blind Fixings/joints for wall unit

[KevinRussell]

Untitled

• KevinRussell
• 6 Feb 2013
• 1

I am looking at creating the Wall Unit above out of 20mm laminated chipboard (worktop style).

I can cut all of the bits and edge them and join them using wood screws, but some of the joints need to be blind - i.e. I don't want to have any screws or fixings showing.

Help?!

Also, what is the best way to hang it invisibly on a wall?

Regards
Kevin

 

[Deleted member 174758]

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I am looking at creating the Wall Unit above out of 20mm laminated chipboard (worktop style).

Could I correct you? The material you are referring to is MFC (melamine faced chipboard) and comes in 18mm not 20mm. Secondly laminate, as used in kitchens is about 1mm thick rather than the 0.3 to 0.5mm coating that MFC has. This is significant because MFC is not the most rigid of materials and that fact needs to be taken into consideration in your design

If you want invisible joints I think you may have to dump the idea of screwing the carcase together. Both biscuits and dowels will make the invisible joints you require - dowels can be drilled using a very basic bought-in jig (even this cheapie by Silverline) which is so cheap that I, personally, wouldn't bother making a jig. Fluted beech dowels can be had from lots of places (there's even a stall on our local market which sells bags of 50 for about £2.00 although Toolstation are cheaper. I'd suggest 8mm for 18mm board). The glue to use is PVA.

The other "invisible" technique is biscuit jointing. To do this you need either a biscuit jointer (and they start around £50 - a trade-rated one like we use for site work is circa £250 to £300 to put that in perspective) or, if you own a router, it is possible to buy a cutter with a bearing, like this (circa £7 + postage). Again, biscuits are available in small bags (and once more Toolstation are pretty cheap - go for #20s). Again these are glued-up using PVA glue. Do not be tempted to use PU ("Gorilla") glue with dowels or biscuits because it doesn't work properly with biscuits and can be a bit iffy with dowels. It also costs more

There are several other techniques, but I'm guessing that you want to work with minimal outlay, so hence these suggestions

In order to assemble this you will need to cramp-up the carcass whilst the glue sets, so a minimum of four cramps is required, however these can be made up cheaply using 2 x 1in PAR softwood and screws. Ask if you need to know

Also, what is the best way to hang it invisibly on a wall?

If you can disguise them with a spot of paint something like mirror plates can be made fairly unobtrusive and are widely available. These screw onto the rear edges of the shelf and leave only a small "ear" protruding. By positioning those judiciously, e.g. the "ears" at the top above the top edge of the carcase where they normally won't be seen, they can be almost invisible. There are completely invisible fixings used for "flying" shelves, but they aren't cheap and I doubt that an 18mm MFC carcase would be strong enough to be useable with them

BTW if you want to check how much your shelves are likely to sag under load, use The Sagulator. Please note this is an American site so they call MFC "melamine"

 

[KevinRussell]

JobAndKnock

Wow, People like you are the reason I love this site

Thanks for the correction - it'll spare my blushes when i go into Screwfix!!! I have a couple of Sashcramps that I inherited from myWifes Grandad so I should be OK there.

Keep an eye on this posting - there may be more questions!

Thanks
Kevin Russell

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I have a couple of Sashcramps that I inherited from myWifes Grandad so I should be OK there.

I reckon that you'll actually need 8 cramps. Assuming that you assemble this conventionally, i.e. make up the the "H" sections first, each comprising one end, one inner upright and a shelf (these will require just 2 cramps each) then assemble the "H" components onto the bottom/top panels (where each of the uprights will requre a cramp front and rear, therefore. Not to worry, though, it's possible to make up really cheap one-time cramps from 2 x 1in PAR softwood

BTW It was late when I made that last post. I should have mentioned that for the biscuit jointing with a router technique to work will also need a 4mm straight router cutter to cut all the mid panel biscuit slots. Apologies for missing that off

 

[foxhole]

If you don't have many tools or skills you can screw together and then glue on a 'skin' [additional board hiding the screws], will double board thickness but if you make the skin 10mm wider than the frame then will create a feature recess/step all round to the front.