Q: Bolts for attaching adjacent frameless cabinets together?

[Woody Knotsensplintahs]

Hi,
I am finishing four 36"H x 30"W Euro-style wall cabinet carcasses and beginning to consider how to connect the cabinets when they are mounted next to each other on a wall.
If I understand correctly, it is common to use binder bolts to join the carcasses together.

I have found many sources for M6 hardware and a few for 1/4"x20tpi hardware.

I am wondering if, for example, people go to the effort to make sure the holes in the wood are sized for tight fitment or if most people just use the M6 hardware in an 8mm hole with the 8mm OD binder post fitting securely and the M6 screw fitting loosely in the shear.

It seems ideal to use some sort of step bit to drill a passage that creates concentric 6mm and 8mm holes in two adjacent cabinet side panels so that each piece of hardware fits as securely as possible.

I have found some step-bit drills with near to suitable dimensions, but none seem ideal for the purpose. Am I missing something? Is there a purpose-built solution for this application?

Thank you!

 

[Cheese]

I use a tight fit when I install these bolts. I also tend to use a longer length so that the major diameter of the female fastener is used as a pilot to align both cabinets and the male screw threaded area is just used for compressive tensioning. That works well.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Just drill the same sized holes in both sides. The sleeve portion is always over half the length of the maximum that the bolts can span. (at least every one I have ever seen does) Then it does the locating and the screw is just keeping the sides together.

 

[hdv]

I use these bolts all the time (we call them patentbout). But over here (Europe) they are the same diameter as Euroscrews and shelf pins. That is 5 mm. This means you can use the same system32 holes you drill with your LR32 to fix the carcasses to each other. You just drill through the selected holes in both carcasses and they should align (almost) perfectly (if the floor is flat, otherwise I use shims). I prefer to clamp both cases together before doing that. And, to answer your question, I always go for a tight fit. The clamping makes sure there will be no problems with the alignment of the holes.

 

[Woody Knotsensplintahs]

Hi,
Thank you to all for the explanation.

I had not considered that the binder post's sleeve would/could extend into the adjacent cabinet wall and provide a snug fit.

That seems like a great way to address my concerns.

Thank you!

 

[Woody Knotsensplintahs]

Hi,
I am attempting to follow the above suggestions but have difficulty locating bolts with adequate shoulder length.

I made my carcasses out of 3/4" plywood.

I would like to use hex key tooling to fasten the bolts.

All the bolts I can find at popular prices that use hex key tooling have a shoulder length of about 19mm, which is too short to extend into the adjacent cabinet wall.

Have you found a good source?

I did find some specialty hardware vendors that sell longer shoulder-length binder posts, but the pricing was $5 to $10 per bolt.

I also found many Phillips head binders with adequate length.

What would you recommend for 3/4" or 19mm side walls?

Thank you!

 

[waho6o9]

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/binding-screws/binding-barrels-and-screws-1~/
A large assortment of binder screws. 
HTH

 

[Packard]

This company apparently, makes its living selling Chicago screws only (binder posts).

My guess is they will have most of the available types for sale.
https://www.mybinding.com/binding/b...E0nXEdhqk_3chjIpAURk63pacBxOXvrhoCO_cQAvD_BwE

Note:  I have heard of this company, but I have no firsthand experience with them.  And they may specialize in larger industrial users.  I don’t know.

 

[Woody Knotsensplintahs]

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/binding-screws/binding-barrels-and-screws-1~/
A large assortment of binder screws. 
HTH

McMaster Carr, which is a favorite source of mine, is one of the examples that offered binder bolts with long shoulders in the $5 to $10 each pricing.

They do offer a "woodworker" binder bolt at package pricing, with a relatively large head diameter, that I thought could be useful, but the shoulder on the binder post is way too short to use the alignment suggestions made above.

I did find some Uxcell M5 binders with long shoulders that seem suitable, but the vendors I checked have very limited stock.

 

[Woody Knotsensplintahs]

This company apparently, makes its living selling Chicago screws only (binder posts).

My guess is they will have most of the available types for sale.

...

Hi,
If I understand correctly, "Chicago Screws" are primarily meant to hold loose-leaf printed documents together. They are not meant to provide clamping force in structural assemblies, which is why only one part of the two-piece fastener is manufactured to accept tooling, such as a flat-blade screwdriver.

Thank you. 

 

[Cheese]

Chicago screws are also known as SEX bolts and that's what I've used to hang cabinets. I purchased mine from McFeely's and you could purchase the barrel end in different lengths and the mating screw remained the same length but it had Phillips or flat-blade drive ends.  I just Googled McFeely's and unfortunately, they no longer offer those fasteners.  [mad]

The binding bolts with the hex drive ends are usually for furniture construction to apply additional torque to the connection. The barrel end length remains the same and it's the mating screw length that changes.

I'm sure Hafele offers something...or try AH Turf, they offer a lot of cabinet fasteners.

 

[Packard]

I think my first stop would be to contact the kitchen and bath trade association to see if they publish a set of standards for installing cabinets. 

They doubtless have that information.  It is not clear to me that they will provide it if you are not a trade member. 

Membership in trade associations range from “free”, to “you gotta be kidding…”.  But worth a note.

This is the association I am familiar with: 
https://kb.nkba.org/about/

The NKBA is the world's leading trade association for the kitchen and bath industry providing tools, research, certification, and events to thousands of professionals.

You should never be embarrassed or intimidated by these associations.  They exist to provide information to members of their industry. 

I’ve used trade associations for their member lists, for sources of equipment or materials and for trade show information. 

Visiting a professional trade show is also enlightening.  You do have to present yourself as a professional of some sort or planning on becoming a professional (manufacturer, supplier or retailer). 

 

[Michael Kellough]

These will do the job.

Just have to accept Pozi drive instead of hex.

 

[Woody Knotsensplintahs]

These will do the job.

Just have to accept Pozi drive instead of hex.

Hi,
Thank you for this suggestion. I saved these in a cart earlier today. It looked like they were more than simple Phillips head bolts, but I was not familiar with Pozidriv, so I asked a question of the vendor to see if these bolts used a drive other than Phillips. I want to avoid having a Phillips head slip and scratch my interior finish.

Thank you for the helpful information.

 

[Michael Kellough]

These will do the job.

Just have to accept Pozi drive instead of hex.

Hi,
Thank you for this suggestion. I saved these in a cart earlier today> It looked like they were more than simple Phillips head bolts, but I was not familiar with Pozidriv, so I asked a question of the vendor to see if these bolts used a drive other than Phillips. I want to avoid having a Phillips head slip and scratch my interior finish.

Thank you for the helpful information.

Pozi driver stays in a Pozi screw head much better than the Phillips/Phillips fit you’re used to.

Clamp the cabinets together and you won’t have to put much torque on the screw. And since the female sleeve part of this fastener locks into the pilot hole you only need to worry about tightening the screw. Only one screwdriver required.

 

[hdv]

Yeah, like Michael writes: don't worry about the screwdriver slipping. In many years of using these bolts I don't think that has ever happened to me. At least not in such a way that I touched the wood. I use a Wera pozidrive bit in the old-style CXS and you don't need much torque for these. You can even use a SL-type bit (slotted screwdriver) on most of them. The head is almost always compatible with both types of driver. One advantage of the regular 5 mm bolts over the much bigger bolt you showed in your first post are that they are much more inconspicuous. The smaller 5 mm are more than strong enough, if you were worried about their holding power.

 

[Woody Knotsensplintahs]

Thank you for the info.

I have made many free-standing pieces of furniture based on a box shape, but this is the first time I have made cabinets intended to look like a unified installation.

I have DIY installed big box store custom order face frame cabinets before, and I felt like I learned a lot when doing so, but I still have more to learn.

I'm within a 1/16" tolerance when comparing diagonals on my DIY carcasses, but I'm still unsure of how the installation will come together when I attach it to the wall.

Thank you.

 

[cpw]

As another option, Fastcap makes 1.25" powerhead screws that you can use to secure 2 cabinets with 3/4" sides together.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

As another option, Fastcap makes 1.25" powerhead screws that you can use to secure 2 cabinets with 3/4" sides together.

There are indeed alternatives, depending on the materials used in the cabinets, and the level of stealth desired.
The simplest, which also costs nothing but a few minutes' time. You just use your normal assembly screws behind the hinge plates. It takes some time, but that's all. You can also put them behind the drawer guides (of side mounted guides) In the case of under mounted guides, you can just run them down low alongside the drawer itself, since the clearance is so close that you would never see them, once the drawer is back in place.
The most difficult situation is open shelving units. With adjustable shelves, you can put screws behind the shelf, but if someone ever moves the shelf?

The biggest problem with all of this is when someone tries to disassemble this later. They will never figure this out and probably destroy things that didn't need to be.