Appropriate Festool for Cabinet making???

The minimum depth of a mortise cut with the Domino is 12mm which puts you just about or actually through 1/2 ply.  Rick Christopherson's Domino manual shows a work-around, there's a link to it in the reference library folder.

I think you'll really be happy with your choice.
 
You may want to rethink using 1/2" ply for the tops and bottoms and use 3/4" - it also makes using the Domino a no-brainer.  After a quick learning curve on the first one, you'll be flying through them.  And they'll be very strong.
 
I use these for assembling kitchen cabinet carcasses.(Only for the non visible sides) They are from a company called Hettich, I believe they're in the US as well.
The drill is a stepped drill which also countersinks the screws. Because the last part of the screw has no thread it pulls the carcass together really tight.
They're extremely strong and hold very well even in particle board. Use some domino's for alignment.

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hey

im missing something here

im from australia.

so your making your kitchen out of ply wood

here in aus we use melamine partical board and then put it through he edgeing machine to put a 1mm edge on it. its easy to clean and at about 30$ sheet cost wise its good
plywood here is about 150$ a sheet

why are you not just screwing the cabinets together. if you have a cabinet next to it then you wont see the screws and then when your cabints finish put a end panel on and screw it from the inside and put a white cap on it

doors are another thing but for general cabinet construction screws.

bryan
 
J.Scottcon

Here's some more hardware you can use for joining two adjacent cabinets together (also from Hettich)
It looks very clean inside the cabinets IMO

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I would get the Domino.

I dado, glue, and screw my boxes together using 3/4 plywood.  I use a kreg jig for assembly of the face frames.  And then domino the face frame to the cabinet box.  I have also domino'd the boxes together as well, instead of dados and screws, and that makes for a very strong box,  I just think its faster using dados. 

I hope your kitchen goes very well for you and that you have fun doing it.

Scott

 
Scott,

I started my kitchen cabinet project without the domino, but I am going to finish with it.  One can use the domino for case making, faceframe making/joining, door making and drawer making.  This tool has completely changed how I join wood.  On my latest cabinet (walloven and pantry) all the joints, except the dovetailed drawer front where made with the domino.

Kevin
 
Same deal with me.  New kitchen and pantry.  Went ahead and got the Domino and I'm using it for everything; to assemble the cases,  to assemble the face frame and attach it to the case and to make the doors.  All rips were done with the TS55 on my homemade ripping gizmo and all crosscuts were done on my MFT.  Didn't even turn on my sorry old Craftsman contractor saw.

Convinced my wife that the Domino was the way to go like this.  First I made her watch a video on the Fine Woodworking web site with Gary Rogowski making mortise and tenon joints using his router table, table saw, band saw and various chisels.  Then I took her to the local woodworking store and had them demo the Domino.  Her exact words were, "And this thing is only $700?"  Game over.

Now I've got to figure out a scam to wrangle a Sawstop contractor saw.  And no, I'm not willing to nip off the end of my pinky.

The trouble is that Festool did such a good job on the pantry how do I convince her that I need a table saw for the cabinets?  The pantry is 5x8x2 and has six doors and 6 shelves and 18 drawers.  It's way more impressive than simple cabinets.  But I really want that saw.  Any ideas?
 
fshanno said:
.......

Now I've got to figure out a scam to wrangle a Sawstop contractor saw.  And no, I'm not willing to nip off the end of my pinky.

The trouble is that Festool did such a good job on the pantry how do I convince her that I need a table saw for the cabinets?  The pantry is 5x8x2 and has six doors and 6 shelves and 18 drawers.  It's way more impressive than simple cabinets.  But I really want that saw.  Any ideas?

Idea 1.

Start with the cabinet saw, then you can negotiate down to the contractor saw  ;D

Scott W.
 
fshanno said:
Now I've got to figure out a scam to wrangle a Sawstop contractor saw.  And no, I'm not willing to nip off the end of my pinky.

Sounds like she responds to visuals, show her the video of how the safety features work.  How can she put a price on your fingers?
 
For kitchens I like melamine particle board fastened with Confirmat screws(like they do in Oz & the Netherlands ;D) easy to clean, cheap,and prefinished . Butt joints no dados 8)

Put your money into the face frames, doors, and hardware. Thats what you notice when you see the finished job.

I like to fasten the face frames together with Domino's. Attach frames to boxes with pocket screws(from the out side of each box).

Counter top to boxes with Fast Cap plastic cleats. Buy the doors from an online door shop unless you really want to do it all by yourself. ;D Blum hinges,Accuride slides.Have fun.

The plunge saw is great for ripping the sheets and a MFT is really handy for all the 24" crosscuts you need to do. I would get a MFT before a router or Domino.
 
Once again thanks to everyone. You have all been very helpful and I have enjoyed reading everyone's responses.

So what online door shops do you guys recommend. Also can I order the drawer boxes and drawer fronts from them.
 
That's a good gambit, two good ideas, I'll combine them.  I'll show her the video of the wiener, just sort of a "hey honey look at this" thing.  Then I'll find a pretext to drag her into the Woodcraft store over in Houston before June.  There's a cabinet saw on display there.  Ooooh.  Ahhhh.  Say!  This is the one we saw online!  Then the price, ouch.  Then in June, no maybe July, it's, "Honey!  Guess what they just came out with!"

It's worth a try.  And if I fail there's always the Kapex.  Did I tell y'all how crummy my SCM is?  It's worse than the table saw!
 
fshanno said:
Convinced my wife that the Domino was the way to go like this.  First I made her watch a video on the Fine Woodworking web site with Gary Rogowski making mortise and tenon joints using his router table, table saw, band saw and various chisels.  Then I took her to the local woodworking store and had them demo the Domino.  Her exact words were, "And this thing is only $700?"  Game over.

My wife would let me get the Domino if I wouldn't make her watch the video on Gary Rogowski
 
See my earlier post in "Cabinets by Domino" page 1 of this section. The only thing I would add is that I've determined that the Kreg tool to is still the best way to assemble face frames. I tried using the domino but found that work to be too time consuming, and  that it was difficult to maintain the accuracy of alignment that I prefer as I swapped from vertical to horizontal connections. The Kreg tool connects FF parts together very well with no compromise to structural integrity or joint alignment. As for attaching face frames to boxes I have always used the Lamello for that  task but in my most recent project I used the Domino with great success. Less noisy and certainly less dusty than the Lamello. No mechanical fastenings added, just glue.

My boxes of 3/4" plywood with 1/2" backs were all assembled with Domino joints using the 5x30mm tenons. The parts came out beautifully and easily aligned flush, or centered or wherever needed. I do use staples and screws to hold the box parts together where fastenings don't show. The staples keep the parts in place until the screws are set. My next post will describe my great happiness with using the Domino to make cabinet doors square, flat, and flush, and properly sized right out of the clamps. I wouldn't have believed it! Yup. I like my Festools.

Good luck with your projects.

Sam
 
Scott:

Here are a few photos showing how I used the Domino to attach a single face frame to three independent carcasses. You have received lots of great advice, but I think you will find the Domino will offer you far more potential and possibilities once you start your kitchen project.

Hastings

 
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