3/4 inch plywood box construction help

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Hi All, In another thread I was asking about the best material to use for garage type storage units. This leads to another question on their construction:

Do you have a favorite way of putting 3/4" plywood boxes together? I'm thinking of drilling pilot holes and screwing/gluing just using butt joints. I'll probably use 1/4" hard board for the backs nailing and gluing them on for rigidity.

Is their a good drill/counter sink bit you could recommend for this? The one I've been using for years seems junky and I'm looking for a better one.


Any other suggestions appreciated. Thanks for the great ideas thus far. Alan
__________________

[John Bush]

Hi Alan.
I just finished making garage units for my mom and also for my garage.
I used 3/4" melamine and had the luxury of having a friend mill it out on his
CNC router table. We designed them with full height sides and half height doors with a fixed shelf at the mid point. We used 1/2" melamine for the backs and just screwed them to the sides, top and bottom without glueing and without rabbitting. Most were 16" deep and we used Euro style hinges for the doors. In total we used 38 sheets of melamine and I was able to use his automated edge bander to dress up all the exposed edges. The end result looks really nice but is was a bit pricey just for the materials.
These cabinets are very stabile and a good value because she stores her heirloom glassware in them and we were concerned about her old rickety cabinets falling apart.
The white melamine makes the garage look "finished" but I likely wouldn't have used it without a friend in the "biz".
I used a standard drill with a countersink and I used the official screws recommended for the MDF. I doubt you would need to use glue as the boxes were really solid when all were finished and screwed together.
I have seen utility cabinets at IKEA ,and even at Sears, that weren't as solid looking, but seemed very servicable and less costl;y in time and materials than the way I did them, but I was able to customize mine to fit
the garage better.

Good luck, John.

[John Miliunas]

Alan, 3/4" ply, glue and pocket holes! :) Quick, easy and strong. Nail/glue the backs should work just fine. If you're hanging any of them, you'll want to re-enforce the back a bit or, at least, set the backer board in a rabbet around the perimeter of the box.:) :cool:

[Doug Shepard]

I haven't built a lot of these, but I like to use a shallow dado for the shelves if they're fixed and rabbets on the corners. I'm not doing it so much because I think they're better joints than a butt - I just find it easier at assembly time especially if you're doing it alone. You get both locators and panel holders while you're trying to get all the pieces together. I've done a few bookshelves from Oak ply with butt joints then countersinking and screwing through the sides into the shelves then plugging/sanding. I think I spent as much time wrestling with getting everything lined up as just putting in dados/rabbets. Just my $0.02

[Mark Singer]

The Kreg system, as John mentioned is hard to beat...

[Jim Fancher]

I vote for pocket holes too. I have a brand new K3 kit itching to be used.

[Charles McKinley]

Nother vote for pocket holes

[Bob Reeve]

Just used my Kreg Pocket ho;e jig to make a 3/4 ply bos this last weekend. Thats my vote.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Thanks all, the pocket screws sound good to me. I've used it for some projects before and I agree it should be great for this.