Today I went out shopping for most of the materials I needed for the build which included.
- (1) 4' x 8' x 3/4" Birch Plywood
- (1) 4' x 8' x 1/4" plywood
- 4' section of 1" x 2" Oak
- (5) 22" full extension drawer slides
- I had (4) 3" casters so I didn't need to but them
- A box of 1-1/4" pocket hole screws
HERE IS WHAT I DID YESTERDAY
- Cut the main pieces of the cabinet (Top, Bottom, Sides)
- Prepared the base to receive pocket holes
- My Pocket Hole Jig
- Cabinet assembly time
- Adding the Cleats
- Main Carcass finished
CUTTING THE MAIN CABINET
Using my plans , I used my table-saw with a brand new 80 tooth blade to cut the sides, top and bottom pieces to size. Having a new blade in the table-saw left me with a beautiful edge to the birch plywood. So i laid them out on my out-feed table and used blue tape to label them and to orient them in the way I wanted them to be on the final cabinet. I like using this method because when you are done you just peel the table and don't have to worry about sanding out pencil marks.
PREPARING THE BASE
The main method of joinery in this project is pocket hole screws and the way the cabinet is designed the base is very important because all the screws will be added on the bottom side of the base that way you don't see the screws. I used my Kreg pocket hole jig to accomplish but more about that later.
The base will side inside the left & right sides and I will be running 5 pocket screws from either side of the base, Sorry that I didn't take any pictures of the finished base after the pocket holes have been inserted but I will come back and edit the pictures when I am back in the shop.
I spaced the pocket holes 1" from each end of the base and then every 5 inches, I also added glue to strengthen the butt joint. Below are some pictures of me using my pockwet hole jig in inserting the pocket holes.
MY POCKET HOLE STATION
Before I move on to the next phase of the project I wanted to show you my pocket hole station and you use it.My version of the Kreg pocket hole jig is the K4 there are other versions of the jig one cheaper and another more expensive
My workstation has 2 main functions
- Affords me a platform to lay long work-pieces on and don't need to worry about the long work-piece from moving around while I am drilling the pocket holes.
- It also has a decent amount of storage for all the accessories that you build up over time owning this jig.
I made my station out of 3/4" plywood scrap I had lying around, I built two compartments into it that lets me store all my Kreg clamps and screws
Below are several pictures of the jig itself housed on the workstation I made.
CABINET ASSEMBLY TIME
So now that my main pieces of the cabinet were prepared and the base has its pocket holes its time to screw these parts together.
I basically set the base in between the left & right sides (as if the cabinet was resting on its back and the base was vertical) and using some clamps to keep things aligned and making sure that everything was square I added glue to the left and right sides of the base , tightened the clamps and screwed the locket hole screws home.
Below you can see an image of where the clamps need to be
ADDING THE TOP CLEATS
In order to keep everything square before actually adding the top , I needed to add 2 cleats on the front & back of the cabinet, making sure that the cleats are flush to the top, front & back of the cabinet and again I am using pocket hole screws to secure them to the cabinet, these cleats also gives a place to secure the top once that is made.
MAIN CABINET CARCASS ALMOST COMPLETE
So that is as far as I got, the main body of the carcass is almost complete, I still need to add the plywood back which I will do next.
NEXT:
- Cutting the back panel to size
- Making the drawers
- Installing the drawer full extension drawer slides
- Making and adding the top
- Adding the casters
- Seriously thinking about making my own drawer handles and using my Kreg drawer jig
- Applying a finish
Until next time take care