pieces for you depending on the other tools available to you). Place one of the side panels, with the rabbeted side facedown on the saw table and with a long edge against the fence. B038N355C.12 (2) for 34 " face frames, $2 each, Woodworker's Hardware. You can join face frame parts using everything from dowels to half-laps to mortise-and-tenon joints, but we like pocket-hole joinery. 4) A dado blade speeds cutting tenons on the rails, but multiple passes with a general-purpose blade will do just as well. Position the middle rail so its top edge is flush with the upper face of the middle stretcher. Glue each tenon, assemble and clamp the drawer, and then check for square. Okay, let's hear 'emyour excuses for not making those cabinets you could use everywhere from your kitchen to your workshop: "Oooh, they have doors." If I were painting these I would use brad nails instead of clamps and just fill in the holes before painting to avoid needing all these clamps. You'll also cut the middle rail beneath the drawers 2" wide. I still use my back nailer to set the distance to the fence and then use a special undersized plywood bit to cut the groove in the back. Each cabinet side gets a 3/8-by-3/4-inch dado to receive the shelf and 3/8-by-34-inch rabbets to receive the top and bottom pieces. For even spacing, make a template from a piece of perforated hardboard as a drilling guide. I quickly double check everything for square before I add glue to the rabbets and slide in back panel. Learn about 4 types of hinge installation for face-frame cabinets. After I have all my blanks cut, I can move to the table saw to cut all my parts to final size. If you had to recommend three, which hand planes should I start with? Insert the shelf securely into the center dado, and drive four finish nails through the face of the cabinet side and into the shelf. Thanks to their adjustability, European-style hinges make mounting doors as easy as assembling them. Support the other end of the side panel with top stretchers that you'll pocket-hole-screw in place. All Rights Reserved. Drill two pocket holes on both ends of each part. B0602300, $3.10 for two, Woodworker's Hardware, 800-383-0130 wwhardware.com. On the bottom inside edge of each piece, cut a groove 14 " from the edge to accept the drawer bottom. Which hand planes should a power-tool woodworker buy first? Outfit your table saw with a stacked dado blade set to the same thickness as your 3/4-inch plywood. With the doors installed and aligned with each other, lay a spacer the width of the space between the doors and drawer fronts atop the door [below]. You'll fill the gap with the face frame overlap on the sides. Im going to assemble these frames with pocket screws, so I clamped a guide to the table of the pocket cutting machine and batch these out quickly. The undersized bits are made specifically to make sure your dados are the right size for plywood since plywood is never or thick. Then mount the drawer fronts to the boxes for dead-on alignments. Lots and Lots of clamps. The first thing I need to do is break this plywood down into manageable chunks. The drawer slides we recommend provide lots of mounting flexibility and the chance to undo minor mistakes. Adjust the fence until you cut a 38 " tenon on test scrap that just bottoms out in the stile grooves. Next I need to cut a rabbet along the back edge of each side which is going to house the back panel of the cabinet. Choose clear, straight-grained wood, and assemble the frame soon after machining to reduce warping. Place them on 12 " spacers, and rest the upper cabinet on the supports [below]. To calculate part sizes for a base cabinet that's wider or narrower than the one above, follow this formula: Cut the cabinet bottom to that length. Adjust the saw fence so it is 11 5/8 inches from the near side of the dado blade. First, Im going to use the back nailer to set the distance to the fence and cut a groove along the back of each side piece which is going to house the back panel. Using two pocket-hole screws at each joint, assemble the frame [below]. In this post I'll walk you step-by-step through all the upgrades I just made to my benchtop drill press. This will make everything clean and crisp on all sides. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. Nah. OK, first up Im going to show you the more basic form of construction which uses pocket screws. Repeat for the other hinge. Hinges: Compact 38N Screw-On no. And thats that for the doors! I keep nibbling away until the back panel fits nicely into the groove. Check for squareness by. I installed my dado stack to make quicker work of these cuts and laying a test work piece flat I make some cuts until I sneak up on the fit I want. Apply glue to the dado and insert the bottom. After making some adjustments to the hinges, the doors sat perfect and even with one another. No sweat. Im using a sacrificial fence to bury the dado stack in so that only 1/2 is exposed. If youve watched my previous videos you know I love doing this with one of these centipede work holders with a piece of foam insulation on top. 3) Set your tablesaw blade height to 38 " and position the fence to center a test piece on edge over the blade. We made ours from two sheets of MDF edged with maplea practical choice for shop use. Cut two pieces of 1x4 lumber to length at 11 1/4 inches. Repeat the same process to secure the top and bottom of the cabinet to the side piece. To size the stretchers, use that same number minus the 34 " dado allowance. You can see here when I push back on the lever one router bit swings up cutting the pocket. "Butbut, they have drawers!" Cut a dado groove along one long edge of the face. Plywood thicknesses vary, though, so make certain your material thickness measures a true 34 ", or adjust your part dimensions to achieve the final cabinet width. Then fill the holes. Two sets of wall cabinets done with two different construction methods. No router bits required. OK, next come the doors and Im going to be using the same pre-surfaced maple to make the frame parts. Did I just rhyme that? Difficult? This machine uses a set of routers to cut the pocket as well as the pilot hole for the screw all in one easy motion. Stand this side panelon its side with the front edge of the board against the work table. Clamp the cabinet face frames together while you screw them to the wall and each other, ensuring the faces are flush. Place a hinge cup in a hole with the straight hinge edge parallel to the stile edge [below], and mark the center of the mounting screw slots. The false drawer front aligns separately from the box. Shim the bottom edges to level the cabinets and make the face frame edges parallel with each other. If you'll stain the doors, stain the panels before assembling the frame. Want to add storage, organization, versatility and dust collection to your drill press? But youll notice, Im not using my normal pocket hole Jig. The sample base and wall cabinets shown below have these features to make building them as simple as possible: The cabinet cases shown here were made from birch-veneer, medium-density fiberboard (MDF)-core plywood for economy. To start I add glue to the tongues on each end of the top and bottom rails and slide them into the groove in the side, or stile. (European-style hinges require 35mm holes, but a 138 " bit is close enough. For a base cabinet less than 4' wide, you can cut all the parts except the back and toekick from one 34 "4'8' sheet of plywood or MDF. Learn about the specialty tools that make cabinetmaking a breeze. Along the rear edges, the sides get a 3/8-by-1-inch rabbet to receive the 1/4-inch back panel and the 3/4-inch cleat and nailer. Calculate upper cabinet sizes the same way. Then install the drawer pulls. It is best to cut all of the cabinet parts with a table saw. Place the template on the drawer front panel [below], and drill the hardware mounting holes. I can then slide my top and bottom panels into the dados and I go ahead and do an initial check for square before adding the clamps. Youll see how that happens later in the walkthrough. Test the saw settings in scrap; then cut dadoes at both ends of the two sides. Plywood-panel doors and drawer fronts require no routed profiles. But I like using my track saw because theres much less dust created in the shop which is important to me. It is best to drive the finish nails with a pneumatic nailer, but you can also drive them by hand with a hammer and nail set. Then glue and nail it in place. Here's the Right Way to Hang Cabinets with French Cleat Wedge Brackets, Learn How to Build Slab-Style Cabinet Doors, Determining the Table Saw Features You Need and Don't Need, Learn How to Cut a Dado Like a Master Woodworker, Building a Jointer Jig for Your Table Saw, Methods to Make a Zero Clearance Insert for Your Table Saw, Joining Boards with Tongue and Groove Joinery, Build Your Own Portable Miter Saw Stand With These Free Plans, Build Cabinets and Doors for Your Kitchen, Bath, or Utility Room, Learn to Make Beautiful Louvered Doors and Window Shutters. We shadowed two experienced makers and installers of custom cabinetry to bring you simple tips and tricks that will keep your built-in projects (and your sanity) on the bubble.. Build the face frame from solid wood to match or contrast with the sides. *I use affiliate links, please see details on my disclaimer.. Rout a 18 " round-over on the top inside edge of the bottom rail. Set the fence of your table saw 3 inches from the blade, and adjust the angle of the blade to 45 degrees. I give the ends a tap to make everything as flush as possible and then add the clamps. Next I need to cut tongues in all the top and bottom rails. For example, to make a cabinet 3334 " wide using 34 " plywood, cut the case bottom 33" long. Lift the cabinet into place so the halves of the French cleat interlock. You can instead use hardwood-veneer plywood, solid MDF, plain or melamine-covered particleboard, and solid wood. After the glue dries, cut the back to fit. Measure and center the back drawer stretcher flush with the bottom of the front drawer stretcher. Now subtract the thickness of the back from your fence setting, and cut the bottom panel to width. Drill/screwdriver with the appropriate bits. To do this Im just using a regular table saw blade and taking multiple passes until I can fit my back panel into place nice and flush. Hold the door in position centered vertically in the opening, and mark each hinge screw mounting location (at the center of each oblong hinge screw hole) along the frame edge. The only time I use 1/8 on the back is if I am doing a large quantity and want to save money. It should just touch the teeth of the blade. The result is a very clean pocket with no debris left inside and the ease of use makes this machine very quick at cutting lots of pockets in my cabinet parts. I even added some hidden features that I think you'll want to try. You'll be glad you did. Also, the wider the door, the more clearance you'll need in front of the cabinet. B230M, $3.86 per pair. I then use another undersized plywood bit to cut the top and bottom dados. Turn the cut piece of plywood so that the short edge is against the fence, and rip the piece in half. Again Im using just a single saw blade to make a pass, then flip the piece end for end to make another pass and perfectly center my groove. Start by ripping two side pieces to the cabinet depth (minus the frame thickness); then cut them to length. Next, I trim the edges flush and trim the side waste using this double edge trimmer and then quickly sand the rough edges smooth.