Hi all, I am putting together some cabinet doors and while looking at my finite supply of clamps, I started thinking about other ways to assemble them.
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My thought was after gluing and clamping, I could nail them from the back and thru the tennon then remove the clamp and move on to the next door.
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I did with two samples and am curious how they will hold up over time. Has anyone tried this?
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Replies
A couple of brads thru the back is a common trick if your clamp inventory is limited. The brads just provide a mechanical "hold" while the glue sets up.
When I do that, I assemble the door face down in the clamps, apply the clamping pressure, wipe off the squeeze out, shoot my brads, then CAREFULLY remove the door and lay it on a flat surface to dry.
If I'm doing several doors, I start with the largest one and use stickers to build a stack. I try to leave them in the stack for several hours before moving them again.
Most of your common wood glues require clamping pressure. Glues like Titebond set up fairly quickly but shouldn't be exposed to stress until they've had several hours drying time. You would be better off to buy some more clamps, maybe enough to do 6 doors. By the time you have run out of clamps, you can take the clamps off the first door. In good conditions, 30 minutes in the clamps may be enough time before removing them. Of course, this depends on the type of glue you use, if there is any resistance in the joint staying tight along with temperature and humidity conditions. Your typical stile and rail joinery is glue dependent, no sense taking any chances. Fixing a failure after the finish is on isn't any fun. It won't hurt to add mechanical fasteners but they don't provide the necessary pressure.
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For just a few $ you could buy 20 or 30 ft of surgical tubing, not from a medical supply house, but from any store that sells fishing stuff. Anglers use it for flexible leads of some kind--I'm no fisherman, but I always see it in the fishing aisle at Wal-Mart, etc.
Anyway, 3 or 4 tightly-stretched wraps will hold the joints--you tuck the loose end under the stretched part, and it won't slip. Also, it won't mar or stain the wood, and can be re-used; good for odd-shaped things, too.
If you're really tight for $ right now, you can also cut long strips from an inner tube, or if the tube is the right size, you can cut loops about 1" wide. Use more loops/wraps for more tension on the joints.
Ditto what Dave45 said. I've even seen Norm Abram do it that way, so it must be ok. =)
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5/8" Brads... have done it in every cab shop I worked in (20+ yrs ago), I'm not sure what kind of glue they gave us to use, but there was probably less than a minute of clamping pressure while the pieces were in the clamp jig/board held by the pneumatic clamps.
Be sure everything is square before you shoot it home though.
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thanks for the input everyone. I clamped the ones for the customer, too chicken to try nailing just yet and it was only 5 doors.
I was mostly looking at efficiency and down the road. I have 22 to make for my own kitchen and I'll be nailing them.
Here is a simple one. Arrange the glueing schedule so every clamp is working at the end of the day , all the glue up sits over night, assemble more doors and clamp again during the early morning hours then again at mid day.
We always did that when I had a small shop.
Edited 4/26/2009 1:04 pm by dovetail97128
I typically try this route and will do some before leaving the house and then again at night. It was one of those things thinking ahead to my own bigger job and other things that come up. If I can glue-clamp-nail and remove, I see a fixture speeding it up and then it's no prob to do 22 doors. Getting that done quickly gets the wife happy which makes me happy and may even get me a saturday of fishing!
screwed-down blocks angled for clamping wedges. Easy to build in square-up blocks, too.AitchKay
I run a 5" GRK trim screw thru the joint.