Entertainment Center Help

[Gordy Anderson]

I'm in the process of building an entertainment center similar to the picture below. I've built the lower cabinets and I'm ready to start on the upper shelves. The base cabinets are 17" deep and the top will be 12" deep shelves. Using plywood for the vertical supports with trim on front and across the top. My question is how to affix them to the base cabinets? The base cabinets will be screwed to the wall as will the very top of the shelving unit.

Mine is actually wider than what is pictured, and the upper shelving units will be like this... (Using 3/4" plywood for the verticals, and adjustable shelves)

wall(3/4"V) 24"s (3/4"V) 24"s (1.5"V) 36"s (1.5"v) 24"s (3/4"v) 24"s (3/4V)wall

My thought is to drill holes, 2 per support and affix dowels to align them so they don't slide left or right or forward. Is that a good idea/bad idea or is there a better idea out there? TIA Gordy.

[Russell Tribby]

I've used the tabletop attaching clips in the past. They look like the number 8. They're easy and have always worked well for me.

[Gordy Anderson]

I've used the tabletop attaching clips in the past. They look like the number 8. They're easy and have always worked well for me.

The base cabinets have a 3/4 top. I might use the figure 8's to attach the top to the cabinet, but the upper unit will sit on top of that, so they won't work here. GA

[Steve Mellott]

Gordy:

If you are going to attach the top units to the wall, you may not need to attach them to the base units. The weight of the shelves (and their contents) should keep them in place.

Steve

[Chris Padilla]

What about those "clips" that are often used in table leafs? The two pieces meet, slightly bend apart and lock into each other. I'll see if I can find a pic.

Table Aligner? (http://wwhardware.com/catalog.cfm/GroupID/Specialty%20Hardware/CatID/Table%20Slides/showprod/1)

[Gordy Anderson]

I'm not communicating well. Picture a wood counter top... Sitting on top of that wood counter top are the uprights that support the adjustable shelves. At the very top of the uprights, they are screwed to the wall. At the bottom, they're free to slide on the counter top. That's what I'm trying to avoid. I can't screw them to the wall down below, because 1) it would show, 2) attaching the back panel won't help to keep the uprights from twisting in place. Ideally I could screw from underneath the countertop into the uprights, except in this case there are cabinet sides that are directly underneath the shelf upright, so there's no room to get under there to install the screws.

I still think if I drill a 1/4 hole, 1/2 deep down into the countertop, and corresponding holes in the bottom of the uprights, I can install dowel pins that will keep everything aligned. GA

[Charlie Plesums]

I think you are worrying unnecessarily. The double bookcase on top of this table is just sitting on the table, not attached to the table, wall, or the adjacent bookcases, and has been in place for almost 4 years. The customer has come back for numerous other projects, and the shelves are now full.

http://plesums.com/wood/livingroom/LibGen2557.jpg

She is fairly tall, so you have an idea how large this is. The table is 60 inches wide; all the plywood is 3/4 inch except for a double thick bottom shelf to support the center divider.

[Russell Tribby]

The base cabinets have a 3/4 top. I might use the figure 8's to attach the top to the cabinet, but the upper unit will sit on top of that, so they won't work here. GA

Gordy,

I know exactly what your saying and I just used the figure 8's to do this exact same thing. In this case it was a fairly large desk with a hutch on top. The lower portion of the clip screwed into the back edge of the desk and the upper portion screwed into the vertical side of the hutch. Does that make sense?

[Jake Butler]

Gordy,
I have used keyhole fasteners in the past (roll top desk). You have the ability to adjust the tension with screw projection, so you can achieve a nice tight fit. Dowels would also work well. Let us know how it goes.
jb

[Roger Everett]

Drill a hole towards back of the shelving unit sides (4). You don't need large (say 1/4") for dowels ( don't need much ,just to keep from sliding out of align. ). Put dowel centers in holes, make spacers just a pinch thicker than centers protrude, carfully ( with helper ) set unit on top of base, on spacers , align , remove spacers to drop top unit down on base, pull down a bit so centers mark base top, remove upper unit, then drill out where centers marked for holes.
Roger

[Anthony Watson]

Gordy,

I built an entertainment center last year that had some similarities to yours (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=94988).

In my case, the two upper side cabinets have bottoms, it's not just the cabinet sides resting on the lower cabinet. So, I mounted T-nuts in braces under the bottom shelf of the upper cabinets. Then I drilled matching holes in the lower cabinet, and joined the two cabinets with bolts from below. Very secure, but easy to separate if we need to move them for some reason. With a piece as top heavy as an entertainment center, I wanted to be sure it wouldn't topple over if someone leaned on it, a kid tried to climb up, or if we had an earthquake. I also used some brackets to secure the top to the wall for added stability.

I think I saw another approach on New Yankee Workshop years ago where the top of the lower cabinet, was actually part of the upper cabinet. So if you lift the upper cabinet off, the lower cabinet doesn't have a top. This would probably work well for a desk and shelves, but I don't know it would be applicable to a multisection entertainment center?

Anthony

[Byron Trantham]

If your face frames are at least 1 1/2" wide then drill a pocket hole in the base of the face frame on the inside surface. When you install the upper cabinet screw in the pocket hole screw. It will be out of sight, very strong and removable.

[Julie Rose]

I bought these stacking plates for a buffet/hutch that I made:

http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=1&cat=3,41306,41312&p=40568

I am reluctant to drill holes in the top of the lower portion for dowels, although Norm A. uses that method.

Julie

[Gordy Anderson]

If your face frames are at least 1 1/2" wide then drill a pocket hole in the base of the face frame on the inside surface. When you install the upper cabinet screw in the pocket hole screw. It will be out of sight, very strong and removable.

Great idea. The 2 center uprights will be 1.5" so that could work there. The 2 outside of that, on each side, are only 3/4 plywood so I don't think I'll have a 1.5 face frame. Prolly more like an inch.




"I think I saw another approach on New Yankee Workshop years ago where the top of the lower cabinet, was actually part of the upper cabinet. So if you lift the upper cabinet off, the lower cabinet doesn't have a top. This would probably work well for a desk and shelves, but I don't know it would be applicable to a multisection entertainment center?"

That's a great idea too. Unfortunately, the counter top is 3 pieces, and the uprights sit on the left/center and center/right so I can't do that either.


I think you are worrying unnecessarily. The double bookcase on top of this table is just sitting on the table, not attached to the table, wall, or the adjacent bookcases, and has been in place for almost 4 years. The customer has come back for numerous other projects, and the shelves are now full.

I think you're probably right. But this is my first cabinet project and I just want to be sure...


Drill a hole towards back of the shelving unit sides (4). You don't need large (say 1/4") for dowels ( don't need much ,just to keep from sliding out of align. ). Put dowel centers in holes, make spacers just a pinch thicker than centers protrude, carfully ( with helper ) set unit on top of base, on spacers , align , remove spacers to drop top unit down on base, pull down a bit so centers mark base top, remove upper unit, then drill out where centers marked for holes."

I think I'll try this one.

Thanks a bunch to everyone who replied. I'll post pictures in a few days. It's supposed to be in the low 60's in Michigan the next couple days so I might just be able to get some stain on if I can get a little shop time.

Gordy