Dominos and carcass joints

[mrFinpgh]

Just a sanity check, as the DF500 is still very new to me.

I'm going to be building a freestanding cabinet that will be about 5' tall and 2' wide.  It's frameless, and will be veneer core plywood with butt joints.  All sides are exposed.  The sides of the carcass will sit between the top and bottom, and the back will be 3/4" thick and captive. There will be three shelves that are fixed in place. 

I was thinking about using Dominos for the entire assembly, but want to check with those who know : will that joint be sufficient for a tall cabinet or is the probability of racking going to be high?

Thanks,
Adam

 

[ChuckM]

No racking of any kind as long as the back is properly done. How are you installing the back: nailing/screwing/gluing, and rabbeting or grooving?

 

[Birdhunter]

Agree with ChuckM re racking, but curious as to your plan for applying edging to the  exposed plywood.

 

[mrFinpgh]

I think I could domino the back into the sides, top, and bottom of the carcass.  Assuming I got the back square, that would be a lot of interconnecting parts.

When I do solid wood on plywood, it's usually sufficient for me to just apply via a butt joint - I cut the edging around 7/8 and use old brown glue to attach.  I've never tried the special bits that make the edge slightly concave.

Thanks,
Adam

 

[Birdhunter]

I’ve never seen anything on the bits you mention.

I use a thin strip of hardwood about 1/8” thick, apply Titebond III, and “clamp” with blue tape.

 

[Jcwoodshop]

Your approach of fastening the 3/4″ back panel to the top, bottom and sides of the cabinet, using dominos and glue will provide a sufficient joint. You may wish to apply edge banding to the back panel if you believe the unfinished plywood edges would detract from the appearance of your cabinet.

One caution with your approach is that the 5’ long plywood sides may experience enough warping that aligning the dominos with their slots will be a bit time consuming and frustrating.

Another approach you may wish to consider is to cut a rabbet (say 3/8″ wide by 3/4″ deep) along the rear edges of the top, bottom, and sides; and insert the back panel into the rabbeted members. There are many different methods to cut this joint, your approach will depend on your abilities and/or the equipment available.

 

[Straightlines]

Your approach of fastening the 3/4″ back panel to the top, bottom and sides of the cabinet, using dominos and glue will provide a sufficient joint. You may wish to apply edge banding to the back panel if you believe the unfinished plywood edges would detract from the appearance of your cabinet.

One caution with your approach is that the 5’ long plywood sides may experience enough warping that aligning the dominos with their slots will be a bit time consuming and frustrating.

Another approach you may wish to consider is to cut a rabbet (say 3/8″ wide by 3/4″ deep) along the rear edges of the top, bottom, and sides; and insert the back panel into the rabbeted members. There are many different methods to cut this joint, your approach will depend on your abilities and/or the equipment available.

This and a captive dado are more traditional means of attaching the back, and since the top will be covering the edge of the rear panel edge, you could use 1/2” plywood instead and save on weight without any practical compromise in strength.

 

[sancho57]

Plan on useing 5 dominos per joint once its glued and clamped it should be plenty strong. The back will prevent racking.

 

[escan]

You may want to dry fit before glueing to make sure all those slots line up.

 

[sancho57]

Oh yea, Be sure to mark the domino face.

 

[mrFinpgh]

Thanks, all.  As it happens, the project has evolved into something entirely different because the 2' wide doors were going to be a bit awkward to open.  The new design is more of a barrister style bookcase, which should be easier to control for leverage points. 

Still, the above advice is valuable.  I've only used the domino to line up some joints on some frameless cabinets, and it worked very well for that.

Thanks,
Adam