Dadoes in top and bottom??

[GEB]

I am making a set of Cubbies for Granddaughter’s school, two units, 40" wide, 60" tall and 16"deep. Think four cubbies up and three across, using 15mm Baltic Birch. All the interior shelves and partitions will be set in dados for strength and alignment.  The Top and Bottom will extend beyond the sides and front. But I am not sure I need to dado T&B for the sides. Why not glue and screw them on to the sides? Water putty and paint do wonders. Comments??

[mike4244]

What's a cubbie?To answer your question, if you screw into the sides it will be in endgrain.I would dado ,glue and if needed finish nails,not screws.Even with a pilot hole you take the chance of bulging the side panels.
Are you going to fasten the unit to the wall? Might tip over if left free standing as it is 16" deep and 60" high.
Something to consider.
mike

[rwe2156]

Get to work!

[sweensdv2]

Considering you will be cutting dados for the shelves anyways, a few more won't matter and it will give the piece a cleaner look.  Mike4244 brings up a great point about fastening somehow to the wall.  If your granddaughter and her classmates are real young kids fastening it to the wall would be a must in my book.

[ruffcutt]

Part of my day job duties working in the maintenance shop for the Anchorage School District is building cubbies for classrooms. I have built a ton of them in the last 19 years. All cubbies in the school district are painted.  I use 1-5/8 screws to fasten the upright into the perimeter of the box. I use a tapered drill/counter sink and never ever have problems with the "bulging of any of the parts.

My dado's are 1/8 deep (just enough to index the parts).  After the perimeter of the box is made and the upright are screw in the shelves are slid
in place and toe nailed with one inch brad nails at about a 45 degree angle. No glue is use (when you slide the shelves it just pushes the glue out and makes a big mess) Spackel work fine to fill the screws and any brad nail holes.



<img src="http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/rmccomas0043/whitecubbiesMedium.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo whitecubbiesMedium.jpg"/>


<img src="http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/rmccomas0043/cubbies-1.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo cubbies-1.jpg"/>



<img src="http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/rmccomas0043/cubbieparts.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo cubbieparts.jpg"/>

[JerGar]

The Top and Bottom will extend beyond the sides and front. But I am not sure I need to dado T&B for the sides. Why not glue and screw them on to the sides? Water putty and paint do wonders. Comments??

I guess in that case you wouldn't dado for the two middle uprights neither?
I would probably dado the top and bottom just help putting it together.
With the top and bottoms extending beyond the front and sides you'll need to use something like a router and do stop dadoes.
The front of the sides and middle verticals can just be notched a bit on the ends so you don't have to bother with squaring up the stopped dadoes.
Also will need a stopped rabbet for the top and bottom for the back.
I often use a tapered bit with countersink for screws and cover them with tapered plugs.

[fredhargis]

I'd follow ruffcutt's method.

[Steve N]

I'd follow ruffcutt's method.

Uh huh



Never knew they were called anything except soon to be filled with junque boxes. I've only built a few, but did it ala Ruffcutt's methid, and I think they are still in place and holding junque, it was 3 houses ago, lotta years. + Paint is good for this kind of project, and who doesn't love some Durhams

[GEB]

Thanks everyone. No way am I gonna re-invent ruffcutt’s wheel. That’s the way to go. And I did not give security much thought until mentioned here. Thanks again.

Geb

[atgcpaul]

After the perimeter of the box is made and the upright are screw in the shelves are slid in place and toe nailed with one inch brad nails at about 45 degrees.

Just curious, do you toenail from both the top and bottom sides of the shelf or just from one side?  If from only one side, do you nail upwards into the shelf?  My kids like to treat cubbies like a jungle gym so I'm wondering if nailing direction has any effect on strength.