T&G Effect Cupboard

[sammoseley]

Hi,
I am after a quick peice of advice on the cheapest way of doing a T&G effect cupboard, I was going to use bead&butt MDF but at £40+ a sheet am now wondering if its cheaper to use T&G softwood, or whether there was some other way that I was missing, any advice appreciated
I am probably just being tight, I guess an 8x4 sheet can go a fairly long way and real t&g may not work out much cheaper!!!!
cheers
Sam

 

[big-all]

4" t&g covers 88mm so 11.36 lengths cover a square m cost around 80p am so a square metre is £9 or £27 for a 8x4ft sheet[2.97sq'm]

virtualy all my "country style" furniture involves 2x1 or 3x1" planed frames filled with ex 4x 1/2"t&g cladding

 

[sammoseley]

cheers all thats exactly what it is "country style"
i was planning on doing it like ledged and braced so all you see is the t&g vertical strips on outside, but from what you've said might be better to frame it, i'd rather do what you suggest as you obviously know what your doing
final question how do you frame it, do you route out a groove all the way round to seat the t&g or is there a simpler way?
any advice much appreciated
cheers
Sam

 

[big-all]

i use 2 dowels in each joint router out a 7x7mm rebate or whatever you cladding comes out at -0.25mm when you glue the txg in you do 2 panels back to back with clamps and blocks and because the txg is slightly proud it sqeezes tightly to the frame i put a moulding on the internal face edges
the doors are made identically to the panels except i mould the outside front edge as well

once you have made your 2 side panels use 2x1" par for rails one top one 4" up from the floor front and back
bottom rails select your base material then rebate 6.35-7mm by whatever the material thickness is before assembly
when assembled glue a baton between the bottom rails level with the rebates back and front
router out a 7x7mm rebate for the back panel [6mm ply]
now affix batons to the sides for shelf or shelves
if you are having drawers run additional rails on the front face side to side and identical timbers at each side
for the top alternate and glue together 4to6" par timber overhang 18-25mm and copy the moulding on the frames and drawer fronts
any more questions please ask

 

[sammoseley]

thanks a lot for the reply, it will take me a while to digest that (you make it sound easy but I've not done much of this before only built-in mdf cupboards which were easier) !!!!!!!
cheers
sam

 

[^woody^]

Can't you just buy a plain sheet of MDF and router the grooves?

 

[big-all]

thanks a lot for the reply, it will take me a while to digest that (you make it sound easy but I've not done much of this before only built-in mdf cupboards which were easier) !!!!!!!
cheers
sam

i can do a welsh dresser in 4 days a book shelve in 1 day a chest off drawers in 3 days or all 3 in 5 days with careful planning lol
ideally you need a clamp every 6" or so with batons when gluing the txg into the frames you can get away with less but any twist/cup in the wood will open little small gaps these are fine for yourself when starting up but not so good when your charging others for the privllage i have around 30 "g"/mastic clamps and 10 sash clamps

if you are going for a 36"wide by 16"deep and 32"high or whatever you could get away with 6 clamp if everything is flat as your only dealing with the 32x16 as your biggest panel then the doors would be assuming you have 3 doors surface mounted and 2 x2x1" pillars you will need to cover 11" x27" a door as you have a 4" plinth

ooo forgot to say for a cupboard the front bottom rail is flat at the front but vertical on a drawer set
sorry i do waffle on lol

 

[sammoseley]

cheers All v. useful info for me
woody, yes good idea also, i need to work out what comes out cheaper.
thanks again
sam

 

[big-all]

95% off my stuff is varnished/waxed/plain so little use for mdf grooved up
if you do go for mdf go for 9mm take the base plate edge to router cutter centre measurement say 3"
decide your groove spacings are going to be 4 inches if you cut a strait edge 5" wide you can use that as a guide
you just lay the baton so half v groove cutter cuts the edge off the board mark back 4" from that point cut another groove
now here is the clever bit you now clamp the strait edge to the end off the board then the next groove is the correct 4" away and to cut the next groove you line the board edge up with the centre off the next groove so no more marking up

 

[sammoseley]

this will be painted so another reason to take the easy option mdf
spot on thanks will be using that method with me mask on.
thanks again
sam