Help with cam fixing

[TrailRat]

OK Firstly thanks for the inlaying help.

Now onto the subject header. Building a wall cabinet mounted for a collection of dragon related stuff. Most of it pewter, but the rest is crystal, wood, china etc. So very heavy. Going to build it from conti board. General plan is to assemble the cabinet from four major pieces. The top, bottom and sides. These will be put together with cam bolts. In the back I will place two lengths of 2x1 to fix it to the wall before sliding into place a 1/8 sheet of pine board. After sliding in the sheet from the bottom I will place the bottom section of the display case and do up the cam bolts. In the middle of the case I will place a two supports so I can support glass shelves either side. This support will consist of two pieces of 1x1/2. Sliding glass doors will complete the cabinet.

Just a few questions though as this is my first cabinet/shelf/unit that hasn't been thrown together from mdf and screws.

Is cam bolts a feasible way to hold this together? Reason for cam bolts is they can't be seen on the outside of the cabinet.

Is there a secret/special way/jig that is used when marking and making holes for the cam bolts?

Is this a bad idea? The whole of it I mean. Is there anything I should change? I can't change the conti board before that is suggested as this is all I have to hand and the funds are dry.

Thanks for any advice.

TR

[TaskMule]

I would recommend doing this on a drill press with a jig or stop of some sort. The holes really must be perfectly located and of the correct depth. The cam system is an excellent way to fasten particle core and mdf. A lot of testing has gone into this system, it works very well once you are set up.

[Andy Dingley]

Yes. Contiboard is garbage, and it's expensive garbage. If your techniques are limited, then use MDF - but Contiboard is just chipboard (particle board) underneath and makes lousy shelves that sag and look ugly. You're better off buying from Ikea than building from Contiboard - cheaper too..

If you have no tooling and a small budget, then buy yourself a cheap biscuit jointer. If you can't afford that, use dowels and a drill (works just as well, but takes more alignment). A hand drill falls under the "six pack" rule (no one is so poor they can't afford a six-pack of beer, even the guy on the park bench). So if you can afford beer, you can afford an old junk-shop hand drill.

There's no reason to use cam bolts on a cupboard. On a desk, then maybe - because they allow you to dismantle it for a future house move. On a small piece you can carry intact, then they're just complex trouble to install and extra cost.

Stop reading the adverts of people trying to _sell_ you something, instead read a book (like Joyce or Tage Frid) from someone who's trying to _teach_ you something. You don't need rocket-science cabinetry here, but you _can_ do better than factory-made fasteners. It's not that hard, you can do it on your first project, with minimal skill and with minimal tools.

MDF is hard work to use because you have to paint or veneer it to make it look presentable. Contiboard is pre-veneered, but you're paying for this and you have to deal with the edges. Centuries of furniture making have been about dealing with wide boxes made from narrow boards and hiding the edges or joins. If you can make the jump up to "timber" rather than manufactured sheetgoods (which aren't cheap) then you allow yourself a whole pile of finishing options that are cheap and easy, because you can display the wood underneath rather than having to hide it.

No money ? Then get yourself a hand plane, a stone to sharpen it and some old floorboards or pallet timber. With that, some sort of workbench space, and a minimal toolbag of basic carpentry tools you can make a nice (but shallow) set of shelves that's far better than anything you could ever make out of Contiboard. These are display shelves - you only want a shallow depth or you can't see the back row.

Take a look at design styles like the Shakers or Gustav Stickley. Nice pieces, designed around very simple construction techniques. Dadoes and half-lap joints. Through tenons and wedges (so you'll need a chisel).

[TrailRat]

The simple reason I want to go with the Conti board is because I recently reclaimed about 30 pieces of the stuff. 9" wide by 8 feet long. Good stuff and only a few screw holes per board which doesn't bother me as in some cases I can cut these out. Bonus is it was all free. The cam bolts was a salvaged job too. I stopped counting after

200.

I have the basic power and hand tools, but nothing benched. The reason for the cam bolt as you say Andy is ease of dismantling which is why I want it. The base piece has to be removed to slide the 1/8 pine sheet out the bottom so I can get to the wall mounting batons.

I agree that real wood is the better way to go but I'm on a budget and time scale. So finding salavgable pallets or floorboards is a problem. Plus if I got fancy it would look out of place in my already Ikea fitted living room.

But I appreicate the advice.

TR