cabinet carcasses made from Melamine

[John Gregory]

I ordered the confirmat screws from McFeely's. Do I dado for the joints or just use a butt joint? Is there a special glue to use for butt joints on Melamine?

Thanks

[Tom Ruflin]

John,

I used the same screws with the special step drill bit and butt joints with no glue. I know Titebond makes a melamine glue but it is very watery and I found it difficult to use. I did all the cabinets in my kitchen this way and have had no problems.

[John Gregory]

John,

I used the same screws with the special step drill bit and butt joints with no glue. I know Titebond makes a melamine glue but it is very watery and I found it difficult to use. I did all the cabinets in my kitchen this way and have had no problems.

Thanks Tom, I was hoping that I could do that. I ordered a "kit" from McFeelys that includes the screws, bits and the step drill.

[Nissim Avrahami]

Hi John

Like Tom, I made all my kitchen, bathrooms and toilets cabinets with Confirmat screws, no glue.

I'm attaching 2 pics so you can see how the drill looks like (the pics are from a post about "how to make melamine carcass").

Regards
niki


http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/avrahami/Melamine%20box/013.jpg


http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/avrahami/Melamine%20box/014.jpg

[Dave Falkenstein]

The confirmat screws work really well - I have used them on numerous melamine and MDF cabinet projects.

I have used both butt and dado joints on melamine cabinets, and have not had a joint failure - yet. The prefab Home Depot cabinets by Mills Pride use butt joints without glue. I have installed hundreds of these cabinets with nary a problem.

If you decide on a dado joint, you can use yellow glue for added strength, since you will have a wood-to-wood surface area for gluing. Use a shallow dado, since you want the head of the confirmat screw to have plenty of material to bite into and hold.

If you use a butt joint (which is perfectly satisfactory in my experience) and if you want to add glue, then you would need to use a glue like Gorilla Glue that adheres to melamine on one surface of the joint. Warning - Gorilla Glue expands as it cures, requiring cleanup before it hardens fully.

If it were me, I'd use a butt joint and no glue on melamine carcasses. Put a back on the cabinets for added strength. If you are using a face-frame style of cabinet, the face frame will also add strength to the carcass. You can add even more strength by using dado joints on the top and bottom shelf, and make the dado joints about 1/2" from the edges, recessing the top and bottom slightly.

[Nancy Laird]

I ordered the confirmat screws from McFeely's. Do I dado for the joints or just use a butt joint? Is there a special glue to use for butt joints on Melamine?

Thanks

John, you are in Utah. It's dry there. DO NOT USE the special melamine glue for your cabinets, particularly if you dado the joints, as you will be putting raw wood on raw wood. Use regular yellow glue and drill-and-screw about every 6-8 inches. LOML (Bless him) used the melamine glue on my wall-hung china cabinet, all of the glue joints gave way and the thing fell off the wall, destroying everything in it, including some priceless and irreplacable antique glassware and china. Only the back of the cabinet was still on the wall. He checked the two built-in buffets, and the joints were all giving way. The "special" melamine glue will dry out and your joints will fall apart. Stick with glue and screw and the melamine should be there until your grandchildren come in to use them.

[John Gregory]

John, you are in Utah. It's dry there. DO NOT USE the special melamine glue for your cabinets, particularly if you dado the joints, as you will be putting raw wood on raw wood. Use regular yellow glue and drill-and-screw about every 6-8 inches. LOML (Bless him) used the melamine glue on my wall-hung china cabinet, all of the glue joints gave way and the thing fell off the wall, destroying everything in it, including some priceless and irreplacable antique glassware and china. Only the back of the cabinet was still on the wall. He checked the two built-in buffets, and the joints were all giving way. The "special" melamine glue will dry out and your joints will fall apart. Stick with glue and screw and the melamine should be there until your grandchildren come in to use them.

Thanks Nancy,
It is dry here in Utah, which is nice for our metal tools :D