Glue-Up Advice

[Greg Guarino]

We've got about 500 CDs and although there's a lot more music in the world to discover, we're not likely to be buying more on disc. So now is a good time to build a cabinet to store them in. I'm trying to keep this project manageably simple. (ha ha) Toward that end I am using glue-on edge veneer rather than a face frame and I am trying to come up with an easy finishing method as well. I will probably prefinish all of the parts.

The cabinet will be about 77"H x 20.5"W x 6.5" deep, with 12 shelves and thus 13 horizontals including the top. And therein lies the problem: I always get a little anxious about the glue-up part of any project, and this one has 26 dado joints.

Here's the first dry-fit:

(the sides are not cut down to length yet)

Even getting all those horizontals into their dadoes *dry* was a bit of a juggling act. I held the first upright in position with some clamps and put all of the shelves into their dadoes. That was easy enough. It was of course getting the second side lined up that was tricky.

I'm considering fitting it all dry, getting it square, and then screwing small blocks into the work surface one one side (or possibly both sides) of each shelf so they'll all be aligned before I put on the second side.

I've seen people glue up things like this with the box on its side rather than on its front, but I haven't tried that yet.

Any tips would be appreciated.

[Lew Hodgett]

------------------------------------------- Use epoxy as your adhesive.

Using a slow hardener, you get about 25 minutes pot life at 77F.

Have fun.

Lew

[dadiOH]

No need to glue up all at once. Make your box - sides, top, bottom, back - and a couple of intermediate shelves to keep the sides spaced. Later on, put in the remaining shelves. Too tight? Skinny them down a bit.

[Larry Blanchard]

That's what I'd do as well. And you don't need a solid glue line for the remaining shells. A little dab on the back of each groove and then when the shelf is almost in, another little dab on each side of the shelf.

That's assuming you've prefinished and used some blue tape to protect the finished parts near the dados.

[whit3rd]

There ought to be a back (maybe not full-height), to keep the shelves from racking; once thats nailed in place, the force on the glued spots that can still bother you is the spreading force on the face. These glue joints won't be terribly strong (end grain in the plywood, at parts of all surfaces that have the glue). You might benefit from using pocket screws, or prepping the shelves with a cemented-in vertical dowel and a horizontal screw through the side that bites into the dowel. I'd also consider drilling a hole through the sidewall into the shelf, and fitting a dowel (this makes a kind of afterthought version of a tenon).

I'd consider edge-banding before assembly, the trimming of a veneer edge band is easier on a straight board. Contact cement sets up fast, it may be less expensive than the iron-on veneer options.

[Lew Hodgett]

----------------------------------------------- You could always pull a Norm and toe nail using 1-1/4 nails and a brad nailer to keep pieces in the dado and square while the adhesive dries.

Lew

[woodchucker]

I disagree, the dadoes will be plenty strong, the ply will be fine. This is overbuilt as it is. He could easily have gone for 1/2 or 3/8 shelves for this build.

This will be a tank, I agree on the back, but if it is not there the number of cross members will have make this very strong .

[j]

I concur.

At one time or another I've built a number of similar sized shelves, most with dadoed slots. With 3/4" shelves just 20" wide, this is overbuilt. I doubt it needs a back, but you could put a partial back on it, perhaps covering the bottom couple of shelves and perhaps also in the middle.

I call mine one deep shelves (~ 6" deep) and I cut the vertical spacing to match what will land on it. The beauty of one deep is that nothing can hide behind anything else.

I usually assembled mine on their side. A rubber mallet and some sandpaper to thin any sticking shelves.

I would be more worried about stability. It's very tall on a small footprint. You may wish to anchor it to a wall.

Jeff

[Pat Barber]

When I build large bookcases like that, I "always" use pocket hole joinery. Pocket holes cut way down on crazy glue up situations.

I also cut a few pieces of mdf that are the exact separation between shelves. This help keep everything square and speeds the process up.

I would glue and screw the outside frame and after all that is squared up, place the shelves in one at a time. I even place the back in the unit on a temporary basis to get everything squared up.