How would you go about gluing this up

[Brian Runau]

I always stress about the proper procedure when I am gluing up a project with a lot of joints. See picture of one side panel below. I have a face frame that I am also going to attach using biscuits and glue. So I need to glue the face frame on and attach the four back horizontal pieces all during the open time of the glue. I prefer using Titebond III, the green bottle never had a problem with it, except table tops and switched to the blue stuff for that.

I thought to put the face frame and sides on with slight clamp pressure front to back, then gently insert the back horizontal pieces, lightly clamp, square up and hand tighten clamps.

Appreciate if there is a more efficient way to go about this.

Brian

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[Kevin Jenness]

I would clamp up the back first, then the face frame in another operation. That way, you won't be clamping in two directions at once, you can square up the back independently and you won't be dealing with a lot of parts and clamps at once. If you attach the face frame first you will have to flex the panels apart to get the back rails in place. A dry run is always a good idea to sort out your procedure.

[Paul F Franklin]

I agree with Kevin and would add that you can slip unglued biscuits in place between the carcass and the face frame to help keep everything lined up while you glue and clamp the back. That way no worries that the face frame won't line up properly once the back part is glued.

[Brian Runau]

I would clamp up the back first, then the face frame in another operation. That way, you won't be clamping in two directions at once, you can square up the back independently and you won't be dealing with a lot of parts and clamps at once. If you attach the face frame first you will have to flex the panels apart to get the back rails in place. A dry run is always a good idea to sort out your procedure.

Thanks men, makes more sense. I don't do well trying to reason things out when I am tired. Brian

[Kevin Jenness]

Paul makes a good point about using the face frame to maintain the distance between the panels as you are gluing up the back. You will want to square up the assembly by checking diagonals in the horizontal planes at top and bottom of the case as well as in the plane of the back rails. There is an excellent article by Ian Kirby on gluing up in an old Fine Woodworking issue. https://www.finewoodworking.com/1981/12/01/gluing-up

[Brian Tymchak]

You might try Titebond's Hide glue. It has a longer open time than TB 1,2,3.